New to Volvos & Forum-possible clogged oil trap

Post by **jblackburn** » 18 Jan 2010, 10:52

No problem - it took me about an hour of twisting and contortionism to figure out how to get that thing off

The oil separator should just be replaced - it's like $30, and replace the 2 lines leading into that, as they tend to crack. Make sure you get a new manifold gasket as well. Other than that, most of the other parts in the 'PCV kit' FCP sells aren't really essential - just clean out any of the lines you see that are gunked up.

yankeechess · Post by **yankeechess** » 18 Jan 2010, 11:38

At this point I am working on just getting the PTC parts cleaned. Is it recomended to buy the PTC Circled next in the one diagram posted or is cleaning out with break cleaner o.k. Also the oil seperater is the the same as the oil trap correct? and part of the PCV not PTC.

I hope I will not be tagged as the biggest PITA on the forum

Post by **jblackburn** » 18 Jan 2010, 11:55

No need to buy a new one unless you break it. And yes, brake cleaner should work fine for that (careful using it around other things though!)

Yes, the oil trap/oil separator are the same thing, sorry I tend to interchange words a lot

yankeechess · Post by **yankeechess** » 19 Jan 2010, 06:37

I took apart the PTC and it was very very clogged and dirty. I cleaned and blew out everything with break cleaner and put back together. The car seems to be running a lot better and there is hardly any smoke coming from exhaust. One thing I noticed is the engine sounds a little different with almost a winding noise. Think its the turbo. Is it possible that with everything clogged so bad, the turbo was not getting much oil. With never owning a Volvo before or having this one running right from the start, I do not have a base to go buy where I could tell or know for sure if this is truly running its best and everything is o.k. Also the car seems to have plenty of power and temperature is right where it should be. Maybe I got lucky and a clogged PTC was the main problem. I will still clean out the PTC in the next few days. I am sure its pretty dirty as well. I was also going to drive for a few days and clean the PTC out again incase more junk gets clogged in there. Its easy enough and worth the time to insure everything is kept up. Lastly, I am going to see about posting a video of the car running to see if anyone could give me feedback of how it sounds. I am still a little nervous driving in case there are further problems and don't want to hurt the engine because of something minor or avoidable.

Post by **jblackburn** » 19 Jan 2010, 06:49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD0DzWGJ_wk

Does it sound kinda like that?

yankeechess · Post by **yankeechess** » 19 Jan 2010, 14:27

Ya it sounds exactly like that.

IS that GOOD or BAD

I also noticed oil residue and very minor leak from the bottom of dipstick tube. Would this be from the PCT clogged. I also drove the car earlier and it seemed to be running pretty good.

I can't thank you enough for all your time & help. I would of probably been forced to bring to a Volvo dealer and we know what they charge.

Post by **jblackburn** » 19 Jan 2010, 14:39

That's how mine's always sounded, so I guess it's good!

It sounds less wimpy when you get your foot into it on the road

Sometimes the O-ring at the bottom of the dipstick tube starts to leak, but it doesn't have anything to do with the PCV system. It's pretty hard to get to, I would think it has to be done from up under the car. If you're still getting a bit of smoke up the tube, that's from the oil trap, but cleaning that PTC nipple out probably did your car a world of good, so you should feel good about your efforts

Stay far away from dealers. They overcharge and the majority of them are idiots. At least Chrysler dealers. But I won't go into that.

yankeechess · Post by **yankeechess** » 28 Jan 2010, 09:48

Well after all your help and work I did with the car, I took it up on the highway for the first time and it really started to smoke. The temperature really dropped down which I though was weird. I see no leaks anywhere. I drought the car home and parked it. I drove to the store the next day which is only a mile away and it seemed o.k. Also to note, the engine sounded fine with no nocks of any sort. I went to go drive the car around the block so it wasn't just sitting in the NY Cold and it seemed to run out of gas. My guage is not working right, so I went and put more gas in it. It would not turn over and after trying a few times, I heard a loud pop and smoke was coming from the hood torwards the back of engine and the oil dipstick popped up. I also took the oil cap off and it was also smoking pretty good. I hate to ask the bad question, but could this be a head gasket problem. I would of thought if it had a bad head gasket, the tempeture would have gone way up not down when I was driving on the highway.
So in short term do these issuses sound like a very clogged oil trap and system or head gasket
As always any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

Post by **jblackburn** » 28 Jan 2010, 10:43

Well that sucks. Honestly, that sounds like the RMS blew out

But, before we go pointing fingers at things, are you missing lots of oil or coolant?

A head gasket would be possible if there's a lot of coolant missing, and explain the cooling off as water began to leak into the cylinders. Look for water in the oil or oil in the water, either would indicate that problem.

A blown RMS would account for the pop and smoking and missing oil, but not coolant.

yankeechess · Post by **yankeechess** » 28 Jan 2010, 11:30

There is no oil in in the coolant or coolant in oil. Is the RMS the oil trap. If not how hard is the RMS to fix. If the car was driven with a bad RMS could this cause any other problem such as the car starting etc.

New to Volvos & Forum-possible clogged oil trap

Re: New to Volvos & Forum-possible clogged oil trap