Oil Leak - Not Cam Seals, Rms Or Oil Cap - Looking For Other Common Areas

[troyhyde]

Perhaps the job that was done 7000 miles ago utilized URO parts. I could see them failing this quickly.

Odds are your leak is from the bottom connector of the PCV canister (oil separator) to block. There is a short little 1" hose (or more likely a press-on connector). It may have not been installed correctly. Get a good flashlight and eyeball the components. If they are not OEM Volvo the rubber is likely to be very poor in quality and is failing or will fail. If the components indeed look new and are OEM, I would just get the lower short hose mentioned earlier, everything else will be fine.

[Seaway]

I am waiting to see if I hear back from the PO regarding what he did when he replaced it, Volvo parts or something else. The main concern is that I only have one car, so once I start the job, I need to get it finished. If I don't order thee whole kit and I find something I didn't plan for, I am kinda stuck.

How long does the whole job take? I have never done a PCV.

[Jh4music]

The PCV sounds intimidating, but it's fairly easy. It can be done in a few hours. You need to remove the intake manifold to get at it. There are 7 10mm bolts holding it on, the bottom 4 you only need to loosen up, as the bottom of the maniford is nothed to slide off. There is a 12 mm support bracket on the bottom of the manifold, and a 12mm bolt holding the dipstick tube. Other than that, you just need to disconnect the wiring, fuel rail, and vacuum hoses. If you have a turbo, the pcv wraps around the back of the engine and connects to the PTC (on the plastic hose that goes to turbo inlet. Make sure you clean the PTC).

You said the previosu owner recently did this job, maybe you should just buy an intake gasket ($8), take it apart and inspect his work before buying the whole PCV kit ($200)

[Seaway]

Just spoke to the previous owner and he confirmed that the parts he used were URO, so it's all coming out and getting replaced with OEM. Will probably use the kit from IPD unless anyone has any reasons why the FCP kit is better?

[troyhyde]

Try Tascaparts or Volvopartswarehouse for OEM blue box, frequently cheaper than aftermarket offerings or so nominally more you won't hesitate. RMEuropean is good as well. I only go IPD for performance stuff and the occasional specialty tool. FCP has been off my radar for a while now for various reasons, never the most competitive price-wise as far as I can tell these days.

To give an idea of this "job". The first time will take normal learning, caution, and patience. Allow 4-5 hours so you can do it properly without rush.

After you've done it once, I would say most backyard mechanics could do it in less than 2 hours. It is pretty straight forward. If I were in a rush, I could probably do it in 1.5 hours unless there was a lot of funky greasy nastiness to clean up......

.....ps avoid URO products at all cost, I am not aware of anything they make that is worth 2 shites......

[erikv11]

If you want to the one crappy URO part you can re-use is the oil trap, it is just a hollow plastic box.

[Seaway]

Ha. Yeah, the PO said he used Uro parts, explains the problem. I have the parts ordered and will hopefully get it all done next weekend. There is a lot to clean, so I imagine it will take a while.

[Seaway]

UPDATE: I did the PCV job yesterday and found that both hoses from the breather box to the block were leaking badly. I think the PO had replaced only the hose to the top of the head and the hoses that lead from the box to the PTC and reused the box and the other hoses. I cleaned up the old oil and sludge from the front of the box and I am hoping the leaks there are now taken care of. The box was a Volvo part and looked really old. The hoses to the PTC and the top of the head were URO brand, and the short fat hose from the box to the block seemed to be a Volvo part, but also very old.

I still have a puff of smoke when I boost. It doesn't seem as bad as before, but I can't be sure yet. I have topped off my oil and I am going to monitor it closely to see what kind of use I am having. When I removed the hard aluminum pipe at the top of the turbo (not sure what it is called - OTE?) there was oil pooled on top of turbo outlet. I checked the hose at the bottom of the intercooler and there was no oil pooled there, just a light coating inside the hose.

Maybe a turbo rebuild is in my future.