I'm absolutely sick of trying to find this leak. The smell of the oil burning on the exhaust is killing me [:'(] at every stoplight.

The leak appears to be from one of two places, but watching them while the engine is running didn't show me a thing (read on). Either the larger diameter oil line (return?) from the turbocharger is leaking where it goes back into the engine (most likely), or (less likely) the smaller diameter oil line (supply) is so corroded about 2 inches before it makes the bend into the turbo that it is somewhat permeable at this point.

My guess is that the fitting into the engine isn't sealing when the car shifts and the engine jerks back and forth on the motor mounts. At a stand-still, it just doesn't show itself. But man, its getting all over the place when you drive the vehicle. I've had an assistant sit in the car and place the vehicle in drive (The damned turbo doesn't engage in neutral I see) and rev it up to a point the wastegate opens to really get some movement from the oil, but I can't see a leak before the car is about to drive through the garage wall with my laying over the running engine (folks, please don't try this at home, i've been riding drag bikes long enough that I am used to this, but seriously, don't even think about this).

So I guess my question is a common leaking problem with this fitting? How does this fitting go in? Is it just sitting there by the force of the turbo being bolted to the car? I don't see any compression type fitting or anything else. You can see what looks like an O-Ring between the fitting and the tube going into it.

As for the leaking line, well, that just seems crazy. But then again, this leak has driven me crazy trying to find.

And yes, the harder you drive the poor car the more oil seems to be present.



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Yes it is most likely the bigger oil return line.The o-ring falls apart and then leaks oil.It is a pain to change but can be done with some patience.Follow the pipe to the turbo and you will find either 2 torxes 30 screws or 2 5mm allen screws holding the pipe to the turbo.Remove them and also the clamp between the 2 lines.Then the bigger pipe will come out.Install a new o-ring put a little bit of grease in the hole in the block then reinstall pipe.

That is a common problem on those cars.

Egads. How about a little hint or two. It looks like to get at that fitting, the turbo had to come out, no? I know how much fun that is on a car with anything more the 30k miles on it, especially one sun baked to death down here in AZ. Memories of oxy-cetylene torches trying to pre-heat the bolts so they don't snap like brittle dry twigs.

I see that O-Ring is a whopping $1.28 from volvoparts.com. This looks like the basic system that has been used since my mother had a late eighties 760 GLE-Tic. What a piece that turbo was. Oil cooled nightmare, that car had its oil changed religiously and still failed at like 50k miles. My mother is the reason I have all my speeding tickets, but still. The replacement was a garrett water and oil, that came as a kit from volvo, but for over $1,000 if memory serves...


ORIGINAL: tech

Yes it is most likely the bigger oil return line.The o-ring falls apart and then leaks oil.It is a pain to change but can be done with some patience.Follow the pipe to the turbo and you will find either 2 torxes 30 screws or 2 5mm allen screws holding the pipe to the turbo.Remove them and also the clamp between the 2 lines.Then the bigger pipe will come out.Install a new o-ring put a little bit of grease in the hole in the block then reinstall pipe.

That is a common problem on those cars.

No the turbo doesn't have to come off.If you look up from underneath and see the turbo.There is a coolant pipe with something on it that looks like foil.Carefully pry that towards the driver side (I believe) then you can get to the screws easier.It takes some paitance but isn't that bad.A tip though long 1/4 inch extensions and a swivel.If all else fails you can remove the bottom mounts plate then it will be real easy to get to.I have seen many of the Volvo techs remove it to get to it.But I never removed it to do it.