Missing bolt from head/top of engine and oil leak

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 23 Jul 2013, 05:49

Hia All,

After an oil leak appeared all over the top of my engine and below under the engine/gearbox (I believe it has run down from the top and hopefully isnt a rear main seal!) I have noticed I appear to be missing a bolt that goes directly down into the head/top (see red circle in pictures)

Anyone any idea what it is for, the part number (feeling hopeful!) and if not having it there could cause any problem or leaks? The car seems to be burning oil on start up for a minute or 2 but is then fine and i occasionally get a smell of burning oil even before the leak appeared but the smell is intermittent and the vents all smell of it anyway even when the engine is off.

PCV was cleaned recently and seems to have good vaccume at the oil cap and at the dipstick and i recently changed the oil ring on the filler cap so maybe it just wasnt on tight enough as it seems to have stopped leaking again after removing and refitting the seal.

Car is a 2002 s60 t5 with 75000 miles

Thanks in advance for your help

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 26 Jul 2013, 04:25

Ok so after speaking to volvo they are saying it isn't meant to have anything in it as it is used as a vent or something on other models and shouldn't have anything come out of it either. Anyone heard of this? I seem to have oil building up in this hole even though the top of it is dry so it seems it is coming up from inside the hole...

Thanks

Magnus308 · Post by **Magnus308** » 26 Jul 2013, 06:11

Im quite sure that you should have a bolt in there, Probably someoneone have destroyed the threads during an earlier repair and was too lazy to remove the cylinderhead again to reapir the threads.

Here is a picture showing clearly it should be a bolt there

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 26 Jul 2013, 06:34

Thank you for your reply and especially the picture

I think your right it looks really out of place without it! Any idea what those bolts actually do and if they're important?

Is yours a t5 as well?

Thanks again

Post by **mikealder** » 26 Jul 2013, 06:52

Those bolts hold the top of the engine on to the cylinder head, I would simply get another bolt from a pick-n-pull and try it, if you are lucky the threads in the head might not be damaged - Mike

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 26 Jul 2013, 13:18

Hmm oh right, I hope those threads are Ok! Is one missing bolt a problem do you think? There is definitely oil seeping slowly up from that hole. Couple that with a slight smell of oil (maybe just from dirty air vents) and some oil consumption do you think there is a link perhaps?

Thanks again for all your help

Si

Post by **abscate** » 26 Jul 2013, 14:19

Those bolts hold the top of the engine on to the cylinder head,

They have to be tightened in a torque sequence, so I suspect they are all pretty important.

Heres some good karma that those threads are good, and the last mechanic just forgot.

Post by **vtl** » 26 Jul 2013, 14:55

Wow, Magnus308! I'd run to auto parts store, buy 20 liters of good synthetic oil and do 3 oil changes in a row with 500 km interval!

Magnus308 · Post by **Magnus308** » 26 Jul 2013, 17:50

vtl wrote:Wow, Magnus308! I'd run to auto parts store, buy 20 liters of good synthetic oil and do 3 oil changes in a row with 500 km interval!

Thats not my engine, I found that pic on internet

My engine have only seen Castrol Edge and Redline so its clean as a whistle

This is mine after about 150 000 km

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 27 Jul 2013, 07:47

Haha wow! Wish mine looked that clean! Don't think my cars previous owner gave it a very good life

burns oil, pcv was completely blocked, had a misfire, oil cap doesn't look clean at all dread to think what the inside looks like! And a few other things. Love the car tho and it drives great so it's kinda turning into a project!

Thanks again for the advice