98V70 na volvo - appears to have died

[98v70dad]

Check the oil is all oil and not water/oil mix from a failed radiator cooler.

Neil.

radiator is about 5 years old - oem volvo.

[misha]

...There is oil leaking from the filter seal and the passenger back side of the oil pan is bathed in oil...

That is enough for oil pressure light to come ON intermittently.

Tighten it a bit more or replace the filter and see if things are improving.

[RickHaleParker]

The oil pump is on the front of the motor, on the crankshaft, between the front seal and the harmonic balancer. A catastrophic oil pump failure it would cause all the symptoms you got.

[bmdubya1198]

The oil pump is on the front of the motor, on the crankshaft, between the front seal and the harmonic balancer. A catastrophic oil pump failure it would cause all the symptoms you got.

Or the front main/crank seal could have gone.

Clean up all of the oil, change the oil and filter, and crank her up and see if she still leaks and makes noises. If there are still bad noises, you're into something a little more than an oil leak.
These cars hold up well being run on little to no oil, though. My cousin's S70 T5 dumped out all of its oil on I-95 heading back from Florida in the middle of nowhere in Georgia. We drove probably 5-10 minutes with the light on, lifters were sounding awful. We were trying to get to a gas station, but we managed to get off on the one 95 exit without a gas station and it was a good 10 miles to the next one. Had to pull over on the side of the road, assess the situation, and wait 7 hours to tow the car another 6 hours home. Turned an 8.5 hour trip into a 21 hour trip. Anyway, moral of the story...
Figured out it was a front cam seal, replaced it along with the timing belt and tensioner, etc., changed the oil, and it's been running great for the past 10k-ish miles.

[98v70dad]

I'll check the codes on Saturday. Right now its sitting in the driveway incapacitated. I opted to have it towed home instead of to a repair shop because just about any repair I have to pay for exceeds the value of the car. I really don't have a good feeling about the outcome but maybe I'll get lucky.

[erikv11]

The oil pump is on the front of the motor, on the crankshaft, between the front seal and the harmonic balancer. A catastrophic oil pump failure it would cause all the symptoms you got.

I don't think so? See my post back on page one and correct me if I'm overlooking something but: a failed oil pump makes sense except for the leak; there is no reason for pump failure to cause a leak where the filter meets the engine.

OP don't check out the car too soon, it will kill the office pool about what happened ... (Not trying to be flippant about your misfortune, it is a total bummer I understand and agree!)

[98v70dad]

The oil pump is on the front of the motor, on the crankshaft, between the front seal and the harmonic balancer. A catastrophic oil pump failure it would cause all the symptoms you got.

I don't think so? See my post back on page one and correct me if I'm overlooking something but: a failed oil pump makes sense except for the leak; there is no reason for pump failure to cause a leak where the filter meets the engine.

OP don't check out the car too soon, it will kill the office pool about what happened ... (Not trying to be flippant about your misfortune, it is a total bummer I understand and agree!)

Hey, for decades I made my living maintaining and repairing aircraft at the worlds greatest airline (Delta). I worked in engineering, set policy and told the mechanics what to do. In the office we had a lot of pride in taking care of our own cars. PAYING someone to fix your car was a horribly embarrassing experience. I believe that the oil filter is plugged and it obstructed the oil flow. There was very little leakage from the oil filter seal, but there was a good bit of oil on the back side of the oil pan. I'll look into it more on Saturday.

[ZionXIX]

I had an oil cooler hose pop off of the radiator while driving down the highway.....twice. It pumped all the oil onto the highway and I drove for about 10 minutes both times to get home. I was not about to stop in that particular part of town. Oil starved at highway speeds for 10 min on two occassions have had zero observable effect on engine performance. That was 5 years ago and all is still running as usual.

[98v70dad]

First, pull the codes and visibly inspect the engine.

A low oil pressure light, a big oil leak, and a normal level on the dipstick are a curious combination of symptoms. Most likely among the common issues would be an oil pan pickup seal came loose and is blocking supply to the top end. Unfortunately those seals are a maintenance item on a 20 year old, 175k car, though most of us don't change them unless we have the engine out or the pan off for some other reason. The other obvious suspect is the oil pump itself, though I don't know that I've ever heard of one of those going bad. Neither of these would necessarily make the oil filter seal leak, I don't have a good explanation for that.

If it is as simple as oil leaking from the filter seal, just change the filter. Take note of June's suggestions about what to look for there. Then clean the engine, start it up, and check it out some more. Is the top end ticking excessively or making noise (oil distribution problem - turn off the key!)? Are you certain about where it is leaking from; is it still leaking now that the filter is changed?

Agreed, these cars respond very poorly to overheating even once, a few times could be trouble. Maybe excessive crankcase gases burst the oil seal. Checking the cam seals is a great idea - look at the rear seal under the distributor cap for sure.

We're having a snow catastrophe in Atlanta - what is that you may ask? It snowed and its cold enough to stick. I made it home before the roads got bad but the snow will delay me pulling the codes until tomorrow at the earliest.

I did some research at lunch today and the area of the oil coverage on the oil pan is adjacent to the pickup seals you mentioned. The oil on the oil filter was minimal and could have been a result of an oil pan seal failure. I'm guessing that one of the oil pan pickup seals failed and the hot oil under pressure failed the oil pan/engine block seal. After Christmas I'll drop the oil pan and investigate further. If that's all it is its easily repaired provided the lack of oil (probably on the top side only since the oil pan was/is full) didn't do a lot of damage.

[abscate]

We're having a snow catastrophe in Atlanta - what is that you may ask? It snowed and its cold enough to stick

At least it isnt like a cold snap in SoCal - 68F