Well I went to the dealer the other day for an oil change and they told me my front struts are leaking oil, and needed to be replaced, so they quoted me $1000 . Is this something I can do myself, or dealer only??... If it is something I can do at home... How do I replace the struts?? Also with that, what else should be replaced.... ?. And its a 1999 S80 T6.

 

This depends on a few things. If you have never done struts before, this may be beyond what you want to tackle. I've done struts on a Volvo and it's more of pain than on other cars. The shock towers are very cramped and it's difficult to get a spring compressor in there, which you will need to do. Not every spring compressor will work either. It's not that complicated to do. You need to mark the base position of the strut if you don't plan on getting a front end alignment afterward. Loosen all bolts, but don't remove yet. Remove the top strut cover in the engine bay and remove the top nut that holds the strut in place. Attach spring compressor and compress the spring. The strut should collapse with spring. Remove the 2 bolts at the bottom of the strut and work it lose. You should now be able to lift the strut and angle it out. You will need to re-use your springs if you only bought the new strut and not the whole assembly. If I were doing this, I would replace the upper strut mount as well. If your strut bushings go bad later, you will need to remove the strut again, so spend a bit more and do it all now. Installation is reverse order. Be careful when you relax the spring compressor. Make sure that the stud on the top of the strut guides up through the bushing in the strut mount OK and it doesn't bind on anything. It would be wise to get the front end aligned afterward. Allow a full day for this at least. Ideal to do on a weekend so that you can devote 2 days if needed.

 

Remove the strut while it still attached to the car(while the spring is compressed)??.. Is that possible??. Wouldn't be easier to just remove the whole strut assembly as a whole. then compress the spring, then remove the strut...??.. Unless I totally read it wrong...

 

No. There is no way that you could remove the strut without compressing the spring. Even with the vehicle and front wheel raised, the spring will still be loaded, or under pressure. There are some vehicles that you can do this with. Cadillac is one of them that when you raise the vehicle, the spring reaches the end of it's travel and yes you can remove the entire assembly without compressing the spring. Volvo is not like that, unless you have the strength of the Incredible Hulk. The spring is indeed under MUCH less load when raised, but I have never been able to remove without the spring compressed.

 

Most people remove the unit, then the strut from the assembly (spring compressed). I've only replaced units, never a strut from a assembly. I hear that it's quite dangerous if a spring gets loose.

 

Well, I checked in my version of VADIS and it does not specify that you need to collapse the spring in order to get the assembly out of the car. You do need to compress the spring to remove from the strut. The last time I did this, no matter what I tried, I could not get it out of car until I compressed the spring. Now I wonder if someone didn't install an incorrect spring in that car. It was over a year ago and that person has since sold that car.

 

2 mounting bolts for the strut to spindle

1 nut for the sway bar link

remove and tie aside the abs sensor as a precauation.

3 nuts up top

have the suspension at full droop.

the assembly will fall out guide to the back of the wheel well to make it easier to get past the brake hose.

use a spring compresser -- tighten slightly

remove top nut with impact

compress spring the rest of the way

remove cross nut with large channel locks

remove strut bushing/bearing

remove spring from old strut

ASSEMBLY IS EXACT OPPOSITE OF REMOVAL

takes me about 30 minutes per side there about.

 

this is a crack of ........ you can remove the strut assemble from any vehical you MUST remove the spring on the work bench (i like the floor) or wall mounted tool.

@ RSPI yea I have heard of peoples heads flying off messing with compressing suspension coil springs.

 

Wow. Thanks guys for all the advice/help. Yes, I was a little worried about those spring compressors, they do quite freak me out....!!

Well unfortunately I can no longer perform this on my own (or even at all). Our AF base closed the auto hobby shop, so now I'm stuck on going to the dealer. The Volvo independent shop near-by well... Their management went down the drain, and they just suck.... But!! I'll keep this post in mind. If the base ever decides to reopen their auto hobby shop again...
Anyway, This does seen quite complex to do, and I was looking forward on doing this...

 

Heck, I would do it in the parking lot of my apartment. Just get a good set of spring compressors and go to town.

 

The dealer will always find something. $1,000 is outrageous. Unless you have drivability issues, wheel hop, steering problems, this is NOT an emergency and the strut replacement can be deferred for a while.

If you have access to another vehicle you can remove the struts from your car, which is easy, throw them and the new struts in the other vehicle and take them to any independent shop that has a spring compressor. Half an hour's work and $50 should see you on your way back to your Volvo with your new struts. If you go this route you should research the struts on your S80 and buy the parts that should be replaced with the strut at the same time - probably the insulator, seat and strut bearing.

 

Struts on Volvo's are one of the things that are pretty straight foreward, so you don't really need a "specialist" garage for it. There are a couple of "tricks" they may not know... 1. Don't install Munroe's. Get Volvo (sachs) for a standard ride or Billstein for a tighter but harder ride 2. Change the spring seat, sometimes called the strut bearing. Its the rubber part :-). Either order Heavy Duty seats from Ipd or just get regular ones for an XC90, depending on the price. Struts are about $150 each and seats about 40, plus a couple of hours labor...