Losing lots of oil

[mindshadow]

An update on this. I'm broke so it takes me a while to get to a mechanic.

Finally found a knowledgeable Volvo mechanic in my area (Russ at Oxmoor Automotive for anybody in Birmingham, AL). He noticed the oil on top of my engine (around the oil fill cap) and said it probably was just the positive pressure on the oil trap. He did the full PCV job today for $450. So far no oil is coming out. He took the timing belt cover off and said it's dry in there. Apparently the oil was building up on top of the engine and flowing down the passenger's side. Unfortunately the oil got on my rear motor mount so it will need to be replaced. He suggested I drive it around for a week and monitor my oil level.

[mindshadow]

D'oh, still losing a good bit of oil. Nothing is coming from the top anymore but the back passenger's side of the engine is covered in oil. What all is around that area? I'm thinking maybe the turbo oil lines but even though I had a quick look under the car there was so much oil it was difficult to pinpoint where it's coming from. The lines going towards the turbo seem to be about as high as the oil goes so that's kinda why I'm leaning towards that. I do remember when I Seafoamed the engine about 8 months ago some smoke came out around the back of the engine (near the turbo?) so maybe a seal or something is leaking there. Right now the rate of oil loss is from full to empty enough for the engine to tick fairly noticeably in about 2-3 weeks.

Also I noticed I'm still getting a little puff of smoke out of the tailpipe in the morning when I first accelerate. I thought that was part of an indication of the PCV job needing to be done but since I just had that replaced I'm not sure what else can cause that.

EDIT: I just thought of something. I usually get my Mann oil filters at NAPA. Last time they didn't have any so I stuck a Mobil 1 filter on there, figuring it wouldn't be a huge deal to use a Mobil 1 filter once. What is the chance this is related to this? None of this really started until a bit after I did my last oil change (though I was losing a little bit of oil but it was much slower and it was before I did the PCV job)?

[igel513]

Check the O ring at the turbo oil return line. It is the pipe from the turbo connected to the oil pan. The O ring may be bad cuz it happened to mine. On idle u won't see oil spewing out but only when turbo kicks in.

[mindshadow]

Is there an easy way to check it? Sorry, I'm still a bit green at all of this. Would it be best just to replace the O ring and the lines?

[JimBee]

Sounds like the recent discovery on my '93 850. Just to get terms straight, the "front" of the engine is actually the right (US passenger) side...right? The "side" of the engine is towards the firewall.
O.k., I noticed oil running down the firewall side of the engine, near the "front", getting onto the interior drive axel boot and slinging around that area. I cleaned things up with a rag and took off the TB shield, front and top, and it appears the source is the seal on the sprocket end of the exhaust camshaft. I have a new seal and soon will replace it.
Hope this helps.

[mindshadow]

That would make sense. Depending on where the leak is I might take it back to a mechanic (as I don't have the time or facilities to fool with this too much unfortunately). Right now I'm thinking the turbo seal makes the most sense because they cleaned the engine when they did the PCV job and I had a few days with no drip (because I was going easy on it) but I returned to my normal spirited driving and oil started shooting everywhere again. Plus the location adds up. I have to have my motor mount replaced because it soaked up some oil and is now not doing so well. There's also oil all over the axle boot. Hope that isn't a problem.

[mindshadow]

Update on this:

The exhaust seal and some other seal (camshaft?) were hard as a rock. Russ at Oxmoor Automotive replaced them both (for $200... not bad) and we're going to see if that cleans things up. So far so good but it's only been a day.

[yodielon]

I had the same problem on my 1997 850 t-5, oil was spewing everywhere, it looked like it was coming from the passenger side of the car, i also had a small amount of smoke coming from the dipstick as well as a decent amount of smoke coming from the back of the block when the car was stopped. A shop that specialized in Volvos told me it was the rear main seal. Took it to a trusted mechanic and it was not the rear main seal. Had two cam seals and two oil line o-rings replaced (Note: replaced oil return lines only a month before). The leak has stopped completely and i only see one or two very small small drops under the car. Please DO NOT replace your RMS before you check your cam seals...this was the problem with mine and only cost $300 compared to the $900 i got as an estimate to replace the RMS