Oil Leak in 2004 Volvo XC90
#1
10-01-2021, 01:53 PM
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Oil Leak in 2004 Volvo XC90
To the Moderator (any others with significant experience welcomed to answer):
Please help. I have another oil leak in my 2004 Volvo XC90. It appears as though it's coming from the timing belt and front cam seals. I don't think this is a big deal and just a regular maintenance thing. I had the rear cam seals changed about 2 years ago. They are telling me that I need a new vvt, which is a $1000 part, and that "they might as well do it" while they are in there. This is not a $50 part and I am on a fixed income. My car has no check engine lights or any other apparent symptoms, so far from what I have gatherd. I have also been told that a badly serviced PCV system could be the cause of this, but it can't be tested because of the release in pressure, due to the leak. I was expecting this repair to come up. I had the timing belt changed, I can't remember exactly when, but I don't think the front cam seals were changed with them. The timing belt is due soon for a change. There is currently some oil on the timing belt.
My questions are as follows:
1. What symptoms would my car have that it has a bad VVT?
2. Can a mechanic change the timing belt and front cam seals without damaging the VVT?, and if so, can you give me some names, once I give you my location.
3. Do you have any further questions or comments about the PCV system?
Please help. I have another oil leak in my 2004 Volvo XC90. It appears as though it's coming from the timing belt and front cam seals. I don't think this is a big deal and just a regular maintenance thing. I had the rear cam seals changed about 2 years ago. They are telling me that I need a new vvt, which is a $1000 part, and that "they might as well do it" while they are in there. This is not a $50 part and I am on a fixed income. My car has no check engine lights or any other apparent symptoms, so far from what I have gatherd. I have also been told that a badly serviced PCV system could be the cause of this, but it can't be tested because of the release in pressure, due to the leak. I was expecting this repair to come up. I had the timing belt changed, I can't remember exactly when, but I don't think the front cam seals were changed with them. The timing belt is due soon for a change. There is currently some oil on the timing belt.
My questions are as follows:
1. What symptoms would my car have that it has a bad VVT?
2. Can a mechanic change the timing belt and front cam seals without damaging the VVT?, and if so, can you give me some names, once I give you my location.
3. Do you have any further questions or comments about the PCV system?
#2
10-01-2021, 03:05 PM
1. VVTs don't really go bad, sometimes they leak and it's almost impossible to tell if it's the seals or the gears.
2. Mechanics don't damage a VVT by removing and reinstalling them to replace front cam seals, or simply replacing the belt.
3. The PCV system clogs on these engines. Worse in northern climates or cars driven short trips and using regular motor oil. Charcoal forms in the pcv system - the oil separator clogs up, the drain tube to the oil pan clogs, and eventually so much charcoal is in the oil pan the oil pickup tube becomes partially clogged - and customers start getting the low oil pressure warning at weird times. Sometimes we find that after/during turbocharger replacement where the bearings went out due to low oil pressure in the turbo and the car became a Mosquito fogger, smoking terribly.
Also the internal pressures from blowby past the pistons - has no where to go so it pushes past oil seals. Usually cam seals are the first to leak but sometimes the rear engine seal leaks also. The front crankshaft seal does not ever seem to leak - perhaps that's because the oil pump is behind it.
Unfortunately all those jobs tie together - timing belt,cam seals, leaky VVTs, pull intake manifold to replace PCV system, pull oil pan to clean oil return passage in block, clean sludge from oil pan and replace oil pickup with new style plastic tulip shaped pickup. There is really no good way to "clean" the pcv system without many hours time and many hundreds of dollars.
Don't know how many miles on your engine but if over 150k or so I would expect the PCV system to be mostly clogged - Sooner than 150k If you had your oil changed on Volvos schedule of every 7500 miles using regular non- synthetic motor oil. I would imagine your local dealer would have switched over to all synthetic about 2012 but you would have still had 8 years of regular oil slowly clogging things up.
Found a picture you posted of your oil cap off a couple of years ago - a clean engine does not have that buildup on the bottom of the oil cap and the grate oil is poured through.
2. Mechanics don't damage a VVT by removing and reinstalling them to replace front cam seals, or simply replacing the belt.
3. The PCV system clogs on these engines. Worse in northern climates or cars driven short trips and using regular motor oil. Charcoal forms in the pcv system - the oil separator clogs up, the drain tube to the oil pan clogs, and eventually so much charcoal is in the oil pan the oil pickup tube becomes partially clogged - and customers start getting the low oil pressure warning at weird times. Sometimes we find that after/during turbocharger replacement where the bearings went out due to low oil pressure in the turbo and the car became a Mosquito fogger, smoking terribly.
Also the internal pressures from blowby past the pistons - has no where to go so it pushes past oil seals. Usually cam seals are the first to leak but sometimes the rear engine seal leaks also. The front crankshaft seal does not ever seem to leak - perhaps that's because the oil pump is behind it.
