G/box: 850 Auto: How To Fit a Volvo x70 Transmission Cooler

[dooby]

Hi folks,

having spoken to Engineer about automatic transmission coolers, and seen a few photos around the 'net of people who've fitted the Volvo cooler to cars with intercoolers I thought I'd have a go.

Rufe (Simon) at FRF Swansea supplied the parts, with fair warning that this would require some customisation as it wasn't listed as an option for 850s or P1 x70s with intercoolers.

I like a challenge :-)

For this job, you'll want to jack up the front of the car, enough to be able to get a bucket under the radiator to drain the coolant, and the auto box to drain the oil. Here's the air guide from underneath removed (2x 10mm bolts) and a shot of the space we're trying to fill.



Here's where we're aiming for - we'll be disconnecting the lower auto radiator hose. Looks to me like the lower coolant pipe is in the way, so as a precaution I'm going to drop the coolant, remove the lower hose and clip it our of the way.



Another shot from underneath - the electrical clip at the top is the ambient air temperature sensor, I think. I had to bend the metal bracket slightly towards the front of the car to make a bit more space there.

You can see the coolant hose is off and out of the way.



Another shot of the space we have to work with. I was hoping to use the rusty bolt visible on the right as an anchor point but it's not that simple :-) Rufe did warn me!



The new cooler is light. Very light - under 700 grams in fact. Shouldn't be a problem supporting this - even with the 200ml of liquid it holds, that should be under 1KG.



Here's the offside - as you see, the cooler can't go high enough to get to that bolt. For test fit purposes cable ties will have to do.



Here's the nearside. Not obvious from this shot, but the two pipes run along next to each other at the top, and the best fit I found was to have the gap between the two sitting over a pipe fitting on the nearside - I believe it's the oil cooler return line.

Again, for test fit purposes a cable tie up to the oil return pipe is enough to hold the cooler in place.



Here's the cooler in place - you can see what I think is the ambient air temperature sensor bracket.



Time to drop the auto box fluid - I loosened the drain bolt on the auto box - it's a 24mm socket with limited access - I think the steering rack hard lines get in the way so you may need a stubby 24mm socket and extension bars.



Well I never know that - Volvo used a magnetic sump plug in the auto box. For the record, the aluminium crush washer is the same as found on the engine oil sump bolt. Haynes has the torque value for re-tightening...



Now the auto box fluid is mostly drained we can disconnect the lower auto fluid radiator hose. Beware it will drip some more fluid, so have the bucket handy.





Here I'm using a 22mm spanner from underneath to loosen the other end of the lower hose where it attaches to the auto box. It turned out later that easier access can be achieved by removing the battery and battery tray...



Here's the hoses I got in my kit. Since it's intended for an x70 it turned out the left-most one is no use to me, my auto radiator connections are different. The hose on the right was spot on however.



Here's me fitting the new hose (rightmost one above) from the top which was much easier.



I found a "crow's foot" on a ratchet was the easiest way to tighten it. The instructions which came with the kit had the torque setting but I can't recall it right now.



Here I've attached the new hose to the new cooler. You may also be able to see better what I mean about the two pipe across the top neatly fitting around the flange where the oil cooler return line leaves.



Point of no return - since I've not got a replacement hose to come from the current cooler to the new one I'm cutting my old one with as much hose length as I can get.



Hmm. Problem. Turns out the internal diameter is quite different, and the cut hose won't go over the flare on the new cooler...



I tried various ways to open up the pipe, but it's fibre reinforced and heating it in boiling water and forcing in various increasing sized sockets only helped a little, not enough.



After a little more head scratching another method was devised :-) Hacksaw off the flare, as there's plenty enough length to get a jubilee clamp tight on what's left.



Here it is back on and plumbed in. You can see the hose is slightly stretched - I'm keeping an eye on it but I'm pretty sure it's fine like this. I don't believe the oil is under a huge amount of pressure, having seen the flow rate when flushing the auto fluid.



