02 XC70 - The repairs have started

[scot850]

Today as I was cursing the V70R and the Toyota for both having issues, what do you do, go start working on another car!

We had pulled the XC70 around from out front of the house and parked it in the old garage so I can tinker and leave it in bits as I take notions to work on it. The owner dropped off some 12 year old winter tires which at least hold air. One of the 10 year old summers keeps going down so I will swap one onto he car tomorrow.

I put the battery on a trickle charger as it has been sitting out front for about 2 weeks. Car actually started right up first try and ran well unlike the last time. Maybe it want to get some attention?

I decided to start with the easy stuff. Pulled the timing belt cover to access the CVVT exhaust solenoid. Getting a code. Oil has done about 5500-6000 miles on synthetic so about due a change.

Pulled the CVVT solenoid. Has to actually be one of the cleanest I have ever seen! For a car that is on 235k miles it is surprising.
It is one of the newer style which I like. You can separate the valve body and solenoid by removing a Torx screw and easing the solenoid off with a screwdriver. Again the valve portion which stays attached to the solenoid was really clean. A light clean of both parts and they are now fully clean. I have a test connector for the newer style of solenoid to connected it and compared with a good used one I have. Both have around 4.6 ohms resistance which is good. I attached a 12V power supply to the test lead and both operated fine.

So I will return the solenoid to the car tomorrow with a new gasket. What I did notice is that the original gasket does not have the small gauze filter. It does not look like it ever did? I have a new aftermarket gasket I will fit that has the gauze:

Old and new CVVT solenoid gasket

You can see here where the filter should be:

No filter in original gasket

You can see below that the oil ways look clean and clear even with 6k oil in them being a little black.

Oil ways are clean and clear

So first item on the list of possible issues I feel has been checked and vindicated. I'll do the oil and filter change anyway as it is due on time alone.

Next onto the coils and plugs as well as clean the top of the head to remove oil leaking from possibly the oil filler cap gasket.

Neil.

[scot850]

Oh dear, why did I ever agree to this.............!

Oil over the top of the cylinder head. I believe it probably from a worn out oil cap rubber seal. Either it has been doing this for a long time or there is a leak somewhere else. Now it will take several hours to clean the top of the head, and it will require the spark plug tubes to be cleaned as well as oil had been tunning down both inside and outside the coil boots. The spring contacts on the coils are covered in oil as are the tops of the plugs. Hardly surprising there was a misfire occasionally, but no codes thrown is weird?

Coils are the originals (4/5) dated 2001!! So original coils for 22 years and 235,000 miles. 1 is an aftermarket unbranded part. It is strange as the coil spring part is not connected to the bottom of the coil. It just presses against in. That is surely a good design........

Spark plugs don't look too bad. A little dark but some light brown deposits. Gaps are at 0.040" a little too large. Should be 0.028"!

Coils have 2-3 cracks each in the bodies under the boot. The usual one on the opposite side to the plug and one either side.

Coil wires need re-wrapped as the plastic wire wrap corrugated tube is crumbling.

The turbo to intercooler rubber pipe into the intercooler has a crack all the way through partly hidden by the clamp. This is what has been spraying oil over the ETM plastic pipe right beside it.

The intercooler to ETM pipe was removed to make removing the ETM/throttle body easier. When cleaning it I found a crack in the middle plastic flex. It is possible this happened during removal but hard to tell. So that pipe will need replaced as well.

This is where these 'cheap' Volvos end up mugging you to death. All these parts add up. The plastic hose is still available but was only fitted to 01-02 cars from what I can find. Chances a used one is any better after removing is slim. $185 CDN for a new one.

Rubber hose is also 22 years old. A new one is $140 CDN

New NGK plugs on order (the old ones are the same) from Rock auto for $20 CDN, as well as upstream and downstream O2 sensors, another $180 CDB + shipping.

I have some oil of the right type, but I would rather find a high mileage oil 5W-30 oil to try to stem the oil leaks. The intercooler pipes, probably the intercooler and the throttle bodies are all covered internally with oil. I suppose fixing some of the leaks might reduce the oil loss........... I did think about running a thicker oil like on my V70R which uses 5W-40 oil but until I am sure there is no PCV pressure build up after the leaks are fixed, that can wait for now.

Work will have to wait for a few days as it is V70R wheel bearing fix time tomorrow.

Neil.

[volvolugnut]

It is sometimes amassing how these cars can run with many faults. I call that robust design.
volvolugnut

[scot850]

I wish they were less robust so people actually fixed them than let them amass so many issues.

Neil.

[lrock]

I've been dismantling a well maintained 02 at the junkyard for the last 3 weeks. I can get you most or all of the pipes in good condition for not much if it can wait till my next trip (likely Sunday, but maybe sooner). Or anything else you might need.
I have the same issue with oil in the plug tubes, it degrades the hell out of those boots. It's likely the plug tubes seals, new oil cap seal didn't fix mine, plus it would be hard for the oil to get into the tubes from a cap seal leak.

[scot850]

Your offer is really very much appreciated. The car is not on too tight a timeline other than I want it out of my garage and to get on with my own projects. My only concerns are shipping costs (the hose should not be too horrific) but the inlet tube is fairly long so could get pricy.

Buying the parts new would cost me in the region of $310 CDN (around $230) with free shipping.