Unfortunately all those jobs tie together - timing belt,cam seals, leaky VVTs, pull intake manifold to replace PCV system, pull oil pan to clean oil return passage in block, clean sludge from oil pan and replace oil pickup with new style plastic tulip shaped pickup. There is really no good way to "clean" the pcv system without many hours time and many hundreds of dollars.
Don't know how many miles on your engine but if over 150k or so I would expect the PCV system to be mostly clogged - Sooner than 150k If you had your oil changed on Volvos schedule of every 7500 miles using regular non- synthetic motor oil. I would imagine your local dealer would have switched over to all synthetic about 2012 but you would have still had 8 years of regular oil slowly clogging things up.
Found a picture you posted of your oil cap off a couple of years ago - a clean engine does not have that buildup on the bottom of the oil cap and the grate oil is poured through.
Last edited by hoonk; 10-01-2021 at 03:21 PM.
#3
10-01-2021, 03:18 PM
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I thought that bad vvt gears caused the cam seals to leak, rather than leaking themselves. That is not correct?
Wouldn't my car have symptoms of a bad vvt? If so, what would it be?
The PCV system (they called it an oil trap box) was allegedly changed about 6 years and 50,000 miles ago. Then again "cleaned" 2 years ago - but that was a hoax, I think. It may not have really been changed. I have been putting super premium in my car for many years. The 18 year old car has about 140K miles.
Wouldn't my car have symptoms of a bad vvt? If so, what would it be?
The PCV system (they called it an oil trap box) was allegedly changed about 6 years and 50,000 miles ago. Then again "cleaned" 2 years ago - but that was a hoax, I think. It may not have really been changed. I have been putting super premium in my car for many years. The 18 year old car has about 140K miles.
#4
10-01-2021, 03:52 PM
VVT gears don't cause seals to leak - they leak right next to the front seals.
No symptoms of a "bad" VVT (not sure what bad is other than leaking)
To "clean" your oil trap/pcv box/flameshield box/ whatever you want to call it - Requires several hours in time to remove and replace the intake manifold and associated hoses and stuff. Once you get there you will replace the box and hoses with new parts. Earlier Volvos it was much easier, the pcv system on the red (iron) block cars made through about 1995 were cleaned every service, 30000 miles or so. 3 little parts totaling about $10 and replaced in 10 minutes. Those were the 240, 740 940 cars. So when the new engine came out we expected the same pcv clogging problem - but Volvo did not include that in the service schedule or make it remotely easy to service. - It seemed many manufacturers were having problem with pcv blockage in the 2000's. (Toyota had a bad problem from what I remember)
Volvo has solved that in much later cars - the pcv system is mounted on top or front of the engine and ~easy to get to.
Once again I would expect an engine that was driven short trips to clog up the PCV system earlier - and you have very low mileage.
"Super premium" gasoline is the appropriate grade of gas to use for best performance - but
What type of Engine Oil has been used and how often was it changed during the 140000 miles?
Sorry for your troubles - it's frustrating when stuff breaks.
No symptoms of a "bad" VVT (not sure what bad is other than leaking)
To "clean" your oil trap/pcv box/flameshield box/ whatever you want to call it - Requires several hours in time to remove and replace the intake manifold and associated hoses and stuff. Once you get there you will replace the box and hoses with new parts. Earlier Volvos it was much easier, the pcv system on the red (iron) block cars made through about 1995 were cleaned every service, 30000 miles or so. 3 little parts totaling about $10 and replaced in 10 minutes. Those were the 240, 740 940 cars. So when the new engine came out we expected the same pcv clogging problem - but Volvo did not include that in the service schedule or make it remotely easy to service. - It seemed many manufacturers were having problem with pcv blockage in the 2000's. (Toyota had a bad problem from what I remember)
Volvo has solved that in much later cars - the pcv system is mounted on top or front of the engine and ~easy to get to.
Once again I would expect an engine that was driven short trips to clog up the PCV system earlier - and you have very low mileage.
"Super premium" gasoline is the appropriate grade of gas to use for best performance - but
What type of Engine Oil has been used and how often was it changed during the 140000 miles?
Sorry for your troubles - it's frustrating when stuff breaks.
Last edited by hoonk; 10-02-2021 at 10:38 AM. Reason: spelling
#5
10-02-2021, 06:55 AM
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The oil has been so frequently changed that my Volvi dealer would turn me away for some of them. Volvo recommends 12 months and 7500 miles, and due to the car's low mileage, I would bring it in about every 6 months. I used whatever oil the dealer put in it.
Since it was almost always dealer serviced, some questions arose about what kind of oil to put in my car and I never combined different oils.. there may have been one or two changes with a high mileage high quality synthetic blend, but the rest were full synthetics. That does not damage an engine and if it does, then someone should have told me that it had to be consistent from change to change. The owners manual doesn't say that it has to be.
Since it was almost always dealer serviced, some questions arose about what kind of oil to put in my car and I never combined different oils.. there may have been one or two changes with a high mileage high quality synthetic blend, but the rest were full synthetics. That does not damage an engine and if it does, then someone should have told me that it had to be consistent from change to change. The owners manual doesn't say that it has to be.
#7
03-13-2022, 04:50 PM
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