Volvo s60 t5 oil loss no leak or smoke

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 08 Oct 2013, 12:38

Hi guys
Ok I have an 02 s60 t5 with 80k miles which is using about 1litre of oil in 800 miles now but with no obvious smoke or leaks. Performance still seems to be fine.

I took the turbo charge pipe to the inter cooler off and it seems to be quite oily with quite a lot of oil collecting down in the turbo itself. The inside of all of the cylinders are also slightly wet.

I understand that there is always some oil in the turbo pipes but mine seems quite excessive and is even starting to drip from the pipe from the intercooler to the throttle body joint.

The only smoke that can be seen is as revs drop after being revved up shown as a small puff of blue smoke from the back, but you would hardly even notice it even if stood behind the car looking for it.

The pcv was cleaned about four months ago and seems to have a good vacuum at the dipstick and oil filler hole. Occasionally I get what I think is a smell of hot or burning oil especially under heavy boost but still no sign of a leak.
No smoke appears to plume out on start up so hopefully not that valvestem seals.

Could this be a failing turbo? If so why am I not getting any smoke? Is there also a valve or anything in the PCV system which is perhaps stuck one way or the other allowing too much oil to be drawn through the system and burnt?

Thanks in advance for your help

bigbrain · Post by **bigbrain** » 15 Oct 2013, 15:00

Could it be going into the gearbox housing through the crank seal or engine plug?

Post by **vtl** » 15 Oct 2013, 20:22

Do you see any oil leaks under engine bay?

Post by **jimmy57** » 15 Oct 2013, 20:29

DO you have high confidence that the drain passage from crankcase breather box was cleaned after the box was removed from block?
The crankcase can have correct pressure but if the collected oil can't get back into sump then it stays suspended and is delivered into intake and turbo inlet hose. If the oil drains into block then only vapors with negligible oil gets into intake manifold and turbo inlet hose.

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 20 Oct 2013, 04:09

Hi guys thanks for your replies sorry for my delay. In regards to leaks no there is now nothing at all anywhere not even a misting of oil and the turbo oil return line (which i believe is a common one) looks clean and dry so im doubtful of a leak. I did previously have oil on the gearbox housing but the volvo independant had a look as said they didnt know where it was coming from, either way after they checked the gearbox oil level it has now not returned so probably a loose gearbox drain plug.

Thanks Jimmy57 what you say is very interesting regarding venting vapours but not returning the oil, but yes I am fairly confident it is pretty clear as the volvo independant who did the job said they had taken the sum off and had to ream out that passage as it was blocked solid. The only thing that wasnt done is replacement of any of the PCV parts so this prompted me to do this the other day (other than the big pipe returning to the PTC as it was just too hard to get off the PTC for me) so it now has a new breather box and top pipe and the rest cleaned as best as possible. Even though it was only cleaned a few months ago the breather box was pouring out crap when I cleaned it again hence replacement. Is there anything in that box in way of a valve that could be stuck open or closed?

Thanks for all your replies

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 20 Oct 2013, 04:34

If it is of any help here is a video of the only smoke from the tail pipe. There is some water vapour present at idle even though engine temp is warm, but at the peak of the revs (4000 rpm) as they fall there is a small puff of blue smoke that is all. Cant be seen from within the car. A similar video from cold start makes no difference in smoke. Makes me wonder if the PCV is venting properly?

Link:

swimNdrive · Post by **swimNdrive** » 20 Oct 2013, 10:34

If you have PCV problem, one place the oil could go is the spaces that hold the ignition coils. I found it out on my when I changed the spark plugs. I had to vacuum out all the oil before removing the plugs. In case you have not check this out, take a look at it and see if this is your problem.

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 21 Oct 2013, 01:55

Thank you for your suggestion but yes I have looked here and all is dry. I had a leak there in the past but that was coming from a missing bolt in the top of the head!

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 21 Oct 2013, 01:59

If anyone is interested I Have repeated the earlier video having done the change and there seems to be a slight improvement with less blue smoke puffed out... Time will tell I guess!

bigsi15 · Post by **bigsi15** » 14 Dec 2013, 07:01

Ok further update for anyone who is interested. I bit the bullet and had the turbo refurbished, sump removed and cleaned and o rings replaced and so far it has seemed to have solved my oil consumption issues... Still early days but hopefully it looks like the turbo was bad.

The shop said although there wasn't much shaft play initially the inside was full of carbon and dirty oil and once cleared a bit showed up loads if end float shaft play!

Now it boosts quicker, more powerful and less oil use!

Still early days and will update if it doesn't solve the problem but I hope this helps someone diagnose their similar problems and save some money