1996 850 Turbo Money Pit Topic is solved

New Volvo Owner · Post by **New Volvo Owner** » 08 Mar 2005, 22:01

I purchased a 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo 145,000 mi, body ent were in excellent condition. The Turbo was shot, replaced turbo, serviced transmission, new belt, h2o pump, timing belt, flushed coolant and flused brakes. Car still smoked, chk engine light came on finally determined that charcoal canister pluged pls some valve on sytm, took care of check engine light, but still smoked. Repair shop replaced oil seperator. I still smell oil burning when exiting the car after running any suggetions. The mechanic says doesnt think we are getting blow by. so far into this thing for $5500 for car and additional $4000 for repairs.
Any ideas on why still smelling burning oil?

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 09 Mar 2005, 12:02

New Volvo Owner wrote:I purchased a 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo 145,000 mi, body ent were in excellent condition. The Turbo was shot, replaced turbo, serviced transmission, new belt, h2o pump, timing belt, flushed coolant and flused brakes. Car still smoked, chk engine light came on finally determined that charcoal canister pluged pls some valve on sytm, took care of check engine light, but still smoked. Repair shop replaced oil seperator. I still smell oil burning when exiting the car after running any suggetions. The mechanic says doesnt think we are getting blow by. so far into this thing for $5500 for car and additional $4000 for repairs.
Any ideas on why still smelling burning oil?

Is oil actually being used up? These cars aren't that expensive if you do all the work yourself. And the reason the turbo went bad at such low mileage is most likely from 2 things:
1. Using dino oil instead of synthetic
2. Not letting the car idle after long or hard runs, thus causing oil to coke up in the turbo's oil lines and allowing the bearings to operate without lubrication.

VolvoFreak · Post by **VolvoFreak** » 09 Mar 2005, 12:13

White850Turbo wrote:2. Not letting the car idle after long or hard runs, thus causing oil to coke up in the turbo's oil lines and allowing the bearings to operate without lubrication.

That's what happened to my parents car. The mechanic said that with the turbo's, to let the car idle for at least 30-seconds before shutting it off to let the turbo charger wind down or something like that.

Are you sure that there isn't just oil on the block from the last oil change?

new volvo owner · Post by **new volvo owner** » 09 Mar 2005, 22:38

I have seen the smoke also coming out of the exhaust when it idles for awhile, and I am quite sure that it is coming out of the exhaust. The tailpipe is very black, and the rear bumber above the tailpipe has dark junk on it. A friend @ work suggested driving on freway @70mph to get heat up maybe burn off any oil left over from turbo change out and all the other work done on car. Could there be lots of oil in the catalytc conv?

turbotim2 · Post by **turbotim2** » 10 Mar 2005, 06:25

Is the smoke coming from your exhaust pipe blue or black?

new volvo owner · Post by **new volvo owner** » 14 Mar 2005, 21:14

Actually I am not seeing smoke now only the smell when I get out of car after running it. Could there just be a lot of residual oil in the exhaust system that would need to be burned out on a trip of 90-100 miles of continous driving?

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 15 Mar 2005, 08:53

new volvo owner wrote:Actually I am not seeing smoke now only the smell when I get out of car after running it. Could there just be a lot of residual oil in the exhaust system that would need to be burned out on a trip of 90-100 miles of continous driving?

Probably not. From what I've seen, smoke at idle is a good indicator of a clogged PCV system.

New Volvo Owner · Post by **New Volvo Owner** » 15 Mar 2005, 21:28

I had the PCV system cleaned @least I thought I did. They replaced the oil seperator on the system and I assumed that would include cleaning of hoses. Is there anything else?

Post by **matthew1** » 15 Mar 2005, 22:28

If your 850 is using oil and smoke is blue, could be rings. Watch oil level.

turbotim2 · Post by **turbotim2** » 17 Mar 2005, 05:32

There should not be any oil in the exhaust system however if you have a leaking valve cover gasket or other oil leak it could be dripping on the hot exhaust pipe and burning off. Check for leaks!