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Gunk in the oil dipstick tube

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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erikv11
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Re: Gunk in the oil dipstick tube

Post by erikv11 »

There's no PCV valve in your car. What did your mechanic say had varnish? Or even better maybe he showed it to you.
'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

Dave in Maine
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Post by Dave in Maine »

The one in this video.

or this video


The part all the way at the end had about 50% closed with varnish that had been oil. I saw it.
1996 850 Turbo Gold Edition, 7 years' reliable service and >220k mi, sadly now gone
2009 S60 2.5T, sent away after taking me down Via Dolorosa. Happy to be rid of it.

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abscate
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Post by abscate »

It’s often ( mistakenly) called the PTC valve but it is just an orfice with a heater. It’s a maintenance item to be cleaned every 30-60k miles
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erikv11
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Post by erikv11 »

What he said. the PTC is a heating element, it has no moving parts. If that was clogged up then it's good it was cleaned.

The PTC is indeed part of the PCV system and one of several places that need to be inspected and cleaned when servicing. The heart of the system is the oil trap and it's hoses with their passages into the block, hopefully that was all cleaned out too. If the PTC was clogged, good bet the main PCV areas were clogged too - these are more prone to clogging and arguably more important to service.
'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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