When I got my 240, I changed the timing belt, water pump and tensioner. I also did the 3 front seals because the crankshaft seal was completely done and the intermediate shaft seal was also leaking pretty badly.

Over the last 100 or so miles, I’ve seen oil starting to seep. I had some time yesterday and today and the weather is starting to warm up. I took the front top timing belt cover off. The lower 2 seals seem to be fine. There was some leaking on the valve cover gasket that I fixed by tightening the front two bolts.

Let the car idle and didn’t see any oil leaking. Took it out for a 20 miles freeway drive and came back. Oil’s definitely leaking. It’s dripping on to the water pump and wetting the engine around the head gasket area.

I tried to pull the back timing belt cover as far to the front of the car as possible and I couldn’t see it leaking. But then again I can’t see the bottom of the camshaft seal. The cam seal isn’t leaking from the top for sure. But I can’t rule the bottom of it out.

Then I was looking around the engine. The flame trap housing (the one where the flame trap actually sits and has the small vacuum hose that goes in to the side) is very wet with oil.

The intake side of the engine is also a grimy mess. The oil separator box area has sludge build up.

I have ordered the o-ring and it should get here next week. My plan is to remove the separator box and clean it out as much as possible and put it back in with the new viton/green o-ring.

I have a few questions where I would appreciate help:
1. I read that the oil pick up tube is finicky. Any tips on how to pull the separator box out without disturbing the pick up tube?
2. What’s the best way to clean up the grime/leaky mess on the intake side of the engine once I get this hopefully fixed?
3. Once this is done, will I have to replace the camshaft seal? Or will alleviating the pressure in the flame trap/separator box mean that the camshaft seal won’t leak anymore?
4. I was planning on going and visiting family which would be a 200 miles round trip drive. Will I be able to do this or should I put it off for now?

Stay safe everyone!

 

First you need to wash the engine well so you can see the leaks better. Use engine degreaser on cold engine and spray it with car wash type nozzle, cover the distributor, careful with direct spray on electrical connections, wires, etc.
You cannot pull the oil separator without disturbing the tube but it's not that difficult or fragile. Much easier if you remove the intake manifold first, not as hard as it sounds. I don't take it out completely, just push it to the right once bolts are removed, tie it to the hinge which will give you space to get the separator out easily, otherwise it's a PIA.
If the flame trap, separator are plugged up, relieving the pressure should help with oil leaks, then again that seal is not hard to do.

 

lev got you pretty covered, but I will say I cleaned my oil separator box yesterday and was able to get it out without taking the intake manifold off and it wasn't too bad. YMMV, but it can be done.

I don't know if it will solve your problem, but I read somewhere on these forums that full synthetic oil seems to mitigate many of the leaking oil problems that come from PCV pressure. so you may try that at your next oil change. my 240 got about 2mpg more on highway with full synthetic than standard dino oil. I didn't have leaking seals before I went to full synthetic so I can't say there.

I will add, maybe I am the idiot here though because I didn't know there was an O-ring for the oil separator box. I haven't noticed oil leaking on my 240 but... looks like I should order that.

 

Well, actually synthetic oil is supposed to cause more leaks since the molecules are smaller... I've never seen it in my Volvos, I switch to full syn especially on turbo cars, but I've heard that and it sorta makes sense...

 

that does makes sense, but wouldn't it also be the case that since the molecules are smaller, there's less liklihood of buildup in the PCV system and therefore less back-pressure from PCV on the front seals?

I am n00b so I could be wrong. I just went to full synthetic on my 240 and never had leaks before with dino anyway. So i can't say definitively except that my gas mileage improved..

 

Thank you both. I will clean up the when it gets back to being a little warmer again. It’s snowing again here!

I plan on taking the separator box out without touching the intake manifold - or at least that’s my plan because I don’t have a new manifold gasket.

I’m using high mileage synthetic blend - Quaker State stuff. Not sure if that’s good or bad?

But I noticed that I’m down about 1/5th of a quart with 700 miles since the last oil change. I took a few pictures of the leaks - not sure if it gives you guys any more insight on where else I could look?







lev - I’m hoping that I don’t have to change the seal. My understanding is that the only way to do it is to re-do the timing belt job. Or is there a way to do the cam seal change without having to do the entire timing belt job?

mschultz - when you put your oil separator box back in with the old o-ring, does it leak? Also how easy was it to clean out the separator box?

 

the top two look like you need to maybe clean the flame trap.

i don't remember even seeing an o-ring on my box, honestly. I havent driven since I cleaned it though so if the o-ring either came off or will be 're-used', i can't answer if it's leaking yet. there's just two 13mm on the front - you'll probably be 'reading braile' to get them. when I took the oil separator out, I found it easiest to get it out past the starter and idle air valve - between the air intake and the distributor. my 240 is an 85 so yours may be slightly different. I just spray the oil box down with carb cleaner and through the openings. it'll force all the crud out of the opposite end. let it dry and reinstall. same with the flame trap.

To get to the cam seal, you'll have to take off whatever is in front of the cam, tensioner, and back cover. i can't remember exactly what all is there- BUT i don't think you have to take the crank off. if you don't have take the crank, wrench the engine to top-dead-center before taking the belt off the cam so you can keep the timing set.

I would try cleaning up the PCV box and flame trap first and see if the cam seal leak goes away. if your PCV has never been cleaned, that may be all you have to do rather than replace the seal.

