'94 850T Oil leak from b/t rear of block & trans

[KnarlTek]

Hello.
I've looked through various postings surrounding other people's symptomolgy similar to my car's ailment and I thought I would post what I thought I experienced prior to the evidence of leaking oil from in front of the driver, around the fuel lines.
I change the oil every 3K with Mobil1 synthetic and use a Bosch oil filter (I own a Bimmer, too). The former owner was the lead Tech at an independent Volvo shop and treated this car as his 'baby' for the 7 years prior to my purchase. He told me to use synth oil and Redline in the trans, as he had.
Anyway, I drive the car mostly in town less than 10 miles a day to-from work. But, I just took it out to Cali (2,000 miles RT) for Thanksgiving to see my brother and I just remembered 3 instances when I floored it to get into traffic and the 'governor' cut out at around 4000 rpm then immediately resumed after feathering the pedal back.
This past Friday as I was running errands I noticed that the turbo wasn't spooling up like it used to, as well as the steering didn't respond normally(unrelated, I hope) around corners. I stopped to pull over and look at the undercarriage and inspect the tires (new) to try to determine if the grating of the roads were causing the car to mishandle. I saw oil leaking rather quickly from the junction of the transmission and block, but no evidence of a leak from anywhere else underneath. I smelled the liquid to ensure that it was in fact oil and not ATF from the steering rack; it was oil. The seam of the case had an orange gasket maker 'silicone'(?) in it which would indicate to me that someone had cracked it open previously for repairs.
I bought the car at 128,000 miles and have put approximately 14,000 miles on it over the last 3 years. I suspect that the city driving caused a build up in the PCV/arrester system which then caused too much pressure and resulted in the blow out of my RMS? Thus I must repair/replace components of the PCV system, and the RMS. Anyone care to offer their opinion?
I have driven the car twice since I noticed the leak and I am certain that it continues to leak, although not quite like a free flow.
I have tried to be as detailed as possible and any opinions you could offer in light of what I've said would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[james78]

I had this problem as well. Volvos have extremely high crank case pressure, which is compression getting past the rings in the cylinders. Volvo does not use a PCV system, they use a semi passive system with no valve to keep oil out of the intake. There is a canister on the front side of the engine that is supposed to collect oil and let crank case pressure pass thru to the intake tube into the flame trap. The flame trap is just a round piece of plastic with holes thru it, it looks very similar to a MAF sensor. It is supposed to catch pieces of carbon from entering the intake. When you accelerated quickly in traffic or where ever you were, the turbo created higher crank case pressure and pushed oil thru one of the seals in the flame trap system. also pull off your flame trap and see if it is clogged with carbon. Some carb cleaner will take care of that. make sure the little O-ring is in good condition, and it only cost like 4 dollars and some change from the dealership any way. On my car I also replaced the hose that runs from the canister on the front of the engine to the flame trap and i used fuel line (you need a rubber that is petroleum product resistant) and i RTV sealed it to the elbows because i found that was a primary cause of oil all over the engine. Hope this helps.

[MadeInJapan]

Pretty good description except for the fact that his turbo doesn't have a "flame trap" per se....so there is no holder with a round disc. The only true solution is the RMS seal (separate the trans from the engine for a $5.00 part replacement) and while he's at it, a replacement of the PCV system....www.fcpgroton.com has them but you'll also need to buy an intake manifold gasket as that part also has to come loose.

Good luck to the original poster. Sorry I missed your original first post last week, and Welcome to MVS!