europarts.com has them for that price so that will be my option it seems

 

I have not read all of the posts in this thread but do I understand correctly that a leak in this area could be either the camshaft seal or an o-ring on a plunger in the VVT hub (or both)? Is this correct? If so and if it is just the o-ring in the VVT hub, is this pretty easy to get to?

 

It's pretty easy. You have to remove the inner and outer plastic timing belt cover to access the VVT gear itself. The difference is how you want to handle the timing belt. One person here loosened the timing belt tensioner then partially slipped the belt off the VVT gear. Then they removed the three bolts holding the outer gear to the inner hub and moved the outer gear over just enough to access the plunger. I have not done it this way. I just remove the timing belt like you would when replacing it. Make sure you mark the VVT gear orientation to the hub.

 

I replaced my timing belt last summer. I did the TB & WP. No evidence of oil in the area. I didn't know to check the camshaft seal or VVT hub. I keep an eye on the TB occasionally to see any evidence of oil. So far - none. This is on a 2001 V40 with 106k miles. If I see some oil, I will decide if I want to tackle the VVT hub and cam seals.

 

so on the other side of the vvt pulley the bolts can be loosened and from there the seal can be replaced?

I hope I'm making sense with that statement.

 

Replacing the o-ring on the plunger is somewhat easy. Replacing the seals though is more involved. You will need a cam holder tool (Volvo Camshaft Tool | eBay) to reinstall the VVT gear correctly. This is because the VVT gear can be installed in any position in reference to the cam (360 degree movement). There are no marks or woodruff keys or anything except setting the cam to a known position via the cam holder then setting the VVT gear to the timing reference marks on the plastic timing cover. The torque on the single bolt holding the VVT gear to the cam is fairly high so the cam must be prevented from moving. And 1 or 2 degrees is a huge amount of movement to a cam so it must be precise. The intake cam is a piece of cake relative to the exhaust cam. Only 1 seal behind the gear and the gear fits one way. There is no seal under the big plug on the driver's side of the intake cam. The exhaust cam has 2 seals. Here is a pic of mine still on the cam.



Here is cam tool installed:

 

this is new information I just learned, and I have an oil leak at that location which is leaving a small puddle on the ground. Well at least I think that's what it is b/c I don't think the turbo in/oulet lines are leaking.

 

If it's leaking enough to leave puddles it's usually one of two things. The VVT gear plunger-looking-thing or a blocked PCV system. Now I've had both. To check the VVT gear remove the upper timing belt cover halves and look for oil slung all over the inner part of the covers and the belt. If you run the engine with the cover off it will sling little drops of oil in the same plane as the gear rotates.

To check for a blocked PCV system take the oil fill cap off and place your hand over the opening. If it has suction then the system is working. If it has pressure then it's blocked. The pressure is pushing oil out of the seals. I just fixed my 2001 last week. The air/oil separator under the intake manifold was clogged. It had this nasty milky oily mess clogging the bottom tube where the oil drains back to the engine. It took me about a day and 3 runs to the auto parts store to fix it. I pre-ordered an intake manifold gasket (1) but had to run back for some hard plastic 3/16" emissions line that broke (2) then another run to Tractor Supply for parts washer solvent (3).

This is the my VVT gear plunger showing oil all over it:


This is a pic of the front of the engine showing the air/oil separator under the intake manifold. It's the large black plastic box.

 

[QUOTE=Hudini;403315]If it's leaking enough to leave puddles it's usually one of two things. The VVT gear plunger-looking-thing or a blocked PCV system. Now I've had both. To check the VVT gear remove the upper timing belt cover halves and look for oil slung all over the inner part of the covers and the belt. If you run the engine with the cover off it will sling little drops of oil in the same plane as the gear rotates.

To check for a blocked PCV system take the oil fill cap off and place your hand over the opening. If it has suction then the system is working. If it has pressure then it's blocked. The pressure is pushing oil out of the seals. I just fixed my 2001 last week. The air/oil separator under the intake manifold was clogged. It had this nasty milky oily mess clogging the bottom tube where the oil drains back to the engine. It took me about a day and 3 runs to the auto parts store to fix it. I pre-ordered an intake manifold gasket (1) but had to run back for some hard plastic 3/16" emissions line that broke (2) then another run to Tractor Supply for parts washer solvent (3).

