volvos smokin

mikilla · Post by **mikilla** » 21 May 2013, 06:02

My Volvo 850 runs great has great compression and everything but smokes from the exhaust a lot. It only really smokes when I've been sitting at a stop light or something for a minute then when I take off there's a puff of smoke behind me I can't really tell what color the smoke so I don't know if its burning oil or if its water of what, what could it be?

I'm kinda thinking its the piston rings but not sure. I don't think its my turbo, I'm running g a 16t but when I got it maybe 5000 miles ago I had it rebuilt and I checked the intercooler piping and its pretty clean.

Also my car leaks oil but it seems like it takes more oil then it drips, maybe burning oil? I'm not sure though the car has maybe 230k miles but the guy I bought it from had all the paper work since it had 17 miles and was changed with nothing but mobile 1 full synthetic. Another thing I should.note is the pvc hose the goes to the turbo intake has kinda blown headhasket milk shake looking oil in it but the engine oil looks great.

Sorry for such a log post but i I'm trying go give as much info as possible. My Volvo is pretty modified, it has a fmic, obx turbo back exhaust, speed tuning chip, 5 speed swap, a 16t straight flang turbo, and a couple other thing if that stuff really makes a difference. I appreciate all help thank u

Post by **rspi** » 21 May 2013, 06:14

First off, tell it to stop smoking, second hand smoke harms us all. Secondly, when you apologize for a long post, you just made it longer. Lol

What shape is the PCV system in? There is a chance that you have a torn elbow there somewhere that can cause oil blow by. My guess is that valve stem seals are leaking. I have learned that the oil filter you use on these cars is more important than the type of oil.

If you are NOT using high mileage, switch to it, install a Volvo or Mann filter, bump up your oil weight and see if that helps. My car was smoking and going through 1 quart every 1,500 miles. I bumped the weight up from 10w-30 to 10w-40 and have seen ZERO smoke and loss less than 1/2 quart of oil in the past 3,500 miles (including the 900 I drove yesterday).

Post by **jpr0204** » 21 May 2013, 06:42

+1 for what rspi said...

The only thing I would like to add in addition is whenever I have had an oil leak, most of the time the entire drivetain (engine/trans) was soaked and could never pinpoint at first where the leak is coming from. What I do is I buy about three cans of the engine degreaser, get her up on a pair of ramps or a lift (if you're that lucky) and spray away. Let it sit about 5 to 10 minutes and then rinse it all away. I then use compressed air to dry everything once all the oil is off. Afterwards, I'll talk a small 3 to 5 miles ride and when I return I'll take a look again to try and pinpoint where the leak is coming from. Some things are a lot easier to spot than others, but by degreasing the undercarrige it help A LOT.

Please post back and let us know what you find.

- Joe

mikilla · Post by **mikilla** » 21 May 2013, 07:23

I know why its leaking, its because I'm running a oil pressure gauge and I removed the stock oil sensor but the threads are a little small for the hole it still fits but the new sensor thread tapers down and it doesn't seal up really good but its just a few drops when I leave it overnight so its not a hole lot.

I just changed the hole pcv system so the flame trap is good n stuff but the hoses might have fallen off or something I'll look. I just can't figure out why that hose is full of milkshake oil.

My friend looked behind my car while I was driving n said the smoke was white but he doesn't know a hope lot about car n stuff.

Also what are those o rings in the oil pan or something that people talk about?

Post by **mikealder** » 21 May 2013, 07:28

The O Rings in the sump are for the oil pump pickup pipe, best changed if the sump has to come off for any reason but they wouldn't cause the car to burn oil, usually when they go you get a low oil pressure warning illuminating.
When you did the PCV did you try to blow through the lower port in the front of the engine where the PCV tank connects, best way is about 3' of 5/8" hose, if you can't blow through it, it is still blocked. If it is blocked then the nice new tank and pipes will fill up with mucky blow-by oil and once full will send excess blow-by oil and gas straight to the intake causing smoke - Might be time to pull the tank off to double check the port is free and unblocked - Mike

Post by **erikv11** » 21 May 2013, 08:08

mikilla wrote:My Volvo 850 runs great has great compression and everything but smokes from the exhaust a lot. It only really smokes when I've been sitting at a stop light or something for a minute then when I take off there's a puff of smoke behind me I can't really tell what color the smoke so I don't know if its burning oil or if its water of what, what could it be?
...

Puff of blue smoke at startup and/or after idle his is the classic symptom for worn out valve stem seals, which are so predictable in these aging engines that it is not really a question of if they have worn out, but rather when or how badly so far. The seals get old and hardened, so that oil can leak past them onto the valves where it burns off when the engine revs. You can either (a) live with it (most people do) or (b) replace the seals with the head in the car (tricky) or (c) pull the head and have a machine shop replace them (gets a bit expensive when you rebuild the top end properly). If you go with (a) it will gradually get worse but the car will run fine. However there is a danger to ignoring it, in that the burning oil can lead to a burnt exhaust valve or two and force you to choose between option (c) or a new car.

