V70 P1 oil cooler

[MikeS100]

I completely forgot about this post! Thanks for the replies, some interesting reading there!

I'd still like to fit an oil cooler, but considering the cost of getting one compared with the value of the car I think I'm going to risk it without. Where we are going we shouldn't be going up any major hills so I'm hoping there won't be a chance for the oil to overheat.

I'm tempted to fit a temperature gauge but I don't know where to take the feed from. Is it just a case of getting the right size sensor so that it replaces the drain plug? Or is there a better place to cut into the system?

[CPH]

Mike,

Might be worth doing some spadework on eBay. There are plenty of P1 V70 being broken for parts and a few emails to the vendors might yield success in finding an external oil cooler fitted to one of them.

I managed to source one yesterday for £35.00 with hoses and postage included. Admittedly condition is as yet unknown so it's a bit of a gamble but worth a stab methinks.

There's also an oil cooler from an S80 on there at the moment which looks to be in very good nick for £35.00 and I reckon that could be MacGyver'd to fit without too much hassle.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...d=251937094998

Hope this helps

[CNGBiFuel]

Good idea, my only fear would be not knowing the history of the cooler would prompt me to put a Magnafine in there. If there is anywhere crud from the previous transmission could collect, it'll be in there. Here's my Magnefine (3/8") before I put in my cooler. I got an extra bottom transmission-hose from my breakers to give me more swinging room, but I reckon not strictly necessary, you could jsut splice your one hose. Earlier pic shows only my Magnefine in circuit.

I later put in a thermostat too. [after the stock cooler so that it fires in the aux cooler only when required] I will do a prper posting on this when I have a mo'. See later pics. A 3/8" BSP barb might be useful so that you are not wed to the Volvo quick-release fitting hoses. This can then take the palce of the female quick-release on the in-radiator trans cooler. In my case I took a quick-release coupling off a breaker-car's rad to put on my thermostat, largely because I had handfuls of hoses and those green clips by the time I had done at the breakers, so it didn't matter to me.

In chatting to Lakes at Wyboston (the de facto Volvo breakers in the UK) this mod is very worthwhile, they cited having so many failed auto boxes making up the pile they were thankful! A aux cooler might not be striclty necessary but looking at their 'pile' a flush is a must.

Clearly more people think their luck will hold than reality would evidence.

[CPH]

Actually my eBay cooler never turned up but thankfully was able to get money back via PayPal after the seller stopped responding.

After that I attempted to buy a new genuine oil cooler kit for the car but was told 1.) they're not available anymore, 2.) they were £400.00 + when they were available and 3.) an aftermarket cooler such as a Kenlowe or Mocal cooler would be much more efficient than the Volvo dedicated cooler.

So after that I ended up fitting a 230mm 13 row dedicated transmission cooler. It was a bit fiddly to fit but seems to work very well. And I saved a fortune!

[CNGBiFuel]

Yes, had I not got a ex-C70 cooler I would have done jsut that. Any old cooler will do.
My set-up with thermostat cost under £120. The stat and its fittings was £90 of that.

[CNGBiFuel]

An advantage of larger coolers is that they are likely to be less restrictive to flow. Careful, only you might over-cool. Without a stat, you ATF must take longer to heat up. Remember ATF likes a stable 85-90 degrees and a thermostat does this nicely which means you can then put the largest cooler you can squeeze and have it switched by the thermostat - no over-cooling issues becaue even if a bit large, it'll just get switched in for less.

I have seen the kit sold for £280, all in delivered, from my dealer, not quite £400 but still madness. Why would you? I am doing thsi to save me money and hassle later, not to spend it now anyway! I would not spend that much on a new car, and any set-up with a stat is superior anyway.

[MikeS100]

Originally Posted by CPH

So after that I ended up fitting a 230mm 13 row dedicated transmission cooler. It was a bit fiddly to fit but seems to work very well. And I saved a fortune!

Have you got a link to the cooler you fitted? I'm 95% decided that I'm just going to leave it as it is and just monitor the temperature but part of my is still tempted to fit one just to make sure. I would have to fit a thermostat as well though because without towing it peaked at 69 degrees around town and was pretty steady around 56 degrees on the motorway so I wouldn't want it over cooling.

[CNGBiFuel]

I use a Handheld Infrared thermometer. 69 degrees around town? Are you sure? You don't need a cooler. Sounds very low. I'd bet my mortgage not 69, more like 99 or even 110 inside 40 mins of heavy traffic, these run hot. I would cobble anything you can find down the breakers. Tell the breaker you want a random oil or transmission cooler. A tenner, fifteen tops. Pah... forget the cooler - fittings and hosing are the hidden pricey bits. You'll likely be able to use the real prize here, hoses and fittings that came on it. It does not need to look pretty. Lash in a 3/8" BSP hose-tail to the existing cooler with a Magnefine and be done. If you don't fit the stat, this should run no more than £40-50. I would hope less.

[dingov70]

Speak to your local hydraulics dealer as they have everything you would need & can make leak free hoses to suit as well , last cooler i bought was over sized for the job in hand , but was new old stock & dirt cheap as he was sick of seeing it . I also bought a remote filter head & popped on a spin on cartridge filter to strain the fluid before it got to the cooler & saved having to drop the autobox sump to change the internal filter , along with a thermostat block after the filter & before the cooler . One noticable effect was lower engine coolant temps on hot days & cleaner ATF

[MikeS100]

Thanks guys. 69 degrees around town and 56 on the motorway is the live data stream taken from the transmission control module. When I recorded these figures it was an hour in good traffic on the motorway and then peaked at 69 in the final 10-15 minutes of the journey after I came off the motorway and drove on town roads to my destination. Maybe it would have kept going up if I had been longer driving through town, I'm not sure. I don't know where the temperature sensor is for this but I'm guessing Volvo would have fitted it to the hottest part of the system.

This is why I'm wondering if it's necessary though, it seems low compared to the values I have seen online. So 110 degrees driving through town is acceptable and won't burn the oil? Where we are going camping it will be all motorway and then there will be a bit of traffic towards the end where the A road goes from 2 lanes down to 1. That's the bit I'm worried about and I think if it's going to overheat anywhere it will be there, but if it can run up to 110 degrees then I don't think that will be a problem.