The only other issue is the same one I have puling parts from an 01-02 car is will they survive removal and re-fitting successfully. The hose should but not sure about the plastic tube. Removing the tube may have caused the crack I'm thinking. I struggled to get the end off the throttle body so removed the other end first from the intercooler. There is lost of stuff around that end to get hung up on and cause the tube to flex and crack. So removing the other end first is I think the better, if harder, way to go.

I think there are a couple of 01/02 P80's in the junkyards around here, so maybe I will go check them before we get to the weekend and see if any have the parts before asking you to take time on this. That may also cement if used part recovery can be successful!

I'll let you know before the weekend. Again your offer is much appreciated on a project like this where cost minimizing is critical.

Neil.

[scot850]

I started cleaning off the top of the head from all the oil that is sitting up there and leaking into the spark plug tube and the coil boots.

I have seen heads with this much oil leaking into them from the oil cap gasket. The other places I have seen is a crack in the oil separator pipe to the head, usually where it enters the top by the oil cap. I don't see anything obvious there. However, if it is cracked it could be on the lower side as the top is dry.

Final source is from a blown cam seal that could have sprayed a lot of oil up into the head, and the repair shop possibly did not clean it out.

I know there are other possible sources, but until it is clean and run there is no way to tell.

Only option here is to clean it all out and then leave the spark plug cover plate off and monitor for leaks once the engine is running again.

The other good thing is I am not seeing any leaked oil down the front of the block so the oil I saw from underneath is most likely from the split intercooler hose.

I am concerned about the amount of oil in the intercooler hoses and up into the throttle body. Throttle body has still to come off and be cleaned.

I have a few un-cracked used coils so I will swap out the 4 originals and leave the replacement one and see how it runs with those and new plugs.

I'm hoping (weather depending) to try to get to the junkyards tomorrow to see if I can find the 2 hoses in undamaged condition. Long shot but even finding one or the other would be good.

I'll post pictures of the before and after on the head when I finish cleaning that. I only work on that cleaning for about an hour at a time as my back does not like the stooping over. The strut brace in the XC70 for once though has a use other than being a pain and getting in the way. I find it is a great arm support rest!

Hopefully the plugs get here tomorrow and the upstream O2 sensor. Downstream arrived today. On clearance at Rock Auto for around $60 or less US.

Slow but steady progress.

Neil.

[scot850]

First, I promise to add some more photos tomorrow.

Managed to get to the junkyards today. First yard was a bust as the 01 V70 listed was actually an early 90's 940 wagon. The 08 S60 2.5T AWD is different as after 2002-3 the intercooler to turbo pipe only has one vacuum take off pipe. The earlier one has a MAP sensor and temp sensor like the 99-00 P80's built into them.

At the other yard a strange thing is there were 2 x S60's I looked at and the 04 looked like it had the earlier pipe too that the 02 had, but it had been crushed by a front end hit. The turbo to intercooler rubber hose at the intercooler was the same as the earlier cars.

I have a 2nd thread replated to this on looking for help with plastics repair/reinforcement, link below:

viewtopic.php?t=105107

My visit brought home 2 inter cooler to turbo rubber hoses that were correct and one that was from a later car that as not. On cleaning the hoses at home, of the 2 correct ones, only one (I only need one) was good. The other is soggy but whole.

I also got the plastic hose from the intercooler to the throttle body. It is not cracked but has a slight stretch on the same flex joint that cracked on the original. I'm guessing as it is nearer the top side it was cause by the person removing the throttle body pushing it downwards without loosening the other end first as this stress point is on the upper portion of the joint. It will work fine and I will reinforce the stress point before installing the pipe.

I had to stop at the yard as the only possible rain decided to turn up so bad weather stopped play, but probably a good thing!

Best thing is that the actual hoses I need cost a total of $14 CDN v's the $310 for new ones. Happy with that!

Spark plugs and O2 sensors have now arrived, so with the remaining cleaning to be done on the cylinder head and plug tubes and the TB to clean, I have plenty to get on with now and hopefully after the weekend there is a chance I may get close to having the engine repairs completed. It will depend on if I get the hub bolts from the local Volvo dealer before the weekend. Hopefully it will happen as the other set ordered from Volvo of Toronto have already shipped. Those are forecast for Tuesday worst case.

Progress is way slower than I hoped, but this week is busy and another P80 is coming in on Sunday to try to help the owner identify an issue, and if the bolts for the R turn up at the local dealer for the weekend, that will be the priority.

Neil.

[scot850]

Still not got time for the picture upload. Sorry! Life has suddenly got very busy!

Got the remainder of the top surface of the head cleaned off finally. Just have the plug tube and threads to clean out and then rebuilding can start.

Finished cleaning my hose 'treasures' from yesterday. Probably 2/3 of the rubber hoses are junk. 1 of the 01/02 hoses turned out to be complete junk once I started cleaning it. I found the rubber on the inside looked like it has got so hot it had melted! The rubber had turned to a gooey type mess on the inside. Straight to the junk pile. Then the one from the 08 S60 I picked up on spec was cleaned and again it is marginal. It will do for an emergency part.

I need to try to find a rubber conditioner to protect the 'good' hose.

Spark plugs and o2 sensors have arrived so those will be next on the list once the engine intercooler hoses, plugs and better coils are fitted. Also have to re-wrap the coil wires as the flexi plastic covering is crumbling to nothing.

Neil.

[volvolugnut]

When you buy the flex tube for wire covering, try to find a high temperature rated tube. It will last better than the cheap, common tube.
volvolugnut