Has anyone pulled oil pan to check for PCV clog?

[cn90]

From reading jblackburn PCV DIY (link below), after the job is done, some people solved their smoking dipstick issue but some still had smoking dipstick:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=28487

Then I start wondering if anyone has ever dropped the oil pan to check for PCV clog?

See this article:

Volvo: Pulling the Plug on Plugged Oil Traps (2004 XC70)
http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/issue/a ... ntid=93623

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11. Once the oil pan was off, we could see just how badly the return passage was plugged in the block (see Photo 11) and how badly the oil pan was plugged (see Photo 12).

11.jpg (84.1 KiB) Viewed 5442 times

12.jpg (68.26 KiB) Viewed 5442 times

12. Be sure to clean the oil passage in the pan from top to bottom before getting the oil pan ready for reinstallation.


13. Photo 13 shows the oil pan clean and ready for reinstallation. Be sure to replace the

O-rings for the oil pipe in the oil pan. They can get hard and crack and cause a loss of oil pressure.

13.jpg (55.83 KiB) Viewed 5442 times

Volvo’s oil pan seal kit P/N 30750783 includes all the seals needed to do the job. The only parts that don’t come with seal kit are for the oil cooler (see Photo 14).

14.jpg (54.62 KiB) Viewed 5442 times

[/i]

[EstVolvo]

Yes, I pulled the oil pan with 110000 miles or so and the return passage was clean. Oil pump rubber gasket was bad.

[Ozark Lee]

The pans I yanked off of the '99 and '00 engines from and for my XC had passages that were a little clogged up. The clogging at the bottom of the passages very much replicated the clogging to the block at the elbow from the oil trap. My guess is that the the passage hole to the block that the pictured sump pan came off of was completely blocked.

I have re-done the PCV on all of my cars and I have never had any significant crud built up in the return line hole.

...Lee

[cn90]

Thanks Lee,

I re-doing the PCV (I don't think Volvo dealer did a good job for the P.O. 2 years ago) this weekend.

I am going to follow some tips from volvospeed:
"Get a hose and attach to the lower port (the return port) and blow through it with your mouth, if there is flow, you are OK. If not, pull the oil pan".

Pulling the oil pan is the job I am trying to avoid!

[wheelsup]

I've pulled two oil pans and the passage was clean on both. One car was not running but had a massive RMS leak. On my car it still smoked so I pulled the dipstick and attached a hose to the dipstick tube and routed it under my car. If you were environmentally conscious you could probably route it back into the intake manifold hose. This relieved pressure in the crank case and stopped the RMS leak. I think my smoking dipstick is more due to worn rings. That is the only thing that it could be now.

[cn90]

Thanks wheelsup for the reply.
How many miles on your car that you think have worn piston rings?
I thought these engines do not develop worn rings until 250K or so.

[erikv11]

Yeah, it is recommended all the time to clean that passage, but I don't think I would ever drop the pan just to check. Drop the pan to clean sure, but you can check it from above during a PCV job.

I've pulled four oil pans in the last 3 years. Mileage was 100k, 152k, 172k and 196k. All had clean passages to the PCV, even the 100k junkyard engine that had clearly been neglected for oil changes and had a lot of sludge under the oil pan. All also had clean PCV systems though, so it doesn't really tell us much.

In that picture 13 up above, there is WAY too much pink goop on the oil pan sealing surface.