1996 Volvo 850 T5 - Severe Oil Leaks

Post by **MNCO1** » 30 Jan 2010, 20:15

I am chasing the same monsters here. Oil mess underneath. I had the turbo return line done back in 2003 and when I went in to do it this time I couldn't believe how loose the hex bolts were. Maybe only needed to be tighten up. Changed the gasket and sealing ring anyway. I changed out my oil trap and PCV lines out too. I am hoping I don't have a RMS issue. Did everyhting I could.

Post by **jblackburn** » 30 Jan 2010, 23:51

Most cars with a lot of miles have a leaking RMS to some extent, but hopefully you got it in time that it's not going to blow out or leak like crazy on you.

Try to clean up the oil all on the underside of it and see if some re-appears.

_HighVoltage_ · Post by **_HighVoltage_** » 31 Jan 2010, 13:10

You can have a leaking RMS and no problems with the PCV. That's what I'm (was) having. No smoke from the dipstick, no oil coming out of the cap...yet terrible leak from the RMS, which soaks the underside of the transmission. I was losing a quart every 500 miles.

Since then, I've improved the situation a lot by swithcing to Valvoline MaxLife 10w40 (semi-synth). Knock on wood, but my oil leak has stopped completely, or at least it's barely noticeable.

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 06 Feb 2010, 19:32

Hi Folks,

I used to think that my oil leak was from the Oil return line gasket and O-ring...well I was wrong...replaced them both ...and still have a leak.

Here's the thing though I also always have smoke coming from under the hood...it smells like very expensive burning Mobil synthetic(10W30) oil

...As of Yesterday I've only smelled this smoke when I come to a stop and have the heater on. So recently I've decided to turn the heater off before I came to a stop (even despite the subfreezing temps outside...thank GOD for heated seats...) While at a full stop it's very very common to see smoke billowing from underneath the hood...it would disappear as soon as I took off again.

So last night I changed the oil (was at empty thanks to the leak) ...as always I used 10w-30 Mobil(5.3Liters as per the manual)...This morning when I fired her up and went for a drive ALOOOT of smoke and unbelievably INTOXICATING burning oil smell. Much worse than I've ever had before. I couldn't control(or limit) it at all. Every single stop would mean billowing smoke from underneath the hood and black fumes entering the car from the central air vents. Even when I turned of the heater the fumes were just too strong and plentiful and still entered the cabin ...

I left my family in the car and went inside to buy something(car running)...when I came back everyone had their windows down.

I went to a strip mall in the evening and a passer by thought it(my 850 T5) was on fire with crazy amounts of smoke billowing from under the hood (when I had already shut it off 5 minutes earlier)...Thank GOD I was there ..or she might have called 911!!!

This is HORRRIBLE!!!! Please help me...this is not only aggravating...I could potentially get a ticket for it...I'm polluting the air... hurting family's health...It's also costing me too much money for oil.

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 06 Feb 2010, 19:38

By the way.... I should add that when ever I open the hood to check...the smoke always seems to come from the turbo area.

Post by **jblackburn** » 06 Feb 2010, 19:41

Blown rear main seal? You could try switching to a high-mileage oil like HighVoltage suggested, or adding RMS stop leak. The synthetic is very thin oil, and will leak from anything it gets a chance to.

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 06 Feb 2010, 19:52

How can I verify for sure if it is indeed(SADLY) true that my RMS..is gone?

Thanks bud!

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 06 Feb 2010, 20:11

850 Turbo1 wrote:Hi Folks,

I used to think that my oil leak was from the Oil return line gasket and O-ring...well I was wrong...replaced them both ...and still have a leak.

Here's the thing though I also always have smoke coming from under the hood...it smells like very expensive burning Mobil synthetic(10W30) oil ...As of Yesterday I've only smelled this smoke when I come to a stop and have the heater on. So recently I've decided to turn the heater off before I came to a stop (even despite the subfreezing temps outside...thank GOD for heated seats...) While at a full stop it's very very common to see smoke billowing from underneath the hood...it would disappear as soon as I took off again.

So last night I changed the oil (was at empty thanks to the leak) ...as always I used 10w-30 Mobil(5.3Liters as per the manual)...This morning when I fired her up and went for a drive ALOOOT of smoke and unbelievably INTOXICATING burning oil smell. Much worse than I've ever had before. I couldn't control(or limit) it at all. Every single stop would mean billowing smoke from underneath the hood and black fumes entering the car from the central air vents. Even when I turned of the heater the fumes were just too strong and plentiful and still entered the cabin ...

I left my family in the car and went inside to buy something(car running)...when I came back everyone had their windows down.

I went to a strip mall in the evening and a passer by thought it(my 850 T5) was on fire with crazy amounts of smoke billowing from under the hood (when I had already shut it off 5 minutes earlier)...Thank GOD I was there ..or she might have called 911!!!

This is HORRRIBLE!!!! Please help me...this is not only aggravating...I could potentially get a ticket for it...I'm polluting the air... hurting family's health...It's also costing me too much money for oil.

Any other folks have opinions on this? I'm all ears.

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 09 Feb 2010, 12:31

Well...this is embarrassing...I forgot to put the oil cap back on...thus the much larger amounts of smoke...DAMN IT!!!!

In the words of Homer Simpson... DOH!!!
I'll post a video soon ... with more detail of where the smoke is coming from...

I don't think it's the cam seals...they look fine.

Post by **jblackburn** » 09 Feb 2010, 12:44

I did that once on my Saab, and couldn't figure out why it kept cutting off every time I let off the gas

Mine actually turned out to be the rear cam seal had blown out and was the one dripping oil all over everything (much less $$$ than a RMS - which leaks too, but the mechanic said it was nothing to be concerned about at this point), and this way my car can have other important things done to it that it needs - like those rear brakes that I don't feel like doing! Always good to have another opinion!

Definitely get a video up, but my guess is that something's leaking out on the exhaust manifold and smoking. Have you pulled off the heat shield over the turbo to have a look there?

1996 Volvo 850 T5 - Severe Oil Leaks

Re: 1996 Volvo 850 T5 - Severe Oil Leaks