right axle viscous clutch leak:

[SlowLane]

The transaxle broke in early April. What has slowed me down the most is parts delivery times, but that has also allowed me to take it slowly and deliberately. Fortunately we have other vehicles.

I dropped the subframe and removed the transaxle from underneath, leaving the engine suspended by an engine support bar. This gives me the opportunity to replace the rear engine mount and clean up the oily mess around the back of the subframe.

The oil leak turned out to be from the front camshaft seals. I was fooled by the fact there wasn't an evidence of leakage directly around the cam seal area. I was focusing on the front crank seal and oil pump area. But after replacing the front crank seal twice I decided to replace the cam seals as well out of desperation, and that did the trick. Also replaced the VVT hub, which did surprisingly improve the operation of the engine. It revs more willingly now.

Oh, and after I got the oil leak solved, I decided to celebrate by replacing the shocks and struts, refreshed pretty much the whole front suspension including ball joints and polyurethane control arm bushings. Just got all that put back together in March, had the wheels aligned, and then the forward band in the transmission snapped three days later. Good thing I sprang for lifetime wheel alignments when I bought the tires.

Now I'm pondering whether I want to spring for IPD anti-sway bars for this car, since I have the sub-frame out already...

[Joost]

Hi guys,

Back on the subject: to take the 2 right hand drive shafts apart, clamp the big black viscous part in a vise, with the end up that goes into the trans. Tap the smaller shaft and it will fall out. Catch it if you can, and use a piece of wood or something to prevent damage. The beforementioned part 2a (seal) becomes visible. Behind it is a needle bearing. I just took it off today.

When done, you can also tap off the outer bearing that is clamped in the clamp onto the block. I did all this, to not be able to find the needle bearing part or the outer bearing for the S80 T6. They do seem available for other Volvo shafts. If there is anyone being able to help further along, much obliged!