Help on 1995 850 GLT oil leak diagnosis

[runpaulone]

Alright - I have an idea of why there's an excess mount of oil here in the engine, but I'd like to entertain some ideas. From what I've heard there's a gasket around the engine (found after removing surrounding bolts) that needs to be replaced. The car has est. 170k miles on it.

Thanks for the help...

[jblackburn]

The gasket's right on that oil filler cap right there.

But first, if you have excess PCV system pressure, that system needs to be cleaned before you plop a new gasket on there. Right now, that pressure's blowing out the oil cap rather than your engine seals, which are much much harder to get to.

[wheelsup]

There are 2 reasons why oil is pooled on top of itself.

1) The o-ring around the filler cap gets hard and starts to leak.

or

2) Your PCV system is clogged. What this will do is causing excessive crankcase pressure and essentially "blow" oil out.

it could also be a combo of 1 and 2.

[runpaulone]

The gasket's right on that oil filler cap right there.

But first, if you have excess PCV system pressure, that system needs to be cleaned before you plop a new gasket on there. Right now, that pressure's blowing out the oil cap rather than your engine seals, which are much much harder to get to.

Blasted! Should've thought of that. The way I came to finding all this oil is because I needed to find the PCV valve to Seafoam the car. Excuse my ignorance, but the black hose on the left of the oil cap is that valve, correct? I poured a third of bottle in there. Car seems to be performing nicely. I'll grab that gasket from the Zone soon. Any suggestions on cleaning the PCV system?

[wheelsup]

That's actually not a PCV valve. I don't think our Volvos have a PCV valve on them, at least like my wife's VW does.

What happens is that tube goes to a box that collects oil from "blowby" (I think) and it separates the oil and returns it to the oil pan and the fumes get sucked into the intake manifold.

Typically what happens is the hole leading to the oil pan gets completely caked up and is blocked.

Go drive your car 15 mins or so then pull the dipstick tube (with it still running). Use the throttle linkage to the right of the motor and rev it. Chances are you'll see white-ish smoke coming out the dipstick tube. If so you have pressure and replacing the o-ring won't help.

FWIW I seafoamed down the tube as well and still get white smoke.

To clean the PCV system you have to take the intake manifold off. Not a tough job but kinda a PITA. Took me around 4 hours w/ air tools to do the whole thing.

However if its bad like mine you also have to drop the oil pan to completely clean the passageway.

[boosted5cyl]

Hmm, I found oil there when I went to check my plugs too. Assumed it was a valve cover gasket. Crankcase pressure seems okay, but I guess I better check it again.

[jblackburn]

The procedure for cleaning is different between the turbo and non-turbo cars, mainly between the flame trap and PTC nipple on the turbo cars.

This is the write-up I used for my model, but if yours is the N/A, take a look at some of thedifferences here.

FCP Groton sells a PCV kit that includes the oil seperator (which you'll need), intake manifold gasket (needed), and a couple PCV hoses. Really the only hoses that you'll need are the ones into and out of the oil seperator if you're careful not to break the rest of them. I ordered the whole kit, which was good that I did because I snapped one of the oil seperator hoses trying to get it off (that short black one you were talking about). The rest of them weren't too bad or clogged at all. Luckily, you don't have to deal with the PTC nipple on your car

[runpaulone]

That's actually not a PCV valve. I don't think our Volvos have a PCV valve on them, at least like my wife's VW does.

Go drive your car 15 mins or so then pull the dipstick tube (with it still running). Use the throttle linkage to the right of the motor and rev it. Chances are you'll see white-ish smoke coming out the dipstick tube. If so you have pressure and replacing the o-ring won't help.

FWIW I seafoamed down the tube as well and still get white smoke.

I wondered why I couldn't find your usual looking PCV valve. Also, I guess I don't feel as bad pouring the Seafoam down there as long as someone else did it too! Thanks.

[larryh]

why would you pour strange substances down random openings in the engine?

Just go ahead and replace the oil filler cap gasket first. It's cheap and easy and will fix that leak.

Then see if the pcv is working, It might be just fine. Rather than relying on seeing smoke come out of it, I test it by putting a latex glove or balloon over the dipstick tube with the engine running and warm. You should see the glove getting gently sucked into the tube. If there is suction your good to go. If it blows air then you got some work to do.

[runpaulone]

why would you pour strange substances down random openings in the engine?

Just go ahead and replace the oil filler cap gasket first. It's cheap and easy and will fix that leak.

Then see if the pcv is working, It might be just fine. Rather than relying on seeing smoke come out of it, I test it by putting a latex glove or balloon over the dipstick tube with the engine running and warm. You should see the glove getting gently sucked into the tube. If there is suction your good to go. If it blows air then you got some work to do.

You've never poured anything down tubes you had no clue about? I don't know. I assumed, compared to some other vehicles, this was the pcv. I should've known better, but thought I'd give it a try. Do you think I've harmed anything by doing this? I will get the gasket as a cheap fix. I'll also do the latex check. Thanks.