Solved - Pressure in oil pan - pushes dipstick out Topic is solved

[Dan McBoost]

Ohh, thanks guys.

FWIW, the "whistle" noise if very strong on the timing belt side of the intake manifold. I will get the hose TripleEight mentioned and also use it up to my ear to figure out where the sound is coming from as best I can. I plan to tear apart the intake again and checking EVERYTHING (if the problem is not solved checking the check valves, booster hose, etc).

I will report back. Thanks for ideas guys!! I am very new to volvos...

[cn90]

I wrote the mod (5/8" hose instead of factory 3/8" hose) in the link above by "TripleEight".
Three years later, this 5/8" hose modification works very well, minimal amount of smoke in dipstick.
As mentioned in the mod link, the factory is 3/8", which may be OK from factory when there is less blow-by gases.
When the engine is > 150K-200K, there is certainly more blow-by gases (piston rings are worn a bit etc.), and the 5/8" hose increases the flow quite a bit.

Back to dipstick, I posted info on Volvo 850 dipstick, which should fit S70/V70 model w/o issues. The dealer tells you you need new housing and new dipstick: not true, the Volvo 850 dipstick fits perfectly, zero issues. When dealing with increased crankcase pressure, it is safe to pull the dipstick up a touch (pull it out and let it drop by gravity only, don't push it in) to allow excess gas to escape until you trouble-shoot the exact causes of crankcase pressure increase.

[erikv11]

The flow is determined by the smallest orifice in the path, which is the PTC. So increasing the tube from 3/8 to 5/8 does not likely change the flow one bit. However the increased diameter does reduce the chances of clogging over time.

And generic hose is cheaper than the Volvo factory piece and therefore a great way to go. Just make sure there are no kinks; consider a preformed heater hose.

[Dan McBoost]

Ok, the weekends work:

Previous to this weekends repairs (can I call them that? lol) issues:
-very bad gas mileage (~8-10mpg, but I have not filled it up yet)
-oil dip stick gets pushed up and oil does spray out.
-high pitched noise, which sounds kind of whistle like. When the engine is shut off, still makes the noise after the engine stops, but then fades away.
-engine sounded louder, under load.
-did get a code (1/22 - first time I drove it in a while) for the car below threshold (probably from running so rich).

What I did this weekend:
Took all the intake stuff back off.

• checked that the connections into the block were clear - Both were OK
• replaced that hose to 5/8s (and found when I checked the PCV I left the PTC nipple unplugged).
• replaced a hose that had a hole near a hose clamp.
• found when I extended the vacuum from the bottom of the intake.. I used soft hose - under vacuum, it squeezed shut and under boost it opened back up
  - THAT was the noise issue
  - and probably why the engine sounded louder than before.
  ---- was really hoping this solved the oil dipstick issue.

- Now the noise is fixed, the car runs good now and I already noticed better fuel economy.
- Still oil coming out the dipstick.

What the hell. argh.

[erikv11]

From the several posts where the dipstick o-rings were mentioned it is not clear this point got through clearly: the key item is the o-ring(s) on the top of the dipstick, not the single o-ring at the bottom of the dipstick tube.


(pic is from IPD).

It does matter which tube the hoses are hooked up to on the oil trap. This is the gold standard DIY for a 99 which has a few key PCV differences from the 98-and-prior: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=55413. Hopefully the pics will work for you, they are not working for me right now.

When you cleaned out the passages into the block, were you able to blow through the lower one? that is the one that leads into the oil pan and is the most problematic.

If this was my car I would do a compression test, just to find out what is going on in the cylinders, to find out if there is a lot of blow-by past the rings into the oil pan. Not a cause for alarm, but you are going to want to know. What is the mileage on the engine?

[Dan McBoost]

From the several posts where the dipstick o-rings were mentioned it is not clear this point got through clearly: the key item is the o-ring(s) on the top of the dipstick, not the single o-ring at the bottom of the dipstick tube.

They do look like a difference size, so would I need to change the tube as well? If so, the part # or link to the product would help (again sorry, I am quite new to volvos).

It does matter which tube the hoses are hooked up to on the oil trap. This is the gold standard DIY for a 99 which has a few key PCV differences from the 98-and-prior: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=55413. Hopefully the pics will work for you, they are not working for me right now.

Most of those photos do not work but now looking at this photo:

I may have the two larger ones backwards. Here is my photo from before I put the intake back on:

Is the 99 V70R oil trap not completely open as mentioned before? Otherwise, why would the port matter (again sorry, I am quite new to volvos)?

When you cleaned out the passages into the block, were you able to blow through the lower one? that is the one that leads into the oil pan and is the most problematic.

Yes, I attached left over 5/8" hose and blew through it with no problems at all. I also poured oil (it was low anyway... because its all over the engine bay) and it drained down very quickly.

If this was my car I would do a compression test, just to find out what is going on in the cylinders, to find out if there is a lot of blow-by past the rings into the oil pan. Not a cause for alarm, but you are going to want to know. What is the mileage on the engine?

If you guys say the hose is on wrong and it would make a difference, I will pull it back apart, swap it and try again. Then if that does not help, I would gladly do a compression test. Car has 190k on it, but again, this car did not do it for hundreds of miles before I swapped the parts I mentioned in the first post. This is a new problem that popped up after the PCV kit swap.

*Also, I am not very happy with the kit and am glad I swapped to the 5/8" hose. Every connection on the larger PCV piping was loose and falling apart.

[erikv11]

The hoses do appear to be switched, wait for others to chime in though. I would make sure a few people agree on that.

The 99 oil trap is presumably like the 98-and-earlier ones that I have seen cut open: yes it is a mostly hollow box, except that there is a baffle inside, like a short cylinder around the center port. Maybe the baffle has an effect on flow inside the box, or oil vapor path, or maybe there is an issue with the vapor return port being on the side rather than in the center, I agree it is not obvious. But bottom line is people have documented they had problems when the hoses are backwards. It sucks to go in under the manifold again, make a judgement call it may not be worth it.

This is perhaps obvious, apologies, but be very careful that the 5/8 hose does not have kinks in it. It is easy to kink/collapse a cheap heater hose under the manifold. People sometimes play down this point but for sure you want to be aware of it. In your pic the 5/8 hose seems to run flat right out of the trap, how do you achieve that without kinking the hose? You usually have to let the hose arc upward off the oil trap.

The 5/8 hose should work fine as long as it is not kinked, although the 5/8 hose will not have the benefit of being heated by warm coolant the way the factory pipe is. That heating is one of the biggest improvements in the 99+ PCV system, one if the reasons they don't clog up nearly as much as 98 and prior.

[Dan McBoost]

I will wait and see what others mention. Although at this point I can pull the intake off pretty quickly.

I have the elbow from some extra PCV piping I had (was in the trunk of the car). I cut it off to retain the elbow that has the smaller vacuum hose (the one I made all hard plastic tubing and fixed the noise). There are no kinks for sure.

[erikv11]

No kinks, sounds good!

[cn90]

When you first did the PCV job, did you plug the PTC electrical connector back on?