Looking for some advice please. The turbo on our XC90 has failed. The dealership wants to replace BOTH turbo's at twice the cost! Is is necessary to replace both?

 

You must have a 2003-06 xc90T6 with twin turbos. Usually what kills those - is the transmission goes bad and it cost more than the car is worth to fix. That is also true with turbo replacement. (What's the value of the car?)

I trust you understand what a turbo is and does - It's simply a pair of fan blades on a shaft that spins very fast. The only way they fail - is the bearings wear due to lack of cool clean oil.

A word of caution - I have found with the 5 cylinder turbo engines - the reason the turbo goes bad is from a lack of oil pressure. "Sludge" forms in the oil pan and clogs the oil pickup tube, resulting in low oil pressure, with the end result of damaging the bearings in the turbo (s). If you have had low oil pressure, both turbos will be in the same condition. And the "sludge" solution will be even more expensive. Add the cost of oil pan removal and cleaning, PCV system replacement and a new style pickup tube. You will need to hope there is no other damage to the engine from low oil pressure also. Here again - what the car worth?

Sorry for your loss

 

It's a 2015 (65) model.

 

What engine do you have? Looking at a Volvo parts catalog - a 2010 xc90 in GB was offered in three 5 cylinder turbocharged engine choices. One gas and two diesel engines. None of those have more than one turbocharger attached. (a non turbo inline 6 and the V8 was offered also)

Are you certain someone is trying to sell you 2 turbochargers?

 

Apologies, its a 2015 plate (65)... clumsy fingers!

 

The new body style xc90 (2016+ here in the US) was offered with 4 cyl T5 or T6 gas engine choices. The T5 has a turbo charger and the T6 has an additional belt driven supercharger.

It sounds like the suggestion is to replace both - Any idea why they failed? Once again it's usually lack of cool clean oil that kills turbo/super chargers.