2000 Volvo S40 PCV hose vacuum leak?

[Tempestdude]

2000 Volvo S40 1.9L Turbo, AT, stock drivetrain, 40000 miles.
Hello,
My mother recently took her S40 to the dealer for the check engine light being on. They advised her it was a vacuum leak from the PCV hose assembly. The estimated repair bill was $645.00. They advised the intake manifold would have to be removed to replace the hose. The intake gasket was quoted around $25.00 and the hose assembly was around $90.00. I called the parts department and they advised there is no pcv on this car and quoted me on part # 30637166 for $10.42 and part # 1366787 at $15.80. Can these be the same parts that the service dept is quoting? $645.00 seems excessive for a vaccum leak to me. This is a low mileage car that is garage kept and well maintained. Any advice? Is this a common problem with S40s? Car seems to be running fine.

Thanks,

Kevin

[MadeInJapan]

The part numbers mentioned are indeed part of the PCV system. The first is the inlet hose and the second is the gasket. The other PCV parts include the oil separator under the intake manifold and another couple of hoses that are attached to the oil separator (also called the breather box) and go to the engine. It should all be looked at but at 40K miles, replacement is probably not necessary. Please look at the PCV cleaning and replacement write-up in the repair database for 850/70 series cars. Your mother's car is similar to these but with a few less parts. If the inlet hose is bad, just replace it...but still the intake manifold will indeed have to come off and this is where the expense comes in. Most likely where that hose attaches at the bottom of the accordion hose (hose from air box to the turbo) is where it's clogged or leaking. It attaches to what's called a PTC nipple there that is prone to clogging and causing problems. So, without knowing what's up with your car it's hard to diagnose this problem. It might be as simple as a cleaning or it might be an over-haul. The expensive price quoted is not too far out of line because of the 3-4 hours labor required to take the intake manifold off...but like I said, at 40K miles this is a bit early for such an issue. The PCV system is suppose to be inspected and cleaned at 60K miles.

The parts needed for the PCV replacement besides the two part numbers you list (oil trap and the related short hoses) are listed here: http://www.eeuroparts.com/searchresults ... 2&cat=1021

You can click on the individual parts to see what they look like.

One thing you can try on your own to see where the vacuum leak is (if any) is to take some carb. cleaner and just spray it around all of your exposed rubber hoses as your car is idling in park. If your engine surges, this means that it sucked in some of the cleaner and you know where your leak is. This is a simple way and will arm you with more knowledge when you do have to take it into the dealer. Personally, I would do this because dealers are known for repairing/replacing unnecessary parts to make a buck.

Good luck and let us know how things go.