What did you do to your S80/V70/XC70 today?

[Doogie]

Dropped it off at my local independent to have a new EGR valve and cooler fitted

[Daim]

Couple of days ago...

Freewheel hub of the alternator had to be replaced...

[Andmurph]

New trailing arm bushes. They made a remarkable improvement. Thanks to the team at Shipham Motor Company!

[Andmurph]

Hunter 4 wheel alignment

[Andmurph]

Front headlamp parking light bulbs replaced with Osram ultra life 5w5 bulbs. What a pain to get at!!

[poddack]

Took it to Halfords Autocentre for some suspension work, brakes, tyres and the accessory belt kit. They need the correct "tool" to replace the accessory belt kit which they don't have!

[Daim]

Originally Posted by poddack

Took it to Halfords Autocentre for some suspension work, brakes, tyres and the accessory belt kit. They need the correct "tool" to replace the accessory belt kit which they don't have!

D5? It can be done by hand... Just did it myself. Pain in the wrist afterwards but it works. The "special tool" is just a metal wedge...

[Daim]

Upper engine strut had some brittle and torn rubber. Replaced it with a new part. Also replaced the inner wheel arch as the passenger side had a hole due to it coming loose and making contact with the wheel...

Engine brace/strut





Wheel-arch liner:

[Kev0607]

Replaced outer track rod ends. Old ones were knocking and had too much play in them.

[Pidgeonpost]

Well that didn't go quite as planned, but we got there. Bit of a woffle, sorry.

I'd been looking for a time slot in which to change my cooling system thermostat. Today was the only space for a while. I'd already read a bit online and watched a couple of videos, I had the tools I (thought) I needed lined up, and a new thermostat - what could possibly go wrong?
It was 0C° for a start, the car was covered in frost, there was no sun on the car, and no sunny spot I could move it to. Still, at least the cooling system was cold.
I jacked and propped the NSF and looked underneath hoping to see the radiator drain tap somewhere handy, but no sign. What looked like an access hole in a plastic panel showed there was no tap above it, and I was unsure how to remove the panel itself so I was looking for a Plan B.
As the thermostat housing is towards the top of the engine and on the front I assumed there wouldn't be a huge loss of coolant if I loosened the top hose and then unbolted the outer part of the housing. I covered the alternator with a plastic bag, positioned a bowl under the car, and gently loosened the top hose on the thermostat housing first, then loosened the cap on the expansion tank, and finally unbolted the outer housing (T30 Torx on this part, T40 on the lower part). These screws were really tight so rather than risk shearing them I worked them back and forth applying a drop of penetrating oil between times. Once I got them out I could see they had blue threadlock on which is why they were so tight. I was then able to remove the thermostat itself and the housing.
I didn't take too much notice of the old stat other than noticing it was a 90° one, and a manufacturing date.
The old gasket came away with the housing. The gasket is metal with some sort of sealant bonded to it, though some of this came away in removing the gasket. What didn't come away was stuck fast and resisted all efforts to remove it. As this gasket isn't available as a spare (and I didn't want to pay £125+postage for the complete housing) I'd bought some gasket paper in readiness and used the old gasket as a template to cut a new one. A paper punch worked a treat to cut the bolt holes.
I cleaned up the mating face of the housing and was ready to start putting things back together, but first I gingerly ran a M6 tap part way down the bolt holes to remove any remaining threadlock. I chickened out on going full depth or using a tap wrench and just used my fingers on the tap.
I used Hylomar Blue gasket cement for the reassembly, and inserted the new thermostat into the housing - it has two 'legs' that locate in slots in the fixed housing, and a pin that locates in the housing I removed. The old stat had a bleed hole uppermost so the new one went in the same way.
Reassembly was straightforward, and very little coolant ended up being spilled. The engine is much quicker to warm up now. I haven't been far enough yet for it to hit 90C° as it was still a chilly 4C° when I went for a test run.

Couple of pics just for the record...










I've got more gasket paper and I've kept the metal gasket as a template if anyone wants to do a similar job without buying the whole assembly.