P80 PCV System Repair on a Volvo 5-cylinder (-1998)

randrews80 · Post by **randrews80** » 21 Jun 2010, 09:41

One of the best write-ups I have read. Thanks for all of your work in doing this. I wish I would have seen this two months ago when I decided to take it into the shop rather than mess with it myself.

Post by **marginal** » 21 Jun 2010, 09:53

I think, I'll start by cleaning the 'PTC' (Positive Temperature Coefficient) heater nipple.
It is very accessible and can be done apart from all the other components.
Also, I'll save time instead of doing it during the replacement of all the other components.

ajwgator · Post by **ajwgator** » 26 Jun 2010, 09:53

Since it appears that this thread is evolving into more than just the proceedures. I wanted to add my experiences with this issue. My car is a 98 V70XC AWD w/140K miles now and I'm still dealing with this. I started with the usual "oil under the spark plug cover" symtoms and not the smoke from the dipstick. The top of the cam cover was so full that oil was leaking down on the front motor mount to the point that it got so soft it failed. Oil was also leaking off the back side of the engine and showing up around the turbo area. Not bad leaks mind you, but enough to make you scratch your head.

Anyway I cleaned it all up and replaced the oil filler cap gasket on advice from a lot of others from a lot of forums. Oil shows back up under the cover.

Came across this thread, which is GREAT, and said that's got to be it! I replaced the complete system, all execpt the PTC heater. Just cleaned it really good and made sure it still heated. Oh course it was the only thing that was "almost" clogged. Felt as though this will definitely take care of this problem! Oil shows back up under the cover.

x2

Then I started this tread and will let you move on to the "rest of the story" from there. By the way......thanks for everyone's input from so many places! Enjoy.. https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=30678

Post by **marginal** » 30 Jun 2010, 21:02

So, the blowing of smoke through the engine dipstick opening test has to be done ONLY when the engine is hot ???
I thought my PCV system is clogged as I had smoke coming out from a cold engine.

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 30 Jun 2010, 21:05

Well, if you've got a good amount of smoke and pressure coming when cold, then you still probably have the issue. But definitely test it after it's fully warm too.

Post by **marginal** » 30 Jun 2010, 21:16

I have smoke, but almost no pressure at all.

dwyerob · Post by **dwyerob** » 02 Jul 2010, 21:02

'94 850 non-turbo
I am halfway through the PCV repair and have some extra pieces with the kit that I'm not sure where they are going to go. Two pieces for the flame trap, a plug, and a bunch of o rings. Is this stuff for the turbo model even though my kit says its for the non-turbo? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 04 Aug 2010, 10:42

So I'm about 3 weeks post a complete PCV system replacement on my non-turbo 850, and when checking the oil last night I got a puff of smoke when removing the dipstick. So I started the engine up and pulled the dipstick again, and it was like a little chimney blowing smoke out of the dip stick. I put my thumb over the open dipstick tube, it was hot, but I managed to keep my thumb there long enough to feel a slight pressure build up. It's obviously not enough pressure to blow the dip stick out, but it's there.

I had the smoke before hand, but mostly got an new PCV system so I would have one that fit properly (swapped engines that weren't identical PCV was one of the differences). So anyway I've got a brand new PCV system on a 130K+ mile engine that still noticeably smokes out of the dipstick. There are no oil leaks, and no ticking sounds. I really don't know the history of the engine other than it had good oil pressure, compression, 130-something thousand miles, and ran when the junk yard got it. So my assumption is just cylinder/ring wear and probably some valve seal wear too, causing enough blow-by that even a brand new PCV system can't handle.

The engine runs good, makes as much power or more than my old engine, and there's no smoke out the tail pipe. I use a good full synthetic oil, and I Seafoamed the crap out of the engine when I got it up and running again.

So do I just forget about it? Chock it up to being a higher mileage engine and live with it? I think I want to do a compression/leak down test on all of the cylinders and see. Anyone recommend any of the "engine restore" products, or any other snake-oils, if it comes to that?

- Lee

Post by **jblackburn** » 04 Aug 2010, 11:10

Run a compression test for curiosity if you want as a measure of your engine's relative health (I have too), but your rings are probably still perfectly fine. Take care of it, and it should be OK. There are several supplemental PCV system ideas floating around the board if you're concerned and want to rig up something like that.

That said, you don't have a flame trap installed anymore, right? Just checking

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 04 Aug 2010, 12:48

Old flame trap went in the trash, and the new one that came with the kit went in the junk drawer

.

Before purchasing the kit I considered putting a Chevy style breather in the freeze plug opposite the oil filler cap on the valve cover. I've also seen the catch cans that a lot of the turbo-junkies on Volvospeed are using in place of the factory PCV system, but that seems like an unnecessary expense to me, and I wouldn't want to deal with having to remember to drain the catch can.

Unless it's too off topic for this thread, I'd love to hear about some of the other, "options."

- Lee

P80 PCV System Repair on a Volvo 5-cylinder (-1998)

Re: PCV System Repair on a Volvo 5-cylinder