Oil leak left hand side of engine

becdavies · Post by **becdavies** » 12 Apr 2021, 03:45

Got a fair sized oil leak on left hand side of engine. This is a 2001 Volvo V70 XC.
I’ve had a mechanic look at it and he has had to give it a good clean to see where it is coming from.
He pulled the timing belt cover off thinking the seals in there but he said it looked pretty clean.
He is unsure where it’s coming from without major work pulling things out and checking everything.

Does anyone have any ideas where these could be coming from? There is power steering fluid releasing under pressure on the reservoir but that wouldn’t cause a huge oil leak.

I did the glove check this afternoon for pcv box and the glove didn’t inflate (it was sucked in a little bit under higher revs).

I can catch some of it underneath and look at it but in this case is there an easy way to differentiate by look between oil and power steering fluid to confirm?

ignatz · Post by **ignatz** » 12 Apr 2021, 05:13

Tape a clean piece of white paper on a section of cardboard and slide it under the car. Then compare it to a blot from the engine's dipstick, and the power steering's dipstick.

darylrobert · Post by **darylrobert** » 13 Apr 2021, 05:27

i have a 2001 also and finding oil leaks can be very frustrating, it only takes a small leak to make a big mess. first thing to do is get a can of degreaser and clean it, you may/will need to remove covers to get access. then after a drive keep checking where the oil is coming from, it may take some time. also check which fluids are running low.

BTW where the belts are is the front of the engine

Post by **erikv11** » 13 Apr 2021, 11:21

On our 07 XC70 I traced a slow leak on that side of the engine to the seam of the plastic oil filter retainer. Swapped in another retainer same leak even though I can't see anything wrong on the oil pan side. Had to screw it on really tight to stop the leak.