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Maintenance time/questions on '08 XC90 3.2 w/ 160k miles

2K views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  RyanR 
#1 ·
Hi guys.

Gearing up for some maintenance on my 2008 XC90 3.2 FWD. I've owned it since about 29k miles and it's been great. I just want to take care of some things to keep it running great for a long time. I've listed a few things below that I'm going to be tackling next and wanted to know if I'm missing anything else that I should be considering.

Serpentine Belt
I know FCP Euro has a kit for this. Does the kit pretty much cover the necessities? I suppose I'll add the decoupler tool when I purchase.
Are there other things that I should be looking to do while I'm in there? I've seen mention of water pumps and thermostats.

Transmission Fluid Change
Have seen a ton of videos and posts on this. It hasn't been done since I've owned the vehicle, so seems like a good time.

Fuel Filter
It's never been replaced.

So are there some other things that I should definitely be looking at?

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
I'd do everything the serp belt touches. Water pump, idler, tentioner, decoupler pulley. The thermostat is basically due as well. I'm planning on doing this items this weekend.

Transmission fluid can be done whole hog or, as I'm doing, as a series of drain and fills. I measure what comes out, and add the same.

Fuel filter is cheap and easy. No tools needed.

Have you done spark plugs and the PCV housing?

-Ryan
 
#3 ·
Thanks Ryan! That confirms all that I’ll be doing soon.

I did replace the plugs at 120k miles, but haven’t done the PCV, so I’ll add that to the list. 🙂

It’s funny. I’ve always viewed this as ‘just’ a vehicle that gets me from ‘A‘ to ‘B‘ that I would keep until I could get a ‘real’ car, but investing this time and energy into maintaining it has given the car new life for me.

Thanks!
 
#4 ·
#5 ·
I got most of the way through the serp belt replacement yesterday, before I managed to lose a T30 socket behind the oil cooler while swapping the thermostat. Don't do this. Socket is still there after 3 hours with all sorts of magnet and grabby tools.

Definitely do the water pump. Get the genuine pump. Not only was my old one a little "squidgy" at the bearings, the new pump comes with a fresh PS pump alignment dowel.

I found that my old thermostat was toast on the inside. New ones are spendy, but that's life with fancy cars. You'll need a new rad hose here, as the old one will not want to part company with the old T-stat.

My decoupler drive pulley for the serp belt was definitely worn. You could turn it quite a bit more than the new INA before it engaged.

I've some videos that I'm hoping to be able to get off of my phone tomorrow. Had I not lost my socket behind the oil cooler getting the T-stat off, the serp belt job would have been relatively easy. A 10mm GearWrench with the "flexi" head is a life-saver, if not a must-have.

-Ryan
 
#7 ·
I got most of the way through the serp belt replacement yesterday, before I managed to lose a T30 socket behind the oil cooler while swapping the thermostat. Don't do this. Socket is still there after 3 hours with all sorts of magnet and grabby tools.

Definitely do the water pump. Get the genuine pump. Not only was my old one a little "squidgy" at the bearings, the new pump comes with a fresh PS pump alignment dowel.

I found that my old thermostat was toast on the inside. New ones are spendy, but that's life with fancy cars. You'll need a new rad hose here, as the old one will not want to part company with the old T-stat.

My decoupler drive pulley for the serp belt was definitely worn. You could turn it quite a bit more than the new INA before it engaged.

I've some videos that I'm hoping to be able to get off of my phone tomorrow. Had I not lost my socket behind the oil cooler getting the T-stat off, the serp belt job would have been relatively easy. A 10mm GearWrench with the "flexi" head is a life-saver, if not a must-have.

-Ryan
Good stuff, Ryan. Thanks for the update! I ordered all the parts last week. Just waiting for them to come now. :) Don't have the flexi-head or a new radiator hose, but will look at that now too.
 
#9 ·
Sounds great! Good luck with the maintenance. Post on the forum when you are ready for the Bi-xenon retrofit. I believe retrofitsource has their bi-annual sale coming up in December.
 
