Just became the proud new owner of a XC90. Got it cheap, but it needs a transmission. Knew this going in. It's a 2003 XC90 with 142,000 miles, decent shape, and the engine runs well.

I do most work myself. I am going to attempt a fix myself and am currently weighing options.

I can get a used tranny for $800 off of eBay shipped to my door. I know there are weak, so I am actually leaning more towards a rebuild. I probably will not tackle this myself and farm it out. I got a ton of quotes today. Most were around $1700, but few of the shops impressed me. Then I found a guy who seemed to know about these and was willing to talk specifics about this particular transmission. He ended up quoting me $900 if I took it directly into him. He said he would replace everything in it, and there were a few tricks he could do to make it stronger. Hasn't happened yet, but it's an option.

Anyways, towing home tomorrow. I will keep you updated on the progress.



Alex

 

Towed it home today. Towed extremely well pulling behind my F250. We just let the engine run so we had power brakes and steering and left it in N. Did great. I was in the truck so my brother was the 1st one to ever get to "drive" this thing.

My neighbor told me he would pull and replace the tranny for $300. Deal. He will start pulling it apart tomorrow. So I prob wont have any step by step, but will share the experience and let you know of anything to watch for should you choose to try this.

Alex

 

Replace that trans for $300 on his back in a garage? Your neighbor must really need the money or really like you.

 

He has a lift and swears it wont take that long. I'm setting aside a bit more just in case it does cost more. We will see.

 

Ah okay. Its a little better on a lift, but he still must like you.

 

Anything in particular I should tell the trans guy when I drop it off? I think he was going to replace just about everything. He said he would inspect and flush the torque converter and only replace it if he thought it was needed.

While I have it out is there anything i should do while it's convenient? I was thinking rear main seal was a given. Not sure if there will be easy access to the turbos at this point. Do they make kits to go over them? Not sure how often they leak.

Alex

 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say your neighbor has no idea at all what he's getting into. You can mock me if he doesn't say "wow" after he actually does it, ha ha.


While I had the transmission out, I lowered the vehicle on my lift and set the engine down on a dolly. Then I rolled the dolly to the passenger's side and put a timing belt on. I recommend that.


Also, get rid of your in-radiator transmission cooler. They have a bad reputation on that vehicle.


As to the transmission, did you see this?
Volvo Transmissions
I did not buy from these folks but at least it gave me some indication that somebody smart is thinking about a long term fix being possible. they have a neat little info section.

 

I wouldn't remove the whole engine just to do a timing belt. That's ridiculous.

The trans cooler has a bad rep? I've done dozens of those transmissions and seen guys do dozens more and it's never been because of the cooler. Not sure where you got that info from.

 

He just dropped by. Says it's not going to be easy, but he's seen worse. Going to get to it mid next week.

Alex

 

You can't hardly get a wrench on anything.

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't making sense there. I did the timing belt when the engine wasn't removed. The transmission was removed, but the engine was still in it. The subframe was out, so the engine was hanging in the air, no motor mounts. It could float around anywhere. So I took that moment to slap a timing belt on there.

 

Well, you guys were right. He backed out. In his defense he did just have neck surgery, and it looked like a bit more than he was expecting. No biggie. Saves me the money, plus I can make sure it's done right. Honestly I kinda wanted to do it myself anyways.

So I started with the engine/trans removal. You guys are right- it's a lot of work. Very busy in there. LOTS of wires and hoses. Just around this time in the project I always start thinking I have bit off more than I can chew- but that happens every time I get to this stage. I have completed 100% of the rebuilds I have started so I don't think this one will be any different.

I can tell this is going to take a long time. But something I have noticed so far is that while it may take a while and there are a ton of steps, none so far have been particularly frustrating. And what I mean by that is so far this car seems to be well thought out. It seems to be designed with dissassembly/assembly in mind just by the way things come apart. I love how many things come out without the requirement of special tools- or ANY tools for that matter on a lot of items.

I did decide to out out of the top as I don't have a lift. I also want to do a few things to the engine before putting it back together.

