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1996 850R leaks, burns and smells of oil

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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Volvovlo
Posts: 33
Joined: 3 October 2014
Year and Model: 1994 850
Location: New Zealand

Re: 1996 850R leaks, burns and smells of oil

Post by Volvovlo »

So today I did a compression test on my car using Robert DIY's method. My results for the dry test (Cylinder 1-5, in PSI) were 158, 153, 152, 158 and 156. For wet they were 195, 182, 195, 180, 181. These readings are while the engine is hot. My question is, is my engine okay and likely to last a while? Or do I need to do more tests to find out? I need to know before i spend money on replacing cam seals, timing belt, rear main seals, pvc etc. My car has blue smoke coming out the exhaust at random times (I couldnt see any today while warming up the engine during a 15 minute drive, although that doesnt mean there wasnt any). Is this from worn rings or something else? My car has 290,000km and as previously mentioned, theres oil in the air pipe going from the radiator, over the engine and into the turbo but I dont know why or what this means.

Im trying to rule out very major issues with my engine so I can proceed with all the oil leaks and smells and burning my car has. I dont want to do all these smaller items only to find my engine is toast. I appreciate your guys help, if i need to do more tests or provide more info I'm more than willing to do so. This car will be my winter project down under provided I dont need a new engine/rebuild and im very keen to fix it up.

Thanks

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erikv11
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Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
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Post by erikv11 »

Compression numbers are excellent, bottom of the engine should have a long life ahead of it. It's not leaking oil past the rings.

Your car likely has puffs of blue smoke is from oil leaking past the valve stem seals. Super common failure especially at 27 years of age. Gives blue smoke on startup, or when hit throttle after prolonged idling, or when coasting down a hill.

Your major oil burning issue is going to be something else however. I do agree with abscate that at least the front exhaust cam seal is probably leaking. It's easy to not seat that one correctly when changing it. I'd check all four can seals carefully. I couldn't get your pics numbers 3 and 4 to load.

Oil in the air charge pipe pathway is normal.
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

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wizechatmgr
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Year and Model: 1999 V70 XC AWD 2.4T
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Post by wizechatmgr »

Also check the air filter, in the turbos if you end up with enough blockage/obstruction in the air filter it will suck oil through the turbo's seal.
Wisdom requires knowledge as a prerequisite, but knowledge can be developed due to a lack of wisdom.
In order to learn how to fix something, you must first learn how to break it.
1999 V70 XC AWD 2.4 T -- ~231k miles
1998 V70 2.4 NA -- ~184k miles

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