#11 ·
My XC just reached ~145K 3 weeks ago. I'm someone who due to a change in family dynamic needs this vehicle to last at least another 3 years without any major mechanical issues, so, in preparation for the long haul (i.e. 200K) I did the following:

Major:
  • Transmission drain and fill (not a flush).
  • Differential drain and fill
  • Drain and replace brake fluid
  • Drain and replace radiator fluid
  • Drain and replace power steering fluid
  • Replace all 5 engine mounts
  • Replace all 6 spark plugs
  • Replace serpentine belt
  • Replace idler pulley
  • Check all bushings & shocks/struts. Found no need for replacement yet.

Minor

  • Silicone spray / grease window tracks, seat tracks, door pins, folding mirror motors, and wiper motors
  • Replace TPS sensors
  • Replace engine and cabin air filter
  • Add .5 lbs of refrigerant to A/C system
  • Clean sunroof drains
  • Replace all wipers with silicone wipers

I DID NOT do the angle gear filter or AOC/Angle Gear fluid replacement which SHOULD be done.
I also have not replaced the transmission torque mount which I suspect is the source of my vibration issue during stall.
https://forums.swedespeed.com/showt...in-a-Forward-Drive-Gear&p=7118543#post7118543
*To add to this, this week, I did the AOC and Angle Gear fluid change, full transmission fluid flush (drain and fill only removes about 4 quarts of oil), and had my lower control arms & ball joints replaced.
The vibration turned out to be the new rear liquid filled motor mount (looks like mushroom with a wire over the top) which failed prematurely.
 
#15 ·
Purchased and installed in April 2018. Began to fail in July of the same year. Got nasty and almost unlivable by late Winter. The cause wasn't properly diagnosed until May 2019.

The only way to not feel like my fillings were being rattled when at Red lights or stopped with the car in Drive was to put it in Neutral.
I suspect the extra hundreds of gate walks I did during that period is probably want put extra wear & tear on the shifter claw and caused this to fail.
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the reply.

Those fluid filled F/R pads are pretty stout, must have been significant front/back rocking going on at some point in time.

3.2 has a couple side-mounted torque rod mounts, the 5/6T and V8 engines have the big bar between the strut towers (also called a torque rod) to a single large mount on the top of the engine. Trite or not, Volvo has referred to all the mounts working together as "harmonious" which in my mind is somewhat true, having had a front pad fail in the 5 cylinder myself but only after "discovering" and replacing worn top and bottom mounts earlier. I don't know the upper mounts on a 3.2, but seems like the side-mounts might be a little more susceptible to fail under stress than a top bar. At least with the top bar, there are no covers so you can see the results of wear more easily.

Think if I had a 3.2, I might be giving the upper torque rod mount a shake once in a while and it if rattles, do a replacement sooner than later before the other mounts become affected. I mentioned something about this in another post, the Volvo TechTips from Spring 2018 notes a few complaints associated with a worn upper torque rod mount, mention of the metal cover that prevents good visualization (hence the shake test) as well.
 
#17 ·
Think if I had a 3.2, I might be giving the upper torque rod mount a shake once in a while and it if rattles, do a replacement sooner than later before the other mounts become affected. I mentioned something about this in another post, the Volvo TechTips from Spring 2018 notes a few complaints associated with a worn upper torque rod mount, mention of the metal cover that prevents good visualization (hence the shake test) as well.
I thought of this yesterday when I was swapping mine. The metal parts of the upper rod's bushings are a tight fit into their mounting spaces, so there's no way a shake test will pick it up until it's really really bad. You can get a lot of fore-aft movement that you just can't detect without removing the part. Maybe I can get a video of mine. It's OK-ish... but iffy. I'm replacing it. It's $50. Not peanuts, but not stupid expensive considering it's a premium Euro car.

The other thing I noticed is that as the engine mounts sag, all of the torque rods get loaded up "at rest", such that the rubber gets yanked/pushed sort of "oblong" as they conform to the new equilibrium. In short, it's a cascade: when one component goes, it starts taking the whole system out. I first noticed problems when the transmission torque rod was fully compressed when I had the car off the ground. It makes sense to replace all the mounts.

Coming from my curmudgeonly RWD Volvo roots, this all seems crazy mad, but the XC90 is posh enough that I don't mind paying to play. I half-joke that the heated driver's seat is more comfortable than our bed. IPD has all 6 mounts/torque-rods for $325, and aside from the rear one, they're kinda fun to do. :)

-Ryan
 
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