Well, had smoke start billowing out of exhaust, little bluish tint. Towed to Volvo dealer and come out with both turbos blown and an estimate in neighborhood of 4K to replace both. Of course they don't recommend putting that much money into it, "We can work some really good deals to help you out." Question I have is this, is 4K a reasonable est for both turbos? Car has 94000 miles, I know there could be other things, but having it towed all over the place for more opinion(s) is issue.

Thanks in advance.

 

I believe that depends upon how quickly you need the car back in service and how difficult a job it is to replace the turbos. On my Audi A6 the dealership wanted 6K for the job, but in that car the engine must be entirely removed. There are always alternatives. You could have the turbos probably removed and sent out to be rebuilt and then re-installed by an independant shop for probably half that cost, but to answer your question, $4000 is expensive for sure, but not at all out of the ordinary for such a job.

 

I just looked in my repair manual and the turbo replacement looks like a fairly straight forward repair. Nothing too drastic in terms of labor. There is also a left side turbo on ebay right now from a low mileage wrecked XC90 for $247. If you could get a good used, matched set for under $600 then bring them and the car to a good independant mechanic you could save quite a bit of money. I'm not saying that is the RIGHT way to do it, but it is one way to do it on a car with that many miles and on a tight budget. How long do you plan to keep the car? If you don't plan to keep it all that long you could replace just the one turbo that blew. Both turbos did not fail, only one did, but the right thing to do is to replace them in pairs with new units. If it were me, I would buy either used low mile turbos from the same car or have your turbos rebuilt by a company that does that, if buying new is just too expensive. The one thing I would avoid, though, is having the dealer work on the car. It is your most expensive option and is not necessary.

 

I am getting conflicting information. Can anyone confirm or deny, that one can do these turbo replacements without pulling the motor on a 2004 2.9 L 6-cylinder twin turbo? Kudos to any replies. And many thanks if anyone can post the procedure, or point me to it posted online.

 

You can replace them without removing the engine.

 

Thank you.

Wonder what anyone thinks about this plan? Since it's unlikely both turbos went at the same time (mega white smoke coming out of the exhaust), I plan to compare the rate of suction of intake air from the turbos. Assumption being the bad one will have less. Or any other ideas? Or if anyone knows if either of the turbos is more likely than the other because maybe their configuration.