*Update/Need advice on complete oil loss/leak

joesocal · Post by **joesocal** » 28 Apr 2012, 23:48

UPDATE: I replaced the seal, behind it I found dried oil and cleaned it out with q-tips and parts cleaner until it was completely clean. I put the new seal purchased from Volvo today in using my hands then lightly tapping it in using the old seal behind a 3/8 extension. I was careful and didn't apply much pressure. Filled the oil up and started the car and it's still spraying out of there significantly. Should there be that much pressure behind the cam seal? It's squirting out pretty drastically. Again, did the PCV recently, did the rubber glove test and balloon on the dipstick and niether inflated.

I am going to remove the sprocket and check the seal, but I can't imagine it needed to be pressed in much harder than I did before. Suggestions and help are greatly appreciated.

Joe

02 S60 FWD 2.4t
185,000 miles
PCV done at 175000
Timing belt 180000
Spark Plugs 180000

I've been searching unsuccessfully which leads to my post.

I was driving today on the freeway at about 75mph. Exited and as I pulled into the parking lot. I smelled oil through the vents. Temp gauge was fine and no warning lights at all, but I decided to check under the hood. As I did I could see oil on the passenger side axle and slight smoke coming from around the exhaust shields near the turbo. I parked the car and while sitting there a puddle built up fairly quickly and did not stop. I could not tend to it because I had my son with me and had to wait. I pushed the car to another spot and arranged transportation for my son. Once I got back to the car I checked the oil and none registered on the dip stick and continued to leak.

The car is now home, but I am not to sure where the oil is coming from. I'm cleaning it up as best I can, but everything is pretty wet down at the bottom. Are there any common areas I should be looking at? Timing belt is dry, small amounts of oil up top, but I think it was just slung around from underneath. I will really get into it in the morning, but I was hoping maybe someone might have some insight. Trouble seals, hoses etc.

Thank you in advance, I will be sure to follow up and post as much info as I can.

Joe

RaymanSean · Post by **RaymanSean** » 28 Apr 2012, 23:59

Sense the timing belt is dry, I will assume for now that the main crank main seal is fine, my next guess would be the oil filter canister. I do not like the placement of it for many reasons, but the biggest is that it is a target for road debris. You may also want to check the drain plug to see if it is tight. Other options are turbo oil lines/ seals but then you would have more oil towards the top of the block.

Rocky · Post by **Rocky** » 29 Apr 2012, 02:32

This founds suspiciously like my wifey's 03 xc70. Just noticed before swmbo took a trip that it was low on oil. Took 2qts to reach full.
Once back changed the oil and found evidence of oil from front between tranny and block to rear where turbo sits.
We've dried the lines since we can 't pinpoint problem area. Driving it for a week to see.
Praying it ain't the turbo. Dunno what those cost but done thing tells me they ain't cheap.

joesocal · Post by **joesocal** » 29 Apr 2012, 13:03

I took the last couple hours to try and clean up pretty thoroughly. When finished I put a couple quarts of oil in and started the car up. It took awhile for anything to happen, but I found the leak. It appears to be coming from the camshaft closest to the front of the car. I can't see the leak, but that is definitely where the river of oil is starting. No real sign of oil on the belt or sprockets, but it's leaking from there straight down the block behind the plastic cover, so this is why I couldn't tell it was coming from above. There is oil around here, but I couldn't rule out it getting slung up there because the drive shaft was slinging oil everywhere.

This is how it looked when before cleaning and before I added oil and ran it again.

And this is after I ran it. You can see a trail of oil, which must have disappeared while it sat for so long.

I will now research how to replace the seal here and hope it isn't too complicated. I'm a little intimidated by the timing aspect.

Thank you for the comments.

Post by **asc325is** » 29 Apr 2012, 17:03

Check your cam seals first, you can see the intake side through the pulley. I had mine blow and I thought it was the crank seal. Much easier to change.

joesocal · Post by **joesocal** » 01 May 2012, 21:49

Not sure why I can not edit this post again, but I did find a resolution to the oil leak. I pulled the seal that Volvo had given me and it turns out it was the wrong one. It did not look significantly different in size, but it was the one for the VVT side, not the other side. I replaced the seal, but I now have another issue with the CEL.

tribologist · Post by **tribologist** » 14 Dec 2013, 22:32

Have the same problem, I was driving down with the 2001 XC70 to meet my VCOA Friends at IKEA for the Christmas buffet here in CT but start seeing the oil lamp blip half way there. I quickly pulled off to the side just as the NO OIL PRESSURE warning went on.

Towed it home (AAA) and I was 100% sure it was the from crank seal since there was no oil on the timing belt and it was pouring like pancake syrup at IHOP right under the serpentine pulley and I had oil even out in the wheel coating the inside of the rim. This morning I went to my local Volvo dealer and he was suspicious since he had worked there for 20 years and never seen a crankshaft seal blow. He advised that i might have a crank case pressure issue so I picked up a new trap and some of the hoses with the crank seal. Anyway, when I started to take the covers off I thought I would double check it after I saw more oil on the side of the engine and then I found that the front camshaft seal had completely worked it self out but the oil magically followed the casting to make it in behind the cover and appear again at the lower part of the engine.

You can see the stream right in front of the engine mount. The car is lifted a little bit in the front, about 1-2 inch of air under the wheels.

I thought I post it to help other people avoid the same miss diagnosis.

Ulf

tribologist · Post by **tribologist** » 28 Dec 2013, 20:53

Talk about reinventing... I went to Volvo, the guy asked if I had variable valve timing on is so I said yes (there is VVT on the exhaust side) and like Joe, I got the wrong seal.. Luckily for me I noted it before I installed it and thanks to the great guys at Gengras Volvo here in East Hartford, CT I was able to change it that same evening (The service manager answered the phone after they closed and found me the right seal so I could swap it). There are apparently models with VVT on intake also. If your car looks like the ones pictured here you need the 9440651 model seal.