You may be able to figure out which valve stems are leaking the most by looking the the spark plugs. Burned oil residue on a plug suggests leakage is getting pretty bad for one of the four valves in that cylinder.

Post by **jblackburn** » 22 May 2013, 08:06

erikv11 wrote:
mikilla wrote:My Volvo 850 runs great has great compression and everything but smokes from the exhaust a lot. It only really smokes when I've been sitting at a stop light or something for a minute then when I take off there's a puff of smoke behind me I can't really tell what color the smoke so I don't know if its burning oil or if its water of what, what could it be?
...
Puff of blue smoke at startup and/or after idle his is the classic symptom for worn out valve stem seals, which are so predictable in these aging engines that it is not really a question of if they have worn out, but rather when or how badly so far. The seals get old and hardened, so that oil can leak past them onto the valves where it burns off when the engine revs. You can either (a) live with it (most people do) or (b) replace the seals with the head in the car (tricky) or (c) pull the head and have a machine shop replace them (gets a bit expensive when you rebuild the top end properly). If you go with (a) it will gradually get worse but the car will run fine. However there is a danger to ignoring it, in that the burning oil can lead to a burnt exhaust valve or two and force you to choose between option (c) or a new car.

You may be able to figure out which valve stems are leaking the most by looking the the spark plugs. Burned oil residue on a plug suggests leakage is getting pretty bad for one of the four valves in that cylinder.

Valve stem seals are EXACTLY why Carlene smokes quite a bit on start up these days. This may eventually lead to a burned valve or failed emissions test, but until then, it's a lotta work for something that isn't REALLY hurting the car.

You can try a high mileage oil and it may help a bit, a 10w30 or 10w40. A Seafoam treatment wouldn't hurt either, just to clean up the cylinders/valves.

Post by **misha** » 22 May 2013, 18:41

I'm preparing for a valve stem seals replacement because mine is also smoking after sitting on a red light,but as soon as i take off it clears and no smoke at all.

Latelly...it started to smoke at idle,but as soon as i hit the gas pedal,puff of blue smoke comes out from the exhaust,then it clears and there is no smoke after that....and so on and on and on.

I noticed that the blue smoke at idle is noticable ONLY at night when i'm sitting at red light and the other car is sitting behind me with headlights on.The only way you can see a blue smoke at idle is when the you look at the mirror directly under the headlights of the car behind me.
When i get out of the car i see nothing...also during the day...nothing.Yesterday it was idling for a good 10 minutes with ac on at the parking lot and i looked at the exhaust all the time and couldn't see nothing.As soon as i hit the gas a puff of blue smoke escaped from the exhaust and then it cleared like nothing happened.

There is no blue smoke at hard acceleration,car is running normal,plenty of power...etc.

It started to smoke a few years ago and it was not a big deal.It just smoked after idling for a few minutes,but now it's time to think about valve stem seals replacement.

I'll talk to my mechanic and if he have tools and knows how to(if he wants to) do that without removing the head i'll let him to do it that way...if not,the head will go to a machine shop.

Just to be sure...i'll check the compression first,but i'm convinced that it's good.

The fact that the car is bought almost new,regular oil changes,regular maintanences,around 300k km if not more(odometer broke around 180k km),the only thing that can be bad are valve stem seals,hopefully.

I saw a lot of you tube videos about bad valve stem seals symptoms and...in comparison with those videos....mine is not smoking at all.

See this one for example:

LoL!

Post by **j-dawg** » 22 May 2013, 19:12

mikilla wrote:I know why its leaking, its because I'm running a oil pressure gauge and I removed the stock oil sensor but the threads are a little small for the hole it still fits but the new sensor thread tapers down and it doesn't seal up really good but its just a few drops when I leave it overnight so its not a hole lot.

did you use teflon tape on the threads? tapered pipe threads usually need teflon tape or pipe dope, or they won't seal.

socompsp · Post by **socompsp** » 22 May 2013, 21:19

mikilla wrote:I know why its leaking, its because I'm running a oil pressure gauge and I removed the stock oil sensor but the threads are a little small for the hole it still fits but the new sensor thread tapers down and it doesn't seal up really good but its just a few drops when I leave it overnight so its not a hole lot.

I just changed the hole pcv system so the flame trap is good n stuff but the hoses might have fallen off or something I'll look. I just can't figure out why that hose is full of milkshake oil.

My friend looked behind my car while I was driving n said the smoke was white but he doesn't know a hope lot about car n stuff.

Also what are those o rings in the oil pan or something that people talk about?

correct me if im wrong but doesnt white smoke point to coolant being burned?