I diagnosed the problem by removing the skid plate and shoving a selfie stick under the car with it recording video, then turned the wheels lock to lock. fluid started pouring down the steering line that goes from pump to rack.
After lots of research – and finally getting vida to work on my windows 10 laptop (HOW AWESOME, virtual machines SUCK) – I found out that the part number for my car was 31329912 (this part supersedes the original part number for my car), and even though Amazon claimed it wouldn’t work on my car, it was a perfect fit. $57 shipped. Not bad! I bought the aftermarket “a-premium” brand here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BC624W9C Unfortunately, that was the best part of the procedure, because removing and replacing this thing SUCKS. so many fasteners in tight places, where you can’t see what you’re doing, also weaving the hard line around the steering rack is quite difficult. Other guides recommend dropping the subframe, I didn’t, but I bent the hard line slightly in a few places to get it in, which is worth it in my opinion.
Step by step:
Removed battery and battery tray. Only partially removed the air box, just to give enough slack for this cable that goes to the headlight to allow the battery tray to be removed.
Battery tray only had 2 bolts to start with. broke both of them off. (upon replacement I only used one bolt, need to drill them out and use nut-serts, will fix the other 3 bolts next time)
Incredibly after removing the battery box, I found out I was looking right at the power steering pump. But what you should do, is DRAIN THE RESERVOIR because I didn’t and I got fluid all over the engine and the floor. It slowly drips out over the course of an hour and makes a mess. Whoops. After draining fluid, then you can remove the line from the pump, and also the 2nd fastener holding the line in place to the pump.
I jacked up the front left side of the car, from a big frame bolt (rubber puck on top of floor jack) and lowered it onto a jackstand at the pinch weld. (used rubber piece on top of jackstand). still not 100% sure the best place to lift using floor jack if you’re using jack stands.
removed wheel. removed fender liner. This is when I realized that my fender was rusted out and that soundproofing foam was soaked. (does that cause the rust, or the pile of leaves? ordering 2 new fenders for $220 along with $35 for base coat spray paint can, I already have clear coat, that is actually a pretty good price I think)
At this moment I began to realize, because the line is fastened down in so many tight places, this might be difficult. A metric ratcheting wrench set is essential. Along with a stubby 1/4″ socket with flex head. It took me a full 3 hours to get the power steering line out. Good luck if you can beat that time! I could probably do it in less than an hour a 2nd time.
By reaching through the fender-area, I removed a bolt that goes through a hole in the back of the transmission into a nut on the line. not an easy one to get to!
Removed skid plate. loosened a bolt that holds the line down on the passenger side (to the subframe) allowing the line to slide out. removed a bolt that holds down a bracket, that holds a loop of the line together (important! now the line is much more flexible to get out!) You can also remove the bracket that goes into the subframe, the new line has the same bracket on it.
Used a torx bit to remove the bolt holding a plate, that keeps the “quick disconnect” connector into the steering rack.
So: from previous research, other people struggled with the V70 power steering line (which may be slightly different), but I knew that the key to releasing the quick disconnect from the steering rack is to JERK IT HARD. After some wiggling and REALLY HARD JERKING it actually popped free with no problems. I could see a scenario where if you can’t use your hands to jerk it hard enough, you could use a hose clamp to secure the line to a 2×2, screw a 2×2 block to the end of the 2×2, then use a hammer to hit the 2×2 outwards. I’ve done that before with a stuck cv axle and it worked beautifully.
What is strange, is that volvo tells you to use some kind of special disconnect tool? No idea how to use it. I got a kit off amazon with all the disconnect tools, thinking I’d need to use them, but the key was just to jerk the line really hard and it popped right out.
anyway. with all the bolts released. I wiggled the line down from the pump area, giving me even more flexibility to weave the hard line out from around the rack. carefully twisted the hard line from the bottom of the car. I had to weave it around the linkage of the steering rack. The key is to check it’s not caught on anything, and then gently twist and tug on it. The hard lines will actually bend easily if you put pressure on them, this is essential I believe and not a problem as long as you don’t bend them out of shape, or back and forth over and over. At this point, I had worked from 9pm to midnight, and I was ready to quit for the evening.