This is the my VVT gear plunger showing oil all over it:


This is a pic of the front of the engine showing the air/oil separator under the intake manifold. It's the large black plastic box.
[/QUOTE/

My son bought a 200 s40 and leaking oils also. He drove it down toour house onb easter. a couple of days before he left he told me about a leak in his car. Upon inspection saw that the timing/ seprtine belts drenched with oil along with alternator and engine comaprtment. Needless to say he took my truck and left his car for me to fix it. I just ordered the cam shaft locking tool and waiting to see what has happened. Is it safe to say to change both belts now since they are full of oil? I can post picture of it later on today when I get home from work. I wanna get this fixed ASAP because an hour to and from work everyday and gas is expensive. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

Hi loco,

If the timing belt is soaked then yes, it will need to be replaced. This also means that the VVT gear itself is more than likely leaking and needs to be replaced too. Online from a dealer it was around $160. And if you are doing the timing belt with the VVT off, you might has well do everything, TB tensioner, idler, water pump and oil seals for the cams and the crankshaft.

Not an easy job as alot of things have to come off of the engine just to get the locking tool on the backside of the cams. It took me a day to get everything off and cleaned, I went slow and documented and bagged the bolts/parts from each step. This made putting things back much easier.

About the VVT gear... it seems they almost all leak. There is a small plunger in the side that has an oring around it. Thanks to user migbro, who I sent my old VVT too and he disassembled, we know that that plunger is really just a plug, it doesn't move. So theoretically you could just seal that hole up to fix the leak. Also migbro may be working on getting an oring kit ready for poeple to use to fix it properly... not sure when that may be available.


Good luck and if you need any help just post here, myself and many on this board have done this job successfully.

 

Upon further inspection that plunger is loose. I'm not sure if it's suppose to be. I turn on the car and it leaves like racing stripes of oil where it comes in contact. It splatters every where in the eng bay. Both belts have been soaked with oil and the alternator is black from oil and grime from the trip up here. When I first saw it before the initial cleaning I gave it. It looked like someone grabbed a spray bottle and squirted the whole front side of the engine.

 

Here are some pictures of it. Sorry about the light it's already dark here.

 

Here are more pictures. If you look closely at one of the pictures you can see the alternator is black and drenched.

 

I'm not sure how your alternator got oily. Are all of the timing belt covers on properly? They should all lock together pretty tight.

The definitive test to make sure your VVT is leaking and not just your oil seals is to dry out the plunger hole and run the engine for a minute. If oil returns you know thats at least part of the problem.

But from the pics I'm pretty sure your VVT is leaking. That is what mine looked like, spraying oil everywhere.

I'm sure you know, but the S40's have interference engines. If that timing belt breaks or slips past too many teeth it will wreck your valves and possibly the pistons too. I wouldn't drive it as it is.

 

My son drove it down to our house about 600 miles. All the covers were on tight but I think it just to messy around the whole entire bay. Even the serpentine belt is oily. So I have my work cut out for me. It leaks pretty good when the engine is running. You can see all the oil coming out from behind and in from of the gear housing.

 

Well here I go. I got the parts on Saturday from the dealer.... Got the parts at cost not the mark up... I got the hub gear (exhaust) itself both serpentine and timing belt and front and back seals and the tool kit to lock the cams in place. Hopefully I can get it started today. Weather this weekend was rainy.

 

http://http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AVLU3ZK?psc=1

Here is the tool kit I purchased for locking the cams Just in case you guys are looking for a tool kit.

 

Just be gentle with the cam cover. It's fairly thin and has been known to crack if you don't tighten it down evenly. Have fun!

 

Is it recommended to take off the cam cover? Or can I keep it in place locked and remove the hub?

 

Hmmm, not sure what Hudini meant by cam cover. The plastic covers have to come off for sure... But the 'valve' cover, if thats what was meant, certainly should not be removed on an S40 when removing the VVT hub.