I'd known of the sludging issue prior to purchase but now I know more from expensive experience.

You're a braver man than I.

Sled, nahhh, foolish is NEVER brave. I was guilty of "shoppers fatigue".
The oil leak did give me pause, but time and fatigue got the better of me.
As was written above ...

Excessive blow-by as a result of low cylinder compression would provide excessive crankcase pressure. Too much work in this one; replace the motor.

Yep ... that's the drift I'm getting, unfortunately.

Two things factor here: 1) Expense; 2) Child is schooling in the city so she doesn't need it ...

You purchased the car a year ago. How many miles wee on the car then? How many did you put on it in the year you owned it?
Had the oil been changed in that year?

Sludge develops in these cars by using petroleum based oil, driving short trips, stop and go city driving, hot humid climates and ...

Engine Light On; codes thrown left'n'right
Post actual codes?


car throws Engine Light On, nasty noises from engine,

Again, post actual codes. My guess would be, engine misfire detected.

Forget PCV, nasty noises usually means engine had a catastrophic failure. Time to replace engine ...

jblackburn wrote:Are you saying that one of the cylinders only has 80 PSI compression?

Yes. That's after the work completed. Prior to that, it was 13psi.

Yes, I realize that the crankcase is a vacuum, sorry for the typo.

I can post far more detail, but the nuts and bolts are these:

2000 XC70T AWD, 2nd owner
Low Miles
Some garaging history, 1st owner
Oil found about pan during inspection, bought anyway
We NEVER changed fluids upon ownership (why that's bad will be clear)
Issue appeared near 1yr mark of our ownership ...