Possible valve cover gasket leak? also a small list..

Sabel · Post by **Sabel** » 11 May 2016, 14:09

Recently brought my girlfriends 2000 v70 XC (189k miles) to a garage to get a list of things wrong with it as it was having a fair amount of issues all of a sudden. Plan has been to do the work myself. Mechanic listed off Valve cover gasket, a motor mount is broken, "Driveshaft crossmember" and that the turbo was leaking oil.

The Motor mount is fairly obvious.

I was doing some googling to find out about the valve cover gasket and stumbled upon a few replies from this site stating that Volvos use a liquid roll on gasket and its unlikely that is leaking? Mechanics around me don't have a bunch of experience working with volvos and most of them in town wont actually accept one in their shop! Was wondering how i would narrow down the leak to be sure it's actually coming from the liquid sealed valve cover?

Also I think it may have had a small leak for a long while and might actually be the cause of the "tubo" leaking oil. There quite a bit of caked on oil behind the engine and I'm a little dubious of anyone being able to pinpoint it coming from the turbo itself.

Lastly the driveshaft cross member its right under the exhaust pipe and i'm assuming has a bearing the drive shaft actually runs through, the crossmember itself rotted to hell and needs to be replaced before driving is possible again as the drive shaft is free to move around without it. Is it possible the bearing itself is still good and i may only need to replace the cross member itself?

Thanks in advance!

Post by **Clemens** » 11 May 2016, 16:07

I have no clue about the gasket for the valvecover. To find the source of the oilspill clean everything thouroughly with brakecleaner and drive for a few days. You should be able to see newly leaked oil then. The turbo oil return line gasket likes to leak. This leaves quite some mess under the turbo.

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 11 May 2016, 16:12

Hi, what condition is your pcv system in? If it's blocked or not functioning correctly it may be reasonably possible the pressure is forcing oil out in a number of locations.

Post by **kahl** » 11 May 2016, 18:06

Following up what PS78 said you need to do the glove test checking for positive crankcase pressure. Over time positive crankcase pressure will dislodge or push out the cam seals causing oil to leak. I suspect the oil you are seeing by the turbo is coming from your rear exhaust cam seal. Read the tutorial on doing the PCV job.

The cross member is part 9474483. Four bolts hold it to the underside of the car and the drive shaft carrier bearing is attached to the crossmember by two bolts. If the car has been driven with the drive shaft flopping around in the tunnel your best bet would be to remove the driveshaft and run the car as a FWD.

Sabel · Post by **Sabel** » 11 May 2016, 18:17

I Will certainly do the glove test for the PCV system and spray down the the oily parts and give a check after taking it for a spin...where would i find the instructions for that? I'm super new to the site. thank you for the part number for the Cross member much appreciated!

I would really not like to run the car as a front wheel drive, i live in a snowy climate and it ever comes to selling it having the all wheel drive is a huge plus in my area and effects the price significantly. The car had a slight vibration for about a week and drove like that but it only got significantly worse about two days ago and it was driven for maybe 30 minutes while like that. NOT constant only while accelerating from a stop mostly while the driveshaft was spinning slower and still making larger circles. I did a bit of googling and did find the bearing but i'm not sure if changing it is an option.. Drive shafts don't appear too expensive (around the 100-150 mark for a re-built one online or junkyard nearby) is that an option? would that come with the bearing attatched?

Post by **kahl** » 11 May 2016, 20:07

The glove test is simply tie wrapping a glove over the oil fill cap on the top of the engine. Start the engine and if the glove inflates you have positive pressure in the engine. This internal pressure wants to vent unfortunatly through the path of least resistance like cam shaft seal or main engine seals causing oil seepage.

From experience get an exchange drive shaft from Colorado Drive shaft. The last time I got one the cost was $500.00. When you get the drive shaft removed have the transfer case inspected by a knowledgeable Volvo shop.

Post by **j-dawg** » 11 May 2016, 20:27

Sabel wrote: Was wondering how i would narrow down the leak to be sure it's actually coming from the liquid sealed valve cover?

Also I think it may have had a small leak for a long while and might actually be the cause of the "tubo" leaking oil. There quite a bit of caked on oil behind the engine and I'm a little dubious of anyone being able to pinpoint it coming from the turbo itself.

Poof some baby powder from a bottle onto the suspected source of the leak and leave it there overnight/over a drive/while it's warm/whenever you suspect you're leaking the most oil. The powder will show you the traces of any droplets that fall.

High-speed driving may blow the powder away, so if you think you're only leaking with the car moving or working hard this method might not work.