Leakdown Test

[VolvoForLife850]

if oil is being sprayed on the firewall, then you'd better find that puppy before you start a car fire!

I've seen oil catch fire on a stock exhaust manifold of a N/A car, so I can only imagine how quickly it would catch fire if it got on a hot turbo.

As for your test results, you're going to hear air escape from the dipstick. The question is: do you hear it from any other locations as well?

I'd focus my efforts on location the source of the firewall spray 1st if I were you.

Good luck

Oh yeah...my friend and I almost watched his 740 blow up after oil got on his exhaust manifold...not good.

[mojojo]

No smoking whatsoever.

Midtown Atlanta, right next to Georgia Tech. 10th street & juniper

Well, typically when piston rings wear, you get some smoke off idle after prolonged periods of idling. I'm off exit 267 on 75, so not far away at all.

I'm up for a get together sometime, as well with an assortment of professional tools. I'm sure between the two of us we could do anything to a volvo (there's not much I'm lacking - the only thing on my list ATM is a strut spring compressor).

[rbodor3]

compression test done today. Did multiple tests on each cylinder to get a kind of average. What are the spec numbers (can't seem to find them in VADIS)

1. 161

2. 150

3. 120

4. 147

5. 151

On cylinder 3, I confirmed multiple times the compression was about 120ish. I put in a couple drops of oil thru the spark hole and the initial compression was much better but built very slowly to a peak of about 130 average. So still too low. I suspect if I used a couple drops of oil more I might have achieved a better number, but this is already telling me - bad ring????? Not to sure about diagnosing this if anybody can lend a hand.

[loseR99]

I'd be down to check things out and lend a hand as well. I'm in kennesaw off Wade Green. But I work in Marietta and my girl lives in Vinings so i'm all over the place. I'm also very familiar with the S60, as i've helped resuscitate my fathers numerous times. I also have experience blowing oil all over the engine bay running high boost in cold temps ( in the old S40).

So if you guys ever see a Laser Blue V70R heavy footin it through traffic on 75 feel free to point and laugh.

[rbodor3]

Burnt valve on cylinder 3 due to lean mixtures? I've leaned out only a couple of times under boost - never felt/heard any detonation. No noticeable valve chatter, no oil loss, no smoke from exhaust on cold-start, which all means NOT burnt valve! Could it be on it's way out? Showing no major symptoms, but showing low compression? Leak down numbers were pretty good for cylinder 3 which doesn't explain why compression is so bad! :angry:

Considered a valve adjustment, but the engine seems too young to really need one (76k as of today), especially considering only like 20k miles have been with a real turbo (not the 13t).

Most of my $$$ is going towards my project car, so I'm not looking to dump money into a new cylinder head + valve job + miscellaneous items to get the compression numbers back up to snuff.

Anybody know the spec allowable leakage and compression numbers?

[EricF]

That's definitely low. Why it's low is anyone's guess if you don't know when it dropped.

Were you testing with the engine hot? Or cold? I would do it again and see if you could get the compression up with a little more oil. Try an oil bottle cap full.

Being that you have solid lifters, it would be worth checking valve clearances. Since it's #3, you should also be able to see the cam lobes to see if anything is up just looking down through the oil fill cap.

Good luck! If it shows no symptoms, just leave it alone. Unless you have another ride and a strong pocketbook that would like to tear it down to find out exactly why. Have you checked for metal shavings in your oil?

[rbodor3]

Engine was hot. I'm thinking of trying a bit more oil to get a better answer on the compression loss. I'll check what you've suggested, but I think I'll have to keep monitoring the compression to see if it gets worse. Until then seems like not much I can do until I can get the project car running well enough for me to tear down the DD to find out what's wrong.

[Rsterns]

Engine was hot. I'm thinking of trying a bit more oil to get a better answer on the compression loss. I'll check what you've suggested, but I think I'll have to keep monitoring the compression to see if it gets worse. Until then seems like not much I can do until I can get the project car running well enough for me to tear down the DD to find out what's wrong.

I agree to check it again with a bit more oil. What your looking for is if the oil provides a bit more seal for the rings, the compression will go up, if indeed you have rings that are starting to fail. If you have low compression and with oil you see no difference, that points more towards a valve issue. At this point you can't rule out that you have a head gasket starting to fail. Have you started consuming any coolant?

Right now I know your fixating on #3, but I don't like the variability of your readings hole to hole. I never want to see more than a 5 lb deviation between cylinders. I suspect, if you do your compression again, not being so conservative on your oil usage, that your going to see all of your numbers climb a bit. Has the engine always been well maintained, or do you have an underlying slug issue that could be gumming up your rings?

[rbodor3]

no idea about the P.O.

But don't think there's a sludge issue. Oil comes out looking fine (no metal, no gunk, etc.), and always replaced filter with oil every 3.5k miles. Been using royal purple for the majority of ownership (30k miles). I will have to do more testing again to check the compression numbers and use more oil.

[rbodor3]

So finally a couple months later I've done a couple things to try to help this issue. I put some seafoam thru the head and changed my catch can setup. I'm now pulling vacuum right downstream of the MAF to help prevent oil buildup. I'm also considering remounting the catch can lower in the car to make sure oil always drains down into it from the tubes when the car's not running.

Also cleaned the pcv fitting at the manifold again just to be sure. I will run another compression test in a couple days and hopefully there's better readings. Otherwise it's probable rings....

simple barbed fitting, some tube, and JBWeld to help seal the fitting.

[lookforjoe]

So finally a couple months later I've done a couple things to try to help this issue. I put some seafoam thru the head and changed my catch can setup. I'm now pulling vacuum right downstream of the MAF to help prevent oil buildup. I'm also considering remounting the catch can lower in the car to make sure oil always drains down into it from the tubes when the car's not running.

Also cleaned the pcv fitting at the manifold again just to be sure. I will run another compression test in a couple days and hopefully there's better readings. Otherwise it's probable rings....

simple barbed fitting, some tube, and JBWeld to help seal the fitting.

hmmmm.... moving the CC outlet further upstream won't increase the vacuum draw@ idle, which is when you need it - there is minimal vacuum between the MAF/Turbo.

What was the end cause of the oil spray?

[rbodor3]

I didn't move the CC outlet, I was originally dumping to the atmosphere so I added pulling vacuum.

Still not completely sure on the oil spray. But I'm fairly positive it's coming out of the crankcase penetration from the top of the head between cylinders 2 & 3. The next thing I'll look into is a complete PCV system replacement if the issue persists.