Since I've had it I've never seen any oil on the ground or evidence of oil leakage beyond the typical slight oil weepage you get with age and some oil on/in the turbo hoses but nothing abnormal. She would use a small amount of oil, estimated 1 qt every 1-2k miles. Given the mileage I expect it's mainly being burnt, probably due to loose valve guides. Overhauling the top end has been on my to do list for a while but hasn't happened yet.
The car hasn't been driven much over the past few months but starting about 2 weeks ago I started driving it again. Yesterday it occurred to me to check the oil since I wasn't sure when it had been and I found it was about 2 1/2 qts low.... figured it was just from not checking it in a long while and kicked myself.
Yesterday I took the car to visit friends in LA, about 100 miles one way. Got up there fine and then this morning checked the oil again since it was on a slope when I checked before and to my surprise it was off the dipstick. Wound up taking ~5 qts which was a shock.... found a nice little pool under the rear of the motor too. Lost about another 5 qts getting it home.
So I have a sudden emergent 5 qt/100 mile oil leak - not good. I'm seeing oil primarily under the rear aft side of the engine and evidence of significant oil blowing back under the car. (including a nice layer on the rear window....) No puddling under the front of the engine or forward (car wise) side.
Looking under it, I see oil all over from the oil pan back, but much of it appears to be wind blown. The upper section of the block is dry, and the rear side (under distributor & cam sensor) also appears dry. No oil on the flywheel from what I can tell. The bottom of the turbo was oily, but it was no clear if it was leakage or blown oil, and there's always been a small amount of leakage. Of note, the turbo oil supply fitting was clean and looked good.
I wiped it down and ran the car (while engine was still warm) for about 10 minutes at idle but didn't see any sign of leakage. However, after driving ~5 miles in town the oil was back all over everything.
Anyone had something similar? I worked as a volvo mechanic for some years and don't recall seeing anything like this other than immediately following a bad seal job, and in that case the leak was seen at idle as well.
My best guess at this point is it's coming from the turbo due to location and the behavior. (oil leak happens when turbo spins up for some reason) However it doesn't really make sense since I'm not seeing any exhaust smoke or anything to make me think it's blowing large amounts of oil into the intake, which I'd expect from a blown turbo seal.
This type of sudden severe leak is was I'd expect to see from a hose leak, or a pressurized seal blowing out, but not seeing it leak at idle baffles me, as does the location. The turbo oil supply and drain line both showed no sign of leakage.
Thoughts? I've still got a lot of stuff to check, just curious what other folks thought....