Lastly (which I didn't manage to get a picture of) when refitting the air guide it became apparent you need to cut off part of that with a hacksaw to clear the front of the new cooler on the nearside. I'm also not sure whether the plastic grill from the air guide fits as I forgot to refit it :-} You can see the grill I mean in the 1st photo.

So, the genuine Volvo cooler can be fitted to 850s (and x70 models) with intercoolers, but as Volvo state it's not a straight bolt-on fit - some user assembly is required :-)

Now I'm off to practice my launches by popping it in drive, up to 3k revs on the (left footed) footbrake and away :-) Probably not recommended without a little additional oil cooling...

Cheers, Pete

[Engineer]

Nice one Pete, the P1's are a lot simpler though mate and no need to drain rad or transmission, just the forward undertray mod.

The correct hose was also avaliable when I fitted mine so I'm wondering do Volvo only list the kit you bought, now?

Love the grams bit

Cheers

[swede®]

Sorry to say that you bought the wrong cooler You got the cooler for the 5-spd AW50-55 transmission, that's why the hose didn't fit the OEM cooler.
If you bought the cooler for the AW50-42 trans both the cooler would fit w/o tie-straps and the hose would fit the OEM cooler, sorry mate

I know b/c Volvo sold me the wrong one first when i installed it on my -98 V70R. Check out the cooler in this pics and you see the brackets that hold the cooler to the OEM cooler (hard to see in the pics but the bracket goes up to the bolt that holds the radiator in place), those brackets dos NOT come with the AW50-55 cooler. Also the AW50-42 cooler in painted black vs. the AW50-55 is silver.

Edit: I did NOT loosen the lower rad-hose and i did NOT drain the transmission from fluid, if you loosen the 22mm nut first and then remove the hose from the radiator the only fluid that's coming out is what's left in the OEM cooler (not much).

Originally Posted by dooby

So, the genuine Volvo cooler can be fitted to 850s (and x70 models) with intercoolers, but as Volvo state it's not a straight bolt-on fit - some user assembly is required :-)

Cheers, Pete

Sorry but wrong answer, if you buy the right cooler for your application it's a perfect bolt-on deal, but the Volvo personal often dosen't know what they are selling *sigh*, they told me that they didn't have a cooler for the turbo models only non-turbo even after i showed them the install instruction where it stated turbo.

[dooby]

Hi Swede,

thanks for the info - where were you when I needed to know this earlier :-)

Volvo's official line was that there were never auto oil coolers made to fit cars with intercoolers, but as I knew at least 2 people had done it I assumed it was possible with some bodging.

I did do a bit of part searching investigation but obviously not enough :-( As you way, it does sadly appear that in this case there is some confusion with the official company stance.

Still, thanks for letting us know, and if you have any part numbers that would be really useful to help others not follow my path :-)

Cheers, Pete

[Engineer]

Originally Posted by swede®

Also the AW50-42 cooler in painted black vs. the AW50-55 is silver.

Not quite right mate as mine is silver........... and I have given the P1 part number to a few others with the warning about later 55 hoses appearing in earlier kits, hence my previous question to Pete Guess it's buyer beware......

[dooby]

Originally Posted by Engineer

Nice one Pete, the P1's are a lot simpler though mate and no need to drain rad or transmission, just the forward undertray mod.

The correct hose was also avaliable when I fitted mine so I'm wondering do Volvo only list the kit you bought, now?

Love the grams bit

Cheers

Hiya,

sorry - missed the question the 1st read through.

As you and Swede have pointed out, it probably isn't necessary to drain all the fluids, I just wanted to be sure not to leak a lot (auto fluid is expensive stuff)! Plus, I discovered the sump plug is magnetic which I wouldn't have done otherwise - so I wiped off the sludge of small metal particles before replacing.

I could have gotten away with just draining what was in the cooler, but I think I would have still liked to have the bottom coolant hose off to do this and catch the dropped auto fluid - if you're not fussed about replacing with a litre or so, just let the auto fluid drop and wipe the spillage off the coolant hose area afterwards.

