98 V70 T5 Inflated Glove Salute - Oh well

Post by **songzunhuang** » 26 Jul 2015, 19:59

This weekend I embarked on the changing of my rear cam seals. There's something good and bad about my driveway. My car's cooling hose busted on my driveway leaving a trail. That prompted me to replace every cooling hose. Now, the rear cam seals gave as I was arriving home leaving a trail of oil spots on my driveway. On the good news side, I was close to home when it happened. On the bad news side, this is a new driveway and my wife is getting annoyed at the stains the old red wagon is putting on it again.

Of course no one in town had these seals in stock so I had to order them for next day delivery. While I waited I read up on all the threads about PVC replacement and PTC replacement. Well, couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided to clean out my PTC. As I discovered later, it really needed it. While taking out the PTC, the dang brittle plastic breather hoses of the PVC system broke! I had to run around McGyvering a solution using various hoses and clamps. That added to the excitement - yeah.

The next day I got my seals and installed them. I also cleaned out the PTC really well and put it all back together with the McGyvered hoses. However, all was not well. After all this, I did the "Glove on Oil Filler" test for the PVC system. Here's what I got.

: A salute you do not want.

Yup, going to have to attack the PVC system. I ordered it from IPD USA today. I know what my project next weekend is going to be. Old cars are so much fun...

Post by **JRL** » 26 Jul 2015, 21:34

Why would you do a half assed breather, the entire system needs new parts?
All has to come apart with carefully checking where it goes into the oil pan

Post by **cn90** » 26 Jul 2015, 21:43

Couple things:

1. For oil leak, I put a piece of cardboard on the usual parking spots, placed some bricks so the wind does not blow it away. Or you can use a used rubber mat. Just make sure you park in the spot every day. This way the driveway concrete is not stained. Even if it is, use Purple Cleaner.

2. The PCV job has been written extensively by "jblackburn":

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=28487

I used the 5/8-inch heater hose mod below. Re-used the oil trap, which virtually never goes bad. Detail below:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=53448

Post by **songzunhuang** » 26 Jul 2015, 22:19

JRL wrote:Why would you do a half assed breather, the entire system needs new parts?
All has to come apart with carefully checking where it goes into the oil pan

You do a half-assed breather because when you break a part on the weekend and do not have replacement parts, you have to get creative until the new parts arrive. I drive this car to work most days so I needed it on Monday.

The seal leak went to DefCon 4 on Friday night. I didn't figure out what it was until late Saturday (thanks to this most excellent website). Ordered the seal on Saturday evening, got the part Sunday (today). Busted the PCV hoses while removing the PTC this afternoon, but needed the car Monday. You see the timeline?

I've got the rest of the stuff coming from IPDUSA. I'm hoping it gets here during the week so that I can take care of this next weekend.

Post by **songzunhuang** » 26 Jul 2015, 22:22

cn90 wrote:Couple things:

1. For oil leak, I put a piece of cardboard on the usual parking spots, placed some bricks so the wind does not blow it away. Or you can use a used rubber mat. Just make sure you park in the spot every day. This way the driveway concrete is not stained. Even if it is, use Purple Cleaner.

2. The PCV job has been written extensively by "jblackburn":

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=28487

I used the 5/8-inch heater hose mod below. Re-used the oil trap, which virtually never goes bad. Detail below:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=53448

Thanks for taking the time to include the links. I've STUDIED those two threads previously. I do have a comment on the 5/8" heater hose modification though. I am not sure it would make much of a difference because it connects to the PTC and the PTC has a little 1/8"hole in it that appears to restrict whatever extra flow you would get. Am I missing something?

Post by **songzunhuang** » 27 Jul 2015, 00:08

Incidentally, the seal I got was a National brand by Federal Mogul. It looked pretty good with an additional spring around the internal seal. I also discovered that using the body of a Toro sprinkler was about the perfect diameter to press the seal into place. Anyone used this seal before?

: The seal and the Sprinkler case I used to press it into place.

Post by **erikv11** » 27 Jul 2015, 06:46

songzunhuang wrote:... I do have a comment on the 5/8" heater hose modification though. I am not sure it would make much of a difference because it connects to the PTC and the PTC has a little 1/8"hole in it that appears to restrict whatever extra flow you would get. Am I missing something?

You are correct. That point has been posted about several times now. But heater hose is so much cheaper and works great, and 5/8 will connect directly to the oil trap. I like to use a pre-formed hose with a 90 degree bend in it already (https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 1&start=35). See also https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 7&start=28.

Post by **cn90** » 27 Jul 2015, 08:16

songzunhuang,

- Whatever the academic aspect is (we can spend a few hours debating it), the 5/8-inch heater hose works great for me the last 3 years. I just did the glove test now after 3 years: zero problem.

- REAR cams seals: OEM is Corteco ($8 at rmeuropean dot com).
* When I did mine, I used SKF (at the time I didn't know Corteco is the OEM). SKF seemed to work fine w/o issues until the 98 V70 was totaled in an accident.
* But for FRONT Cam: my SKF seal leaked after 24K miles, just switched to Corteco ($8 for the front seal too).
* Given that the REAR seal is easy to replace, just install it and move on. You can always replace it later. For FRONT seal: Corteco only!

* REAR seal: 36-mm socket works fine, I wrote the detail below:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=50752

PS:
- The spring in the seal you mentioned is called "garter spring" (do a google search and you will see what the garter spring does).
- Next time when you have a problem like this (failed glove test and high crankcase pressure), pull the dipstick upward a few mm, just enough to vent the pressure while you do your research so you can buy the proper seal (which is Corteco). The National brand is probably a cheap seal, but again it is the REAR seal, so replacing it is "easy" (compared with the front seal).

Post by **tryingbe** » 27 Jul 2015, 10:14

songzunhuang wrote:Incidentally, the seal I got was a National brand by Federal Mogul. It looked pretty good with an additional spring around the internal seal.

I used national seals and they leaked by the first oil change. I bought OEM Volvo seals, and compared them. The Volvo seals have longer lip, no leak yet, that was almost 30k ago.

Post by **songzunhuang** » 27 Jul 2015, 10:54

tryingbe wrote:
songzunhuang wrote:Incidentally, the seal I got was a National brand by Federal Mogul. It looked pretty good with an additional spring around the internal seal.
I used national seals and they leaked by the first oil change. I bought OEM Volvo seals, and compared them. The Volvo seals have longer lip, no leak yet, that was almost 30k ago.

Oh man, I was afraid of that! Thanks for the heads up. I've got the entire PVC system coming for my next weekend project. I'm going to go ahead and get the OEM seal and just replace that at the same time. More fun!