96 850 Non Turbo. PCV System and Emissions

[abscate]

Tour spin....good luck, sending my three to college next year and hoping I still have a Volvo left at the end of that. Randall Volvo in Renssalaer (Indie) has been good to me when needed.

[tourspin69]

Both hoses were disconnected from the flame trap! Btw I have also been getting some fumes in the car. Thought it was due to exhaust leak. Wonder if this is making it worse? Will have it on the road by tomorrow and will post. Also let you know about codes and trying to get NYS emissions.

[tourspin69]

Gentleman. We have a FIX.
Symptoms were....

Strong fumes in car.
The dreaded Smoking Dipstick
P0172 code as well as a few others that may not be related. (Cat and Fuel press.)

Found rotted vacuum hose on pass side of manifold. Then discovered that both hoses were disconnected from the firetrap.

Remedy. With the help of Erik and others on this post, I began the task of running a new vacuum line over the top of the manifold rather than underneath which is impossible without major work at which point I would just do a full service on the PCV. I then found that both lines into the firetrap were totally disconnected on top of the vacuum line on the pass side of the manifold. I left the old vacuum line there as I know I will get it once I do a full PCV service. While I had things opened up, I cleaned the throttle body a bit. It was actually pretty clean. I also cleaned out the firetrap. My mass airflow looks pretty clean also. I followed Erik's directions and ran the new line over the top as well as attaching the other hose to the firetrap. This has fixed the issues with the fumes in the cabin as well as the smoking dipstick!

I have also ordered a Volvo fuel cap as this car has an aftermarket cap and one of the codes indicated that it may be an issue. I will check my codes tomorrow, but feel as though this has solved my issues.

Bottom line. $7 on some vacuum hose and $2 on a clamp combined with about 2 hours of labor and some help from the boys on the Forum!! Bring this car into a garage and I guarantee you are not getting out for under $300 for the same job. Thank You. I will post a few pics.

[tourspin69]

Line is coming up from underneath the distributor cap.

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[tourspin69]

You can see the line going over the top of the manifold and running underneath to the pass. side.

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[tourspin69]

Here she is. The restoration continues. Next will be tune up...plugs, wires etc..

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[erikv11]

Nice work and that car looks clean, clean, clean all over. Should be fun and safe for the kids.

[tourspin69]

Was a Florida car. The interitor is pretty nice. Was a lease vehicle from Chicago for first 3 years...up to about 35K. The rest of the miles are Florida. Unfortunately, I don't think it's been to a Volvo specialist since about 2000. So there is some work to do despite the appearance.

[tourspin69]

Can you give me a technical explanation for why I was getting fumes in the car and where they were coming from....and why this fix worked ? Also what waste other hose that I attached to the firetrap? Was that also a culprit?

[erikv11]

The other hose was the main piping from the oil trap to the flame trap housing. That is the one people replace with 5/8 fuel injector hose. Because that line was unplugged, the PCV was venting crankcase gases straight into the engine bay, leading to two problems:

(1) zero PCV system function (i.e. this hose was probably the main cause of the observed smoking dipstick).
(2) crankcase fumes that made their way from the engine bay into the cabin, probably through the intake at the cowl.