Next evening at 9pm: Started by protecting the ends of the new line with ziploc bags wrapped in duct tape. Didn’t want any dirt getting in the new line. it is actually a good idea to PUT THE O-RING ON THE LINE, BEFORE YOU WRAP IT UP! (it was difficult to place the o-ring on the line with it on the car) another important part: REMOVE THE BRACKET holding the loop of the line together. This greatly increases the flexibility of the line, I struggled for many minutes to twist the hard line around the steering rack before realizing that bracket was greatly limiting the flexibility.
So yeah. Starting from the underside of the car, I got the hard line twisted around the rack. Lined it up and shoved it into the rack. (This took half an hour, I stupidly had secured other bolts down, limiting the ability of the hard line to line up with the rack properly.) Secured the plate that holds the lines into the rack. THEN did the bracket on the passenger side of the car (the one where you slide the bracket in, and tighten down the bolt. toughie. THEN did the bracket that connects to the subframe. THEN lined up the rubber bushings and secured the bracket holding the loop to that bracket. (honestly most of this is common sense looking back at it, but my main point is: the order in which you do these things makes a big difference, and you need to do the hardest parts first and work your way back).
Once you got all the hard line stuff on the underside done, the rest is a piece of cake. easily shoved the flexible line to the top of the car. secured the bolt that goes through the hole in the transmission into the welded nut on the new line. I couldn’t actually see it while I was screwing it on, so I kind of took a peek, adjusted the line, tried to screw it on, couldn’t get it, took a peek, etc. eventually got it.
Reflecting on this: it would’ve been a lot easier with 2 people. Definitely more swearing involved if you do it by yourself. But it’s definitely doable.
I couldn’t use a torque wrench on the connector to the steering pump, so I just used a shorter wrench and twisted it on pretty good. (obviously put the o-ring on first) I got kind of nervous about the 2nd bolt that fastens the line to the power steering pump, because it seemed to be only half an inch from the power steering pulley. After checking a before-photo it actually is supposed to be like that. Pictures are great aren’t they?
Put the fender liner back on. Wheel back on. skid plate back on. battery tray back in. (found out: that bracket holding down the battery has 2 positions, and I had in the position for a larger battery, allowing my battery to slide back and forth. not good. moved the bolt to the other position and my battery secured nicely.) my battery tray only has 1 bolt right now, will fix that next time with nutserts. Also: there is this tube that vents the battery, I hadn’t used that when I put in a new battery last year, so I reconnected that properly.
At this point, I put everything back together, put in a new power steering reservoir ($14 off ebay), filled the power steering reservoir. (I used PENTOSIN 8403107 CHF202 from rockauto. I bought 3 of them, turns out it really didn’t take much at all, I didn’t know how bad the leak was going to get and how long I would keep driving it like that and this stuff is way cheaper on rockauto). With the car off, I turned the steering wheel left and right lock to lock a few times to circulate the new fluid, then re-topped it up. I turned on the car and turned the wheel a few times lock to lock. No more leak!!! Hooray!!!
I did notice that the power steering pump started immediately making a humming noise now, as I use it. I wonder if this is because I replaced the reservoir, which has a screen that was mostly plugged up. steering is unaffected. I ordered a new power steering pump for $80 from amazon, along with a new water pump. Something is still quite noisy when I start the car, and when I bought the car, the previous owner had the serpentine belt + tensioner + idler pulley replaced, but not the water pump or power steering pump. So when I get the chance, I will replace these two items, because I think they are noisy now at 165k miles.
All in all. This took 7.5 hours. I finished the 2nd night at 1:30 am and then did a really fun test drive on the highway. But keep in mind, I wasn’t familiar with this procedure at all, I struggled with basic things like figuring out which fastener would be hardest (which should be done first) etc. I think I could easily do it within 2-3 hours a second time, I spent a lot of time trivializing over how the battery box’s bolts all rusted and sheared off and how I needed to fix that before driving the car again etc.
Anyway. I learned a few things, hopefully if someone else out there has a leaking steering line and wondering if it’s doable, they can buy some ratcheting wrenches + stubby 1/4 flex head ratchets and take it on! Not easy but doable if you are determined and have the time to be patient and make it work. Pretty sure any mechanic would’ve charged at least $1k to do this job, because it literally sucks. And I did it without dropping the subframe or removing the sway bar like they resorted to in other guides. Good luck!