Problem with oil, please help !

TommyAngello · Post by **TommyAngello** » 11 Aug 2008, 10:46

Hy my name is Adrian I am from Moldova and I am glad that I registered to this forum, it is verey helpfull
I am from Moldova and I have an 1994 Volvo 850 GLE 2.0 20valve sedan.

The Problem: when I bought this car I changed oils and filters, I have brought oil 10w40 syntetic as I know, the problem is that my car has started to leak a little, and other part of oil is diasapearing, I think that is beeing burned during the engine's work. What should I do? what standard of oil should I change ? Please help !!! (sorry if I didn't type so well, we learn english, we are not a english spoken country).

Post by **Maxbaby** » 11 Aug 2008, 12:04

Difficult to know what exactly is going on without a thorough inspection of the engine. To start, what's the mileage on the car? Do you have a maintenance history? What's been done to the engine in terms of repairs and maintenance? Have you serviced the PCV system?

Synthetic oil has some great properties, however, has this car always been run on synthetic? If not, and if you have a high mileage car, then having switched to synthetic may have been the culprit. Some people have had leaks develop because the change to synthetic on a high mileage engine has a cleaning effect, which loosens some of the "crap" that has built up around the seals, which themselves are old and have shrunk over time.

Where are the leaks? Are you actually burning oil? (you should be able to see blue smoke from the tailpipe). My suggestion is that if your car has not had the PCV system serviced, it's a good time to get it done after 17 years. This may help depending on what or where you are leaking. Next, have the engine compression tested.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 11 Aug 2008, 12:17

TommyAngello wrote: when I bought this car I changed oils and filters, . . . the problem is that my car has started to leak a little,

Are you sure you got the drain plug and filter back on tight?

TommyAngello · Post by **TommyAngello** » 11 Aug 2008, 14:13

vegasjetskier wrote:
TommyAngello wrote: when I bought this car I changed oils and filters, . . . the problem is that my car has started to leak a little,
Are you sure you got the drain plug and filter back on tight?

Yes I am sure, thank you...

TommyAngello · Post by **TommyAngello** » 11 Aug 2008, 14:18

Maxbaby wrote:Difficult to know what exactly is going on without a thorough inspection of the engine. To start, what's the mileage on the car? Do you have a maintenance history? What's been done to the engine in terms of repairs and maintenance? Have you serviced the PCV system?

Synthetic oil has some great properties, however, has this car always been run on synthetic? If not, and if you have a high mileage car, then having switched to synthetic may have been the culprit. Some people have had leaks develop because the change to synthetic on a high mileage engine has a cleaning effect, which loosens some of the "crap" that has built up around the seals, which themselves are old and have shrunk over time.

Where are the leaks? Are you actually burning oil? (you should be able to see blue smoke from the tailpipe). My suggestion is that if your car has not had the PCV system serviced, it's a good time to get it done after 17 years. This may help depending on what or where you are leaking. Next, have the engine compression tested.

HY
Compresion 12 12 12 12 9
190 000 km mileage.
Please tell me more about PCV system
Thank You !

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 11 Aug 2008, 14:52

TommyAngello wrote:
vegasjetskier wrote:
TommyAngello wrote: when I bought this car I changed oils and filters, . . . the problem is that my car has started to leak a little,
Are you sure you got the drain plug and filter back on tight?
Yes I am sure, thank you...

Where is the oil leaking from?

Post by **Maxbaby** » 11 Aug 2008, 22:14

TommyAngello wrote:[Compresion 12 12 12 12 9
190 000 km mileage.
Please tell me more about PCV system
Thank You !

Those are interesting numbers for the compression... I'm not sure if there's a typo, but I'm used to seeing values in pounds per square inch (psi). Are those maybe metric?... In any event, I should have added that in addition to simply running the compression, you need to do a leak-down test (where you squirt a little oil into each cylinder and redo the compression) which will show whether you're leaking around the rings or the valves...

As for the PCV system, have a search through old posts, and you can have a look at this...
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthrea ... ight=boost

... and as asked above, where is it that you're leaking from?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 11 Aug 2008, 22:24

12 Kilograms/centimeter squared = 170.6 PSI
9 Kilograms/centimeter squared = 128 PSI

I suspect this is the measure that was used. Obviously one cylinder is a bit low and could be "blowing-by" oil which could explain where the oil is going.
I would recommend the use of "Seafoam" usually in a case like this (even though the leak is a concern too) but I'm not sure if that is available in Moldova.

Mileage is at 118,000 miles if you convert the kilometers for those who are interested.

Post by **Maxbaby** » 12 Aug 2008, 00:25

MadeInJapan wrote:I would recommend the use of "Seafoam" usually in a case like this (even though the leak is a concern too) but I'm not sure if that is available in Moldova.
.

^ X 2, and the PCV service... It would still be nice to get the leakdown test done... to see if he's dealing with valves or rings...