So tear down has started.

Ceremonial washing/cleansing.



Before the 1st bolt was removed.



One thing lead to another and this is about where I called it quits.





Longest part was probably figuring out how to get the bumper off. Never done that before, and didn't want to break any tabs. I pride myself in not breaking any plastic pieces or clips so far!

Will keep you updated.

 

I like your style.

 

More progress today. Doesn't look a whole lot further along, but it is. I think I got all the wiring harness off finally. There are a ton of things going on under there.

I have not removed axles, exhaust, or the heater hoses yet. Also I am not quite sure how to remove the shift linkage on the transmission. Does anyone know how to take this off? The nut wasn't seeming to budge. Seems like it should snap off somehow.



Also back in that area were the connectors for the o2 sensors...way on the rear of the tranny. Those were a major PITA, but I finally got them. That has been the hardest part of this so far. What I'm finding on working on this is it's not super HARD, it just takes a long time. Been fairly frustration free so far. It comes apart fairly intuitively.

Didn't take as many photos as I would have liked since my hands were so greasy and I didn't want to mess up my phone. I will try to be better. I did take some photos of things I wanted to remember.

Something I have noticed is there are not many threads on engine/trans removal so I thought I would post as much as I can to help others out. A thread that has been super helpful was this one:

ENGINE AND TRANS REMOVAL FROM MY XC90!!!! (Watch this space!!!)!!!)

Anways, here are some photos I took for reference but they might not be super interesting. Feel free to glaze over them.






Finally broke a clip. This one was kinda a sucker to get off. Not even sure what it's connected to.

 

More progress today, but I didn't spend much time on it. Got the heater hoses off. They simply come off by squeezing and turning, but I couldn't seem to get it. My neighbor came over and had them off in seconds. Must be my delicate little girly hands. Your milage may vary.

Also got the exhaust undone. Not super hard but no cakewalk either. Removed one of the turbo hoses to get to it. Also took out the O2 sensors so I could get the heat shields moved. I removed the passenger side heat shield and the drivers side I just moved over.

Speaking of O2 sensors.... I don't have any reason to suspect these are bad, but is there any way to clean them as maintenance or is it best to just leave them alone?



Hopefully now it's just a matter of undoing the axels and pulling it up and out. I have a leveler, so that should help. Can't wait to get this beast out.

 

Ok, time for a question. The driveshaft for the rear wheels coming out of the front differential. Is there a way to get that to spin freely so I can get a wrench on the top bolts? Got 4 of them out. I jacked the back up, but I'm thinking I might also need to get the front tires off the ground too. Not sure if it has to be all 4 or just one on the front and one on the back. I did put it in park and release the E brake. Not sure what the magic combo is.

 

Jack up the front too and put it in neutral. You'll need to have the front up to pull the front axles anyway.

Speaking of that, make sure you drain the trans before pulling the passenger front axle. And make sure you pull it straight out otherwise you'll be taking apart the chain gear to replace the inner axle seal.

 

Only the front. It turns with the front final drive. You can set the rear back down.

 

Both of you guys were right. Thanks! I got the drive turned around so I can now get to the last two bolts. Now I have just the opposite problem. Interestingly enough now I have the opposite problem, and putting it in park doesn't seem to be working. Not a big deal, my wife will be home soon and I will just have her step of the brakes while I loosen it. Plus there is a storm coming in, so might as we get indoors.

I have never worked on the AWD portion of an AWD vehicle. So the axle spins with both rear tires on the ground. Interesting. But why? Is it some sort of viscous differential, similar to a torque converter? Haven't read up on these fascinating machines.

One last thing. For popping off the front CV's, is is enough to just undo the bolts where it connects to the struts, or is there more to it than that? I'm sure I can figure it out, but it would be nice to know the best practice going in.

Thanks for the tips, guys! :cheers:

 

The differential has an oil pump that is controlled by a module to operate the AWD.

For the front axles, I just disconnect the control arm from the ball joint since I'm pulling the subframe anyway. Since you're pulling everything out from above, you could do either.