Car Fix DIY Videos

Rek Anthony says:

Great videos!
I just finished replacing the front and rear brakes on my 2008 Volvo XC90
today.
I found a short cut to replacing the rear pads.
I couldn’t find a 2008 video on youtube, so I will add my two cents below.
After watching your video it appears the 2008 has some different bolts on
the rear.

My fronts take a T55 Torx and 7mm hex Socket
My rears take a 13mm Hex and 7mm Hex socket
You will also need:
Breaker bar, if the bolts are tight.
Hammer, if you don’t have a breaker bar. To tap the socket wrench with.
8 inch C Clamp to press in the piston
Flat head screw driver
Flash light (free standing)
Knee pads!
Gloves.
I also suggest washing your car before taking on this job, as the brake
dust is everywhere.

Short cut to replacing the rear pads.
The 2008 XC90 Caliper assembly has two 7mm pins under the dust covers,
and two 13 mm Hex bolts. After removing the spring clip, and moving the
sensor wire out of the way: You don’t have to remove the 7mm Pins!
They are a pain to get to anyways, because they are right next to the
suspension spring.

Just remove the two 13 mm hex bolts with a socket wrench, and the whole
assembly pulls right off. The two Caliper parts slide back and forth over
the pins, and once you pull out the piston side pad, the 7mm pins section
slides right off, (if you need it to). You could always loosen the 7mm
pins at that point, if you need to take them apart. I had no issue leaving
it in tact.

I used a “C” Clamp to push in the piston, while carefully resting the
Caliper assembly on my knee.

You will need a flat head screwdriver to coax the piston side pad clip into
place, because the clip has to be pushed inside the piston. That was a
bit tricky at first, because the Caliper assembly wants to slide forward on
the pins. Just hold it in place while pressing the piston side pad into
place. Then insert the outer pad. It just slips in place. Reinsert the
two 13mm hex bolts, spring, etc.

The whole job, front and rear took me about five hours, including having to
drive back to Autozone to buy aT55 and a 7mm socket for the fronts.



fordf1502 says:

so what exactly was giving you trouble with the 2nd bolt? was it just stuck
really good?

TheTexasCoder says:

@waynegarbo Thanks for watching! Great question, I did not mention that in
the video 🙁 I apologize for that, but to answer your question, the torx
bit size, for the rear brake caliper bracket on my XC90 is a T-40.

David Z says:

Thanks for informative videos. I have 05 xc90 with 56,000. How can I tell
if my rear rotors need replacing?(rear pads appear to have plenty of meat
left on them..oil change place told me I need to replace pads/rotors
immediately..my reg mechanic says they’re still good) Also, I am having
difficulties removing rear rotors. Do you know how to release or loosen
emergency brake shoes? The rotors are hung up on shoes…I can feel the
springs resisting if I pull on rotors. Thanks for your advice!

TheTexasCoder says:

@ted101975 Thanks for the comment, and no, my 2004 T5 (2.5L) has the
Aisin-Warner transmission, and not the GM trannys found in the T6 (2.9L)
models that have the troublesome GM transmission. The XC90 is an
outstanding SUV, but from 2003 – 2006 they fought with the GM transmissions
(installed with the T6 engines) and finally, if I am remembering correctly,
revised the tranny in 2007.

TheTexasCoder says:

@fordf1502 Thanks for the comment! It was the torx bolt, that thing was
stuck on there, and since I did not have a stubby torx socket, it was a
nightmare to use my pliers and a standard size torx socket to remove
it…but I did go out and purchase some stubby sockets for the next time 🙂

TheTexasCoder says:

@fordf1502 Thanks for the comment! It was the torx bolt, that thing was
stuck on there, and since I did not have a stubby torx socket, it was a
nightmare to use my pliers and a standard size torx socket to remove
it…but I did go out and purchase some stubby sockets for the next time 🙂