95 Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon - New Owner Lots of issues. Need help.

fzr1483 · Post by **fzr1483** » 08 Jun 2016, 21:32

New to the forum and first time owner of a Volvo. Just picked up a 1995 850 Turbo wagon for $800. That price of course came with a lot of mechanical issues. I got so much valuable information about these cars pre-purchase from this forum so I thought I'd post my question. The car has unknown mileage because the speedo gear broke. Odometer is stuck at 123k mi.

The PCV system is blocked. Using the latex glove on the oil cap trick, there is definitely positive pressure instead of vacuum. There is no smoke from the dip stick though. Looking inside the oil filler cap and at oil on the dipstick, it looks pretty clean. I'm planning on replacing the PCV system and will get a better idea of whether or not to pull the oil pan.

The car drips oil on the right side of the engine. After washing that side of the engine with the timing belt cover off, the cams and tensioners were covered in oil after a 15 minute test drive. The majority of the oil seems to be toward the rear of the engine, over the CV boot. Based on what I've researched, I'm thinking it's the front cam seals. What other seals should I take a closer look at on that side? With the unknown mileage and the owner stating they don't know when the timing belt was changed, I plan on replacing the belts, pulleys and water pump. That said, let me know what other components I should inspect while I have all that disassembled.

Now the spark plugs had serious oil sludge on top of them. There was also some oil under the spark plug cover on the head. Are there any problem areas I should inspect for the source of the oil?

Also here are the results from my compression test. I think I saw somewhere that factory spec on the turbo is 160-180 psi? The wet test leads me to believe that the piston rings are worn. What's has me a bit confused though is that exhaust doesn't smoke. Plugged PCV and potentially bad rings. Shouldn't I see some symptoms? My other question is how bad are the dry test compression readings? Is this maintenance I can defer or do I need to take care of it asap?

Cyl Dry Wet
1 130 180
2 145 170
3 145 165
4 140 170
5 120 145

Also, does anyone see potential head gasket leak with these results? The reason I ask is because the coolant overflow bottle has a dark brown stains inside. But the coolant itself is clear (or greenish rather). I tried to gauge if the coolant level rises after driving, but it's over filled as is (1/4 in above max line), so I will drain some coolant and try again.

Post by **scot850** » 08 Jun 2016, 23:31

The low reading on cylinder 5 may be wear, but you might want to get the cooling fluid checked for exhaust gas leaking into the fluid just to be sure the head gasket is good. The low reading could also be a bad/burnt valve not sealing properly.

Change the oil filler seal and that may help the oil leaking in the spark plug area. This leaking is not helped by the PCV being blocked so that is a priority before more seals blow.

Neil.

JeffHicks · Post by **JeffHicks** » 09 Jun 2016, 06:16

My money is on the front cam seals leaking, but the crank seal is also a possibility.

The oil in the spark plug holes could be caused by the gasket on your oil fill cap being loose/worn. That's not uncommon.

I think you know what the plugged PCV system means - unfortunately...

Post by **shiloh51933** » 23 Nov 2016, 08:43

All that positive pressure created by a clogged PCV system will blow seal...aka front/rear cam seals are common seal to actually pop off from that positive pressure. I'd do the PCV first like you mentioned, then dump all other fluids/oils and replace with proper spec stuff. If you confident doing the TB/TB tensioner/WP/idler pulley is needed do it immediatly, if your doing Cam seals anyway so it makes sense. I'd also check the soft coolant lines to the turbo, there prone to failure and all the vacuum hoses/air charge plumbing for turbo. The air charge up front that connects above radiator can wear by clamp...basically remove all that stuff, check/clean/replace as needed. I try my best to use factory parts or parts from the company that makes factory parts, especially the ignition stuff. I got the factory water pump for our '04 XC70 in the box of the actual manufacturer instead of a Volvo box and saved 40$, the Volvo stamp was actually filed off...so what does that tell you, same shit. Factory WP(Aisin 30751700) part#WPV800, I got the new bolts also all from FCP. Welcome to the world of Volvo!!

dubsetter · Post by **dubsetter** » 23 Nov 2016, 10:08

I had a leak in the same area exactly as you described after purchasing my 850 non turbo. The pcv was indeed blocked and caused the leak. At the time I didn't feel comfortable replacing pcv or cam seal as people suggested on here so I took to a shop. They seemed to think it was the oil pump seal but based on advice on I had them put a new cam seal in there while they were doing the oil pump seal and pcv. Problem seemed to have been solved. Definitely service or replace that pcv first. You can leave the dipstick pulled out a bit to vent the crankcase pressure in the meantime. Good luck!