Replacing Radiator, How Hard And Should I Do Hoses Too?

[Sandro Seminara]

Hi I have a 95 850 Turbo with around 250,000 Miles and noticed a very small leak from the lower portion of my radiator. How hard is it to replace the radiator? Also I'm thinking of going OEM since mine has so long, and I know the Nissean brand has problems. Is OEM recommended? I follow the BMW board and theirs people who have gone through 6 of them, all with defects. Now my hoses are not split or buldging either, but do you recommend chaning those also? And which hoses should I replace? I also noticed I have to take off several of these clip clamps that hold the oil and tranny cooler hoses in. I assume I should replace those also right? Lastly for someone who's done this before, how long has it taken to complete and any tips?

Regards

Sandro

[jdlc]

Hi I have a 95 850 Turbo with around 250,000 Miles and noticed a very small leak from the lower portion of my radiator. How hard is it to replace the radiator? Also I'm thinking of going OEM since mine has so long, and I know the Nissean brand has problems. Is OEM recommended? I follow the BMW board and theirs people who have gone through 6 of them, all with defects. Now my hoses are not split or buldging either, but do you recommend chaning those also? And which hoses should I replace? I also noticed I have to take off several of these clip clamps that hold the oil and tranny cooler hoses in. I assume I should replace those also right? Lastly for someone who's done this before, how long has it taken to complete and any tips?

Regards

Sandro

The APA hoses from fcp are not that expensive, probably less than $30 for both upper and lower hoses, I would replace both at that mileage.

[Hoosier Daddy]

this job was more work than i expected. i bought a cheapo radiator from flea-bay and it was assembled wrong. i was worried about the nissens but i called fcp and learned that those problems had been recalled and new stock was in and good to go. got one from them and did the swap. it was a oh yeah! to drop and kept getting caught on the ac line. mine was missing some bolts so i had to do a little jimmy rigging to mount it back in but no probs since! makes me not want to fudge with a drop-in intercooler.

i replaced the lower rad hose because it obviously needed it. the top one i had done prior with some hose my dad had laying around. tranny lines and oil lines looked good. i replaced o rings and clips.

[Geevs]

Go OEM if you can. A good price is around $315.

Definitely replace the upper and lower hoses. I have tried Mackay and APA, and APA (also known as UroParts) seems to be thicker.

If your tranny and oil connections are rusted, definitely get new oil seals and clips. Also get 4 3/8" hose (worm gear) clamps (less than 1 buck each) to secure down the 4 clips. SOme people use zip ties (I did) but after a while the heat softens and loosens the zip ties. FCP sells this as a kit (clips and hose clamps).

[Pops Racer]

Just did mine, 2hrs. Replace all hose seals and gasket, hose clips, cheap and you won't be sorry later. Old ones will leak, especially if you take hoses on and off at 250k. Be careful when you take off inter-cooler, little clips on side of mounting plate are very fragile. Look at it carefully before you dis assemble and you 'll see what I mean. Coat hanger to hang AC unit. I went OEM, and silicone hoses. Have fun!

[betterthingstodo]

Hi Sandro,

I replaced mine about 3 weeks ago and it wasn't too hard. I decided to change the upper and lower radiator hose while I was at it, and was glad I made that decision. Once I had the lower hose off I could see it was pretty beat.

I went with OEM and everything lined up and fit together with no problems. I'd highly recommend giving Boston Volvo a call, that's where I got my parts. Ask for John Sharisky he's great to work with. I tried calling a few other places recommended on this board and got turned off pretty quick with poor customer service and argumentative sales people. I don't have a lot of first hand experience lately with car repairs and tend to ask a lot of questions.

I ordered replacement parts for the oil and transmission cooler lines. 2 O-rings each and new clamps for each fitting. I really think the ones I took off would have been fine but I had no way of knowing that until I had them pulled.

For me and my level of caution it took me most of the day. I was being very careful and noted what came off the car in what order so I didn't end up with a pile of hoses that I couldn't figure out. If I were to do it again right now, 2-3 hours. You should plan on having someone help you when you do the final unbolt on the radiator. I found it rather easy to be under the car and have my wife hold the radiator assembly parts as I unbolted. She held on to the AC condenser as I dropped the radiator and intercooler down. A couple of bungie cords held the condenser in place as I fitted the new radiator to the intercooler. I sprayed the clips with PB Blaster and let them soak for a few minutes and they popped off without a problem. A second set of hands was useful as the new radiator went in as well.

For me I used this excellent write-up from Bay 13 http://volvospeed.com/Repair/Radiator850turbo.php

as well as my Haynes manual to do the job. I also tried to find as many discussion threads as possible to see what difficulties people commonly ran into. Off brand radiators seemed to be the biggest problem.

Good luck!