I have a 1998 V70 with 207K. I have some pretty good oil leaks. The undercarriage of the car is coated with oil (visual inspection while getting an oil change)while the top of the engineis dry and dusty - no oil seen anywhere.I probablyaddaquart of oil every three or fourweeks.My mechanic(Volvo/Toyota dealership, has worked on this car since day one, not one to push unecessary work) has degreased the engine and has not found any glaring leak. Hissuggestion (not recommendedas necessary) has been along the lines of replacing the front cam seals, front crank seal, front pump seal and rear axle seal on the transmission. The car isothewise is great shape, my kids use it for their car, and it just runsaround town. I would like to see it get 300K if possible. Within the last 10K I have had a new PVC and turbo inlet hose and I had a lot of other work done at 200K. Any thoughts on a possible cause of the leaks? I am surprised that this much oil can get through aworn seal.Is it worth replacing all of theseseals or should I just continue to add oil?

Miscellaneous - I have put $14,002.63 worth of maintenance in this car since September, 1997 at a cost of .0676/mile. Boy,do Imiss the days of putting a timing light on a car and doing the work myself. The most annoying problem with the car has been the air guide under the engine. The plastic molded mounts over time just snap and the air guidedrops off. I have put three new air guides on the car since I have owned it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Is the car turbo?
The Axle seals rarely leak.
The crank seal rarely leak.
The Cam seals are known to leak.
Is the vent box clogged?

 

Not a turbo. At 195K, the PCV housing was replaced (it was clogged) and the hoses were cleaned. Not sure what a vent box is, but I have read your other postings on the subject to get a feel for it - I will mention it to my mechanic. The comments at 195K were '... if it does (continue to) leak the customer will need to have us replace seals or the engine. The Engine has blowby because of the engine not breathing properly'.

That seems a bit overboard.I can't imagine having to replace the engine to stop an oil leak. I should have mentioned in my frst posting that the oil leak leaves a film of oil on the rear window which periodically needs to be cleaned off. The car does not smoke to emit any oil type smoke when running.

Many thanks for your reply and time.

 

I would clean everything really good then test drive a couple of miles.
Then recheck. I would probably have to say without seeing it that maybe the Cam seals.
Maybe even the Rear Crank seal.(Rear Main seal) might be leaking.

To see if the vent box is clogged start the engine and let it run for a few.
Then rev it up to about 3 to 4 thousand RPM about 4 to 5 times.
Then pull the dipstick and listen and see if you hear pressure release.
If you do then most likely the vent box or one of the lines is clogged.
That won't fix the leak but alot of times that is what starts the leak.

 

Thanks, I willgive thata try. I think the next time I get the timing belt changed, I will probably opt for replacing the cam seals and front crank seals. Replacing the rear main seal - I don't know - seems rather expensive - about 12 hours of labor per the last quote.

 

Yes the rear main is alot of work.
But if it is leaking bad from there you should have it done.
Cheaper than a new engine.

 

Hello,

Thought I'd continue on this thread instead of starting a new one. Anyway, my beloved 98 V70 has sprung an oil leak. I can see through and around the intake manifold that oil is leaking from around the vent box area. Not leaking from the top 2 hoses of the vent box but probably the one on the bottom which I believe is called the CRANKCASE VENT HOSE? I've changed out the whole vent box system maybe about a year ago? No issues till now.

My question is this..if the CAM seals are leaking, will the oil travel through the vent box area? I'm trying to determine what is leaking.

 

Usually if the seals are leaking it will soak the timing belt and under the covers.

 

Thanks Tech..

So the oil leak is pointing towards the vent box. Maybe it was something I did wrong? Not looking forward to taking everything apart again! ugh!!

 

Check the oil pressure switch as well and make sure it is not leaking from there.

 

Oil pressure switch? Is that located near the vent box? Same procedure to get to it as vent box? Thank you SOOO much Tech!

 

Sorry I forget if yours is turbo or not.
But it is in the block to the right(drivers side) of the vent box looking from the front.
There is a single wire that plugs into it.

 

It's non-turbo, Tech.

According to FCP, there dosen't seem to be an Oil Pressure Switch for 1998 v70?

 

Yes there is. All the cars have and oil pressure switch.
The funny looking arrow points to the oil pressure switch.(Sorry using a laptop mouse to make arrow)

 

No worries about the arrow...good thing it's red!

I will look into this and definitely report back. Switch might look low enough to reach from the bottom.

Has there been alot of people on here that has had the Oil Pressure Switch leak?

 

You should be able to get to it from either or.

 

Ok.. after taking a closer look at things (without taking many things apart), I found out that the "elbow hose" on the side of the vent box is all mushy, spongy and poofy! I hope that is the cause of the sudden oil leak. Did some searching on here and found out I'm not the first with this issue regarding that "elbow hose"! https://volvoforums.com/forum/showth...t=massive+leak

I too, had just serviced the whole Vent Box system I bought from FCP about 6 months ago. Guess that's why it's recommended to buy actual Volvo parts.. not aftermarket.

 

Took me about 4 hours, but sure enough that elbow hose on the side of vent box was the cause of the oil leak. Picked up a new one from dealer and got it fixed. This time I took apart the throttle body and gave it a good cleaning. I purchased a new oil pressure as well, howevr was not able to get the old one off so I'm leaving that for another day since it looks acessible from bottom.

One thing however I accidently pulled up the dipstick tube up and out of where it sits. Pushed it back down best I could...hope oil wont leak up from there.

 

As long as the seal did not tear it should be fine.

 

If the seal is black it was so brittle that it just fell apart. There is this orange thing, is that the seal? But so far no leaks.