Oil leak in 1994 850

Jared · Post by **Jared** » 11 Apr 2007, 10:16

Hi there,

Dispite having the master seal (between the transmisison and the engine block) replaced, and another seal on the engine block itself replaced, I continue to have an oil leak in this car. Does anyone have a suggestion, or is this leak typical of a 1994 850?

Your time and suggestions are appreciated.

Regards, Jared Purdy

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 11 Apr 2007, 12:21

Hi Jared,

Is your car a turbo or is it normally aspirated?

Can you tell the general area where the leak is coming from?

Leaks are fairly common but they are certainly repairable. I have a '94 and it doesn't leak a drop.

Fill us in with a little more information and we will do our best to help you out.

...Lee

oldredwheels · Post by **oldredwheels** » 11 Apr 2007, 16:28

Hi Jared,

I have had similar frustrations with oil drips on the rear main seal side and found an interesting thing. The curved inlet tube into the throttle body was tilted back and down towards the PCV connection so that it was lower then centerline. It turned out that it was dripping the collected over mist oil down onto the rear side of the engine and tranny connections. The flame trap assembly was clearly dripping oil.

End result I made sure it was centerlined and the hose clamp into the throttle body was tight. The oil stopped dripping and the area under the car no longer shows evidence of dripping. Maybe I'm crazy but it proved a logical easy first fix.

oldredwheels na '94 855 155k

Jared · Post by **Jared** » 12 Apr 2007, 07:19

Thanks very much for the replies. I have no idea what the flame trap is though I have told my mechanic about it and they are definately going to look into it.

The first time we took the car into be fixed, they replaced the rear main seal, suggesting that it was old and dried out. The leak did not stop, so we took it back in and they noticed that oil seemed to be leaking from somewhere a little higher up on the engine and figured that with the new seal, the oil was looking for an escape route and found one in a gasket on the engine block, so that was replaced. We have now spent around $1700 trying to fix this problem and it still leaks. We are none to pleased.

The next time something major like this happens I will be taking the car to an authorized volvo mechanic as they will likely know exactly what the problem is.

Thanks for the info though, and I have told the mechanic to look at this site and even forwarded the replies to him.

Regards, Jared.

Jared · Post by **Jared** » 12 Apr 2007, 07:21

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it is not a turbo, just the regular 850

jared.

covlad1987 · Post by **covlad1987** » 12 Apr 2007, 10:41

hi lift the dip stick when the engine running if there is a mist you might need to change it,the flame trap is number 13 on the pic nr the air filter houseing hope this helps

Jared · Post by **Jared** » 15 Apr 2007, 13:09

Hi, when you say that I "might to to replace it", what exactly is "it"? I mean, what might need to be replaced?

Thanks for your time.

Regards, Jared

greasefingerss · Post by **greasefingerss** » 15 Apr 2007, 14:49

Look at the diagram listed in the link below (especially the area with an oval drawn around it). That is the flame trap. The elbow (they call it a nipple) rotates 45 degrees to remove it from the intake. Remove the throttle-body plastic intake elbow tube (the large 4 inch diameter thing) while you are at it and clean the throttle plate and any thing you can get your fingers on. The flame trap can be soaked in a small container of gas for cleaning or blast it with brake cleaner. I drilled my flame trap out a bit (enlarged all those little holes, which you can not see from the diagram)
http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo850oiltrap.htm