740 turbo leaks MUCHO oil!

turboauction · Post by **turboauction** » 25 May 2006, 14:15

This pretty little wagon only has one problem: it cant hold its oil. I want to do the job myself, but I dont trust my diagnosis. I've had a pro just glance at it from the top, and he said to pull the timing belt cover off to see whats going on under it. I have, but I dont know these nice cars enough to recognize whats going on.

I could take it into a shop and have them tell me, or pressure wash the engine and try to identify leaks myself, and hopefully get enough confidence and info to tackle it myself (as long as I don't need special volvo tools(#5021 and #5034)).

There is a lot of accumulated oil residue, so its hard to tell if there's just one or a few sources. the front passenger side of the engine, near the timing belt cover, is the most obvious leak and maybe the most offensive too. I will definitely replace vcg, but I think its more than that.
There is some dripping going on underneath, but hopefully I just need a new copper washer on the oil plug (If anyone has any scary possibilities for what else that could be, please let me know).

What I really need, and if anyone out there has links or reference, please help, is some step-by-step for changing the seals on the front end (camshaft, intermediate, and crank (is that unnecessary and/or really hard to do all those?)).

Hopefully I can post a close up of the timing belt area...

turboauction · Post by **turboauction** » 25 May 2006, 18:36

Here's a link to the close-up shot of the exposed timing belt area.

http://img362.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 1815mt.jpg

Kmaniac in California USA · Post by **Kmaniac in California USA** » 25 May 2006, 23:04

From the looks of the picture, I would suspect that oil is leaking from the top of the head, past the camshaft oil seal behind the camshaft sprocket. Remove the timing belt and camshaft sprocket. The oil seal will be visible. Pry out the old seal and tap in a new one. Then reassemble and your done.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

turboauction · Post by **turboauction** » 26 May 2006, 03:36

Thanks a lot again Kmaniac. I was trying to figure out if that cam seal was going to be rough, but it sounds like it wont.

What about the other accessible seals during that procedure? Does anyone have a standard operation of replacing all, or several, if doing one?
I'll probably replace the water pump while I'm there, but is it easy to do crankshaft seal? Intermediate seal?

Thanks for any help!

Kmaniac in California USA · Post by **Kmaniac in California USA** » 26 May 2006, 05:55

Looking at my Haynes manual a little farther, it appears the auxiliary shaft and crankshaft front oil seals are similar to the camshaft seal. Just remove the sprockets and there they are. Good Luck.

turboauction · Post by **turboauction** » 26 May 2006, 21:15

Thanks Kmaniac, things are going smooth so far.
One question though:
I'm about to use an impact wrench to get the crankshaft pully off.
Is this what I should be doing?
My crankshaft pully only has the one main bolt in the center, no smaller retaining bolts.

Thanks if anyone can help!

Kmaniac in California USA · Post by **Kmaniac in California USA** » 26 May 2006, 22:52

There is a trick I use to loosen the center crank bolt on my big-block Chryslers. It should work on the Volvo since the crankshaft rotates in the same direction.

I take an 18-inch long, 1/2-inch drive breaker bar with the proper size socket for the center bolt, place the socket on the center bolt and rotate the bar clockwise (direction of rotation) until the handle of the bar rests firmly against a frame member or something substantial. Then, I connect the battery and bump the starter. This loosens the bolt every time without breaking a sweat.

Let us know how you get your bolt out.

turboauction · Post by **turboauction** » 29 May 2006, 21:52

Everything went smooth and I'm back on the road.

The Rope Trick is what I used to be able to loosen and tighten the crank, as well as the other gears, as I had taken them all off to inspect seals. I felt a little cautious about using actual rope, though, because the idea of even a little bit of fuzz or something from the rope getting in the chamber didnt seem good. Instead I used some cable. Ethernet cable to be exact.
Its rubber shielded, cant hold particles of dust/dirt, and wont give off fuzz. Also, its easy to wipe down before putting it into the chamber. Of course I sealed the end so no metal from the cable was exposed. It was definitley squished when I pulled it out, but it didnt tear or break open in any way.

Thanks for the help....now for the headliner and finding the problem w/ the turbo....