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

[Maasai]

Just bought a 1998 V70 GLT with 322,000 Miles ( OMG! what was I thinking?), but this was from a charity and paid $800.
The issue that I was told " it only had" was, it needed a catalytic converter. Great!, I can do that for a second car since I have a 4 month old son and can't drive him in my 68 truck ( my wife "always needs" the car, LOL!).

Trailer-ed my new turbo home and in 2 days got it to run. It would only run for 10 minutes then stop then wont run again for another 3-4 hrs. Guess the O2 censors are gone too.

WELL! When it did ran, it had oil dripping from the seal at the back of the rocker cover. opened the plugs cover and i couldn't believe that there was oil all over even in the plug wells, Boy! was I not pleased with my purchase (oh! did it for charity), since a thought this is a sign of worse things to come. After $100 at the dealer, bought a seal kit needed for the job, got it running and that's when I noticed the white smoke and build up pressure on the cap, kind of opening a radiator cap while hot.
Guess I got myself a PCV job on my hands then. I've already ordered the kit which will arrive in a weeks time and hope to talked the job then.

The thing is with these miles, is it worth it to revive this beast or count my loses and part the car out ( should have asked this before I spent $800-car, $100-seal kit, $107-pcv kit). And still have to deal with the catalytic and O2?

Is there any right up for catalytic converters and a cheaper way to get them?

THANK GOD FOR MVS.

[aahmes57]

Anyone out there hesitating DIY, don't.

I just did the PCV kit, bought it from ipd $108, a rear camshaft seal $11.50 and I will be doing my ABS Module( sorry Matt) per the forum guidance.

I called the dealer for an estimate just to see how good I am. (well, how good you guys are anyway)

PCV Kit $160
Camshaft seal $11.50
ABS Module $550 (the guy said he could probably get mine rebuilt for about half)
Labor 6.4 hrs at $75 per hr.
Total $1201.50
Forget the ABS Module and I still saved $500.
Just follow the instructions of these Volvo experts (like this pcv system repair post) and some of the other folks and DIY.
I saved about a $1000. Even if you have to buy the tools to do the job you'll still save alot of money.
Kind of makes me want to do the front axles and front end over. Not! But it will need it in the Spring.
This site is amazing and I'll leave it at that.

Thanks MVS

[bandwcow]

This is my first post on this forum and this post sounds similar to a problem I have. Throwing a 435 code, EGR valve I believe. Do I need to rebuild the "complete" PVC system or can I just clean the EGR thingy? I worked on cars in the past and have spent some time reviewing the above pics and such. Great info. Just do not want to rebuild the PCV system unless I need too.
mileage 200K, automatic, sunroof, non-turbo from what I understand.
I have put ~145K on this car and love it.

[jblackburn]

Do I need to rebuild the "complete" PVC system or can I just clean the EGR thingy?

Hey there,

Try this first:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/egr-cleaning/

But at that mileage, you are probably due for both to be cleaned. See if cleaning the EGR valve hole solves your problem first though.

[262dreamer]

thanks for the helpful tips on this site. i would suggest removing the cooling fan as it makes life a lot easier and it is not that difficult to pull out. i am halfway through this job with everything removed and noticed that there are a couple of drops of oil on the valves on the two cylinders closest to the passenger side wheel. the top of the engine (under plastic cover) had a lot of oil in it that and the smoke coming out of both the tailpipe and the dipstick lead me to the pcv (and ptc thanks for that tip as well). a couple of pipes/hoses snapped as they were really brittle so putting it back together without investing in replacement parts is not an option at this point. when pulling out the pcv (and ptc) system it didn't look that bad. a bit of crud but is moist and soft so it cleaned out really easily. where could have those drops of oil come from? am pulling the plugs out this evening (saw the oil got pissed off and cold so decided to go to bed) to check them but i can't stop wondering about the oil drops. two small drops one on top of each valve. if the oil got in there while the car was running i would assume the oil would have burned. all of the valves appear ok and clean with no build up of any kind on them, just the two wet drops of oil. any thoughts/suggestions? how bad would a bad pcv system be, meaning would the crud really had to be caked in there to block the flow or would the crud that i had in there be enough to restrict the system from working properly? at this point i don't want to put it all back together and invest in replacement parts if the engine/head is pooched. oh yeah it is a 98 v70 glt, i also have a 98 v70 base which is keeping me going but really want to get the glt on the road.

[Maasai]

Finally got everything back together. oil trap, pcv e.t.c. Now I'm getting this code P0103. Checked all my vacuum lines and they seem fine. In addition The issue now is that, after I turn the engine off after running, it will crank but not run and smells like it has an over-flow ( which is strange for an injector vehicle). I disconnected the injector terminals and it starts right up and runs of course before running out of gas then stops. When I connect the injectors back, wont run. Had to get it towed to my brother house so that I can get out of the cold. What Now?

[aahmes57]

Hey jablackburn, Happy New Year

I just finished the PCV thing with the kit. I checked the oil just yesterday and I have some smoke coming out of the oil dipstick
Is it possible that it is clogged already? Anything else you know of that may cause the same symptom?
I plan on seafomin it soon but I'm still muddleing through the horror stories.
Don't really want to do the PCV kit again for about 100,000 miles.
Any thoughts?

Thanks

[jblackburn]

Wow, sorry I didn't notice your post until now.

My thoughts would be:

• Did you clean the PTC nipple on the turbo intake hose thoroughly?
• Is the vacuum line to the PTC still connected at both ends (mine kept falling off after I changed it).
• Were the passages on the engine block (the 3 ports from the oil separator box into the crankcase) reamed out thoroughly?

If those are good, your car just has a worn engine (or the PCV passage into the oil pan itself is clogged up - it happens to some). Some have reported good results for restoring compression and reducing blow-by from running a product called Seafoam or AutoRX through their engines - just do a search on the forum for it.

[aahmes57]

And here I thought I said something wrong ha. I do ask a lot of stupid questions but I don't think I hold the record.

I did pretty much as the procedure listed. I have to check the vacuum line. Can you get to that line on the side of the intake? The holes by the box, the PTC, I cleaned whatever I could while the intake was off.

I do however have leaky oil coolant lines. Is it possible those lines are blocked and causing the dip sitck smoke. Or the cooler itself. I guess anything is possible right? I plan on replacing those coolant lines so I guess I'll see what that does.

I planned on a seafoam but the weather is not cooperating as well as I would like.

Thanks

[jblackburn]

My fault - I probably got an email sometime while I was gone on vacation, and forgot to come back and reply to this topic.

Can you get to that line on the side of the intake?

Find someone with ridiculously small hands if it has fallen off. It's a squeeze, but after removing the top coolant hose, I was able to get my hand in there and re-connect it, and put a tiny screw-clamp on the elbow to hold it on.

The oil cooler lines will not cause excess pressure, but they sure are a pain to replace.

When you get your hands on the Seafoam or whatever you decide to use, get an extra can and remove the hose to the top of the valve cover that goes through the intake manifold and down to the oil separator box. Pour a bit of the liquid down that hose, and pour a bit of it down the hole in the top of the engine. This (should) help to make sure your passages in the engine for the whole PCV system are clean. Change the oil shortly after.