D5 engine oil

[Gazdkw]

Fuel filter was a doddle

Air filter was a doddle

Getting the sump plug off was a b*****d. It's draining now but I tried every tool possible. It was rock solid. Ended up busting my finger up in the process.

The kit has come with a silver sump washer not a copper one. Does it matter?

[Dancake]

The silver/aluminium sump washer is fine.

[Gazdkw]

All done.

Whats the details of the under tray bolts? There is 2 different sizes and 1 missing. All pretty bad condition tbf. I'd like to change them all. I plan to continue maintenance so it's going to be coming off alot.

[4x4]

Bolts on mine are all the same size, 10mm socket. give them a light coating of copperslip before refitting

[petey]

I got a fuel filter tool off of eBay; it cost like 4 quid or so and saved hours of my life making something up that just made it harder than it need be.

As low a fuel level as possible is wise, the filter is just in front of the right rear wheel and will need good access underneath. There’s a drain tap underneath, this took a what felt like a month or more to drain on mine and I got bored waiting. Bear in mind if you’re daft enough to get under a car supported only by a jack, you will be applying quite some torque and can easily pull it off the jack struggling to get it off.
I’ve stopped changing the rubber seal on mine as it’s more of a pain rolling it over the threads and getting it straight than ever it needs to be. Have good lighting here, the threads need to be clean but the location means it’s covered in detritus and grit. Use the light to make sure you’ve not introduced anything, else you’ll enjoy that beautiful irony where changing your filter made the fuel lines dirty.

Don’t start the car until it’s more level, esp if the fuel level is low. Key the ignition and wait ten seconds. Turn the ignition off and repeat 3 times. This gives the priming pump a chance to purge the lines, but you still might get a rough start but it should clear within 15 seconds. Keep an eye out for leaks.

Re the oil filter, use a socket. There is a very low torque requirement for tightening and if you ‘get by’ with some kind of strap or pliers or any of the other methods I’ve seen, your chances of overtightening are very high.
Once I have the filter off, I usually pour a cup of fresh oil down the hole to flush it through whilst the oil is draining. I generally sacrifice 0.5l throgh thr oil filler cap too whilst the sump plug is out as well.

Have a spare sump plug washer. Not only do they get chewed up, they’re dirt cheap and you won’t thank yourself having to scoop around in boiling hot oil trying to find the damned thing if it drops into the oil (which of course, they ALWAYS do when you don’t have a spare. And from memory, it’s not ferric so a magnet won’t find it.)

Use paper towel / blue roll before you start pouring oil in. It always spills and cleaning it up afterwards is a pain. If you’re buying a service kit from Volvopartstrade (I do) the oil comes in 6 one litre bottles so it’s not so bad but still prevention is better than cleaning.

Whilst the oil is draining, check tyre pressures, lights (compare brightness, not just whether they work), change the pollen filter, drink coffee, vacuum the mats, clear codes with VIDA, reset the service light with VIDA, anything to give the oil as long as possible to drain. Check CV joints and gaiters as well as steeering rack gaiter and track rod ends whilst you’re under car. Look for anti-roll bar bushes, drop links, transmission leaks, engine mounts, exhaust security etc. too.

At restart after the oil change (which I do before the fuel filter change) there’s no oil pressure warning, but you should hear a slight drop once the oil pressure is built, about 5 seconds or so. Check the oil level and if you’ve put 5litres in, you should be near the bottom of the dipstick. For now, that’s fine, you do your final checks and top off when the car is on level ground.

Do NOT fill to the top of the dipstick hatched area regardless. There was a recall on some models and I don’t know how far reaching it was, but my ‘05 D5 183 Euro 4 had a software change to complain about oil level if it was more than half way up the dipstick. This is to prevent oil being thrown into the inlet manifold at high engine speed and causing auto-dieseling. (This is not as serious if it happens outside a hotel where you can still sleep, but don’t have to clear up the mess.)

Have fun, the amount of money you’ve just saved should buy a lot of indulgences.

[Gazdkw]

I was using a socket on the sump plug. I don't think it was a standard size. 16mm was too small 17mm was slightly loose. Eventually I had luck with the 17mm and a large breaker bar.

I've had to use the same plug as I didn't have a replacement. On my next change I will replace the plug.

Next job will be fixing the swirl flap and finding out what's causing the oil leak around the same area.

[petey]

The link arm on my swirl flap was disconnected for the 80 odd thousand miles and it never worried me st all. However, where the rod exits the head, the shaft rattled and resonated and broke off leaving a slight hole. That meant replacing the swirl flaps and spindle.
Easy enough job if the injectors come out, and they usually do with enough local impulse application. Some carb cleaner down the bores a few days before does. I end of good too....

[Willow place]

Acetone and Auto trans fluid mixed is Fantastic for injector removal !