V70 D5 Leaking Oil from Intercooler? Is Turbo on way out

[xco]

Hi pete A
Had same symptoms last year and was intercooler. Do you sometimes have power issues when stopped and pulling away from roundabouts but ok when your going? Any black or dark grey smoke behind when pulling away from stationary? If not but you leave it too long before you fix it you probably will soon.
All the symptoms you describe seem to point to your intercooler and not your turbo. Have you noticed any increase in diesel consumption?
You do not say what year your car is and whether a 163 version or 185.

I have a 2004 v70 d5 163 and since having a new intercooler fitted last year it has made a considerable difference to consumption and pickup on acceleration from stationary. (Im averaging 52mpg@80mph and it goes like a race horse)
I'm down in Ivybridge in Devon (near plymouth) and my indi volvo specialist charged me £400.00 to change mine.
Dont go to main dealer m8 they'll see you off big time.
If you are interested give me a pm and I'll give you his number and details.

[Rossi-fan]

Originally Posted by Pete A

How hard is it to swap the intercooler then. I was looking at it earlier and contemplating the number of fixings on top. (the V70 was the first car I ever chickened out of swapping the alternator on).

Is there a good HowTo anywhere? It looks like the air con rad makes it a PITA!

Its do-able Pete, awkward and fiddly, but do-able. There are people better than others at doing this kinda thing. You do need to strip the front of the car off almost, but removing the electric fan, the bumper and headlights and even the slam panel is pretty easy to do. The stumbling block for me personally was getting the I/C out from between the Radiator and the Air/Con condenser. If you need to take the slam panel off, don't touch the bonnet release cable, simply remove the bolts that hold it in place, and flip the whole thing over onto the engine.

[hamster]

I did the intercooler on my 2003 d5. I put the car on ramps and did it from underneath. No pulling bumpers or lights etc off. I don't think I removed the radiator either. Just slid the intercooler out from below. A bit diddly but easy enough once I worked out how to jiggle things. Improved performance and econemy. A job well worth doing.