I've now got some metal tie-wraps, which are just in case the temperatures involved are too much for the plastic ones, but it looks like I'll be trying my hand at bending some aluminium brackets over the next few weeks.

As for kits, I searched for a cooler kit for a 1997 MY S70 turbo model - and I did specify an AW42-50 'box. I didn't twig that I might need to double check for an AW55-50 kit...

A tip for others trying this might be to ask the dealer what cooler kits were available, rather than jumping in with both boots like I did, and specifying the part numbers you want :-)

Mind you, having looked just now, the diagram ordered from does clearly show bolts, washers and a spacer tube like in Swede's photos, none of which turned up in my delivery. But then I didn't ask what the kit part number (9499131) comprised of :-) This is apparently with oil cooler 8618347.

It turns out the diagram for the AW55-50 is identical actually, and with the same part numbers. Maybe a fault in the software. They do specify part 9485556 for the incoming hose for both AW42-50 and AW55-50, but the kit and cooler part numbers are the same. The other hose (the one which was wrong for mine) is listed as 8618761 -1998 and 8618591 1999- so looking at what I got delivered, I've ended up with 8618591 which is the hose for the 5 speed boxes, and I needed the other one. I may order that separately and replace my modified hose.

The instructions I got are marked C/V/S70, for 4 and 5 speed boxes and clearly show in the diagrams the bottom intercooler hose, as well as S70R and V70R especially (apparently they have slightly different air dams with rivets which need drilling out). They also mention a new lower intercooler hose which is shorter - interesting...

The instructions and diagrams also mention the bolts and spacers, but the parts included diagram doesn't show them so maybe you can order those items separately - listed as same for the AW55-50 and AW42-50 these are:

1x 8618363 Spacer
1x 8618349 Offside bracket
1x 8618350 Nearside bracket
2x 965178 Flange screw
2x 960139 Washer (might not be needed for Turbo/AC cars)

Maybe I'll swing by the local dealer and ask them to get these in so I can take a look before I buy. Anyway, deed is done now - but if you try this, take care ;-)

Cheers, Pete

PS torque the pipe to the gearbox to 25Nm is also in the instructions...

[swede®]

Originally Posted by Engineer

Not quite right mate as mine is silver........... and I have given the P1 part number to a few others with the warning about later 55 hoses appearing in earlier kits, hence my previous question to Pete Guess it's buyer beware......

WOW, i guess it's up to the painter if it get black or not I only went after what coolers i got from my dealer, the first one they sold me was for the 55 tranny and it was silver when i returned it and got the 42 cooler it was painted black (but only on the frontside) so i assumed they were all the same

Thanks for letting us know it could be different depending on where you buy

[Georgey dee]

So just to clarify. What part numbers do I need for a hassle (ish) free fitting of a cooler. And what do I need to check with the parts guy before he orders it??

[dooby]

Hiya George,

I think maybe the problem is going for the kit. The cooler itself isn't different (apart from possibly colour as mentioned by Swede). So for an AW42-50 as found in our 850Rs I believe you'd want:

1x 8618347 Cooler
1x 9485556 Gearbox to cooler hose
1x 8618761 Cooler to radiator hose
1x 8618363 Spacer
1x 8618349 Offside bracket
1x 8618350 Nearside bracket
2x 965178 Flange screw
2x 960139 Washer (might not be needed for Turbo/AC cars)

That's what I'm going for, anyway. I have the cooler and gearbox to cooler hose, the rest I'm going to try ordering for viewing subject to return if it's wrong.

I'll let you know how it pans out :-)

Cheers, Pete

[Engineer]

This is the invoice part number for the kit I fitted:

V009499131 / 005226 / OIL COOLER.

It came with all the brackets and hardware plus one correct 42 early hose rad connection and one late fitting hose rad connection, which the dealer replaced.

Hope this helps