EDIT: Bentley indicates you only need to remove the tensioner and back timing cover. It recommends holding the camshaft stationary with a vice-grip pliers while you back off the cam bolt. I've used an old timing belt to do this before, but be careful as rotating the cam without the timing belt on can damage the valves, per Bentley.

 

It certainly seems like I’ll be using Braille to get those 2 bolts off. I was going to ask what size they were - 12 or 13mm - but I appreciate that you already confirmed their size!

I agree with you - it certainly seems that cleaning the flame trap and box will be worthwhile. The top of the flame trap doesn’t look terrible as I had cleaned right after I got the car. I also found a nice layer of oil coating in the large air intake accordion hose. All of these are pointing to a clogged separator box. So fingers crossed, the o-ring arrives quickly in mail and I can clean it up and have the oil leak fixed or at least slowed down. I’m really hoping I won’t have to change the leaking cam seal.

Good call on lining up to TDC. Thats interesting the Bentley manual states that this an interference engine. I thought old RWD Volvo’s were non-interference? Also, can you please provide some more information on how to change the seal without taking off the crankshaft pulley?

The last time I did it, I believe I had to take the crankshaft pulley off to take the cam and intermediate shafts pulleys off and then take the back cover off to replace the 3 seals. Is there a method to just replace the cam seal without taking everything off?

 

I have the bolts off and the separator box free. I took off the 8mm bolt for the injector harness above too. But I can’t get the wire harness to move enough to pull the separator box out.

Ami I missing something here?

 

Got the box and cleaned it up. There was a TON of crud in there. How do I clean up the vacuum port (the smaller one in the block)?

 

that's pretty gunked up. I'd use a degreaser and then spray/wipe it up.

if it's down in the hole, try a screw driver with a shop towel?

wouldn't be surprised if cleaning that up alleviates the cam leak.

 

Thank you for the response. Yes it was quite horribly gunked up. I was able to clean up the separator box and re-use it. I was afraid of spraying degreaser or brake cleaner in there. So I just used a screw driver to ream the hole as best as I could.

I had the car idling for 10 mins and this happened 😭



At this point, I’m pressure the camshaft seal needs to be replaced. Any tips on how to do it with the least amount of disassembly?

im hoping I don’t have to take the crank pulley off to do the change? I’m wondering if there’s a way to lock everything in place, just take the camshaft pulley off/pull it forward enough to swap the seal? If it helps, I did get the crank pulley holder tool from FCP the last time around.

Edit: The current seals in there are all from the Volvo dealership. They are the dark brown color ones.
I also have a couple of the Elring red/orange ones. Can I use them? Or is the genuine OE preferred?

Also, could this be something other than the camshaft seal? The timing belt and the insides of the timing cover have 0 oil in them. I did tighten the front two valve cover nuts a couple of days ago. Makes me wonder if it’s the valve cover gasket that’s leaking so profusely? Is there a way to pin point whether it’s the camshaft seal or the valve cover gasket?

 

i used the elring orange seals on my 240 and havent had issues.

if your valve cover is leaking, typically the oil will deposit around the valve cover and on the sides of the engine head around the gasket.

why don't you get the upper timing cover off, take the cam gear off, and pull back the lower cover and see what you find? you can probably inspect that cam seal and determine if its the culprit that way.

 

Good to know that the Elring ones worked fine. I’m curious - Instead of taking timing stuff off, can I take the valve cover gasket off? Will that help identify where the leak is?

Interestingly, the leak is only on the front passenger side, right by where the one stud is just before the hump. My hunch is it’s the valve cover gasket. Reason I say that is:
1. The oil has repeatedly only leaked on that one specific side
2. after tightening the little nut on the top, the leak has worsened.
3. I would think that if the camshaft seal was leaking, it would cause a messy spray of oil everywhere because the faster you go the faster the shaft rotates. But in this case, the oil seems just in that one spot and then dribbles down - to the water pump and other areas that I highlighted in my last picture.

Heres the best picture I could take of the crankshaft seal/behind the back timing belt cover


The yellow area is where the oil seems to be coming from.

 

i am not aware of a way to get to the cam seal without taking the cam gear itself.

another idea is to get UV die, put it in the oil, run the car and look with a UV light to see where the leak is. then you'll have confirmation of where it is.

 

Good point on the dye. I’m hoping to avoid having to go to stores if I can just based on what’s going on currently. I have a UV light - will that still be able to detect where the oil is coming from without the dye?

Can someone please advice on what are the tell tale signs between a valve cover gasket leak and a front camshaft oil leak?

 

You do have to take the cam pulley off to do that seal and that might disturb the timing. in the past I have done it by clipping the t belt to the side while careful not to disturb the relationship to the other pulleys. That's really the most difficult part of changing that seal...

You can try changing the valve cover gasket first to see if it helps, that's easy... Use some sealant at the corners where there are corners.

As far as the separator box, as long as air can move freely I think you are OK, I still use a lot of carb cleaner to get gunk out of it...

 

Thank Lev. I see that taking the seal out without the pulley is not possible. If this happens to be the cam seal, do you think I can just zip tie the belt to the cam pulley in multiple spots? Then use large channel locks to compress the tensioner and slide the belt off.

Also, I read that if I were to stick a long screw driver into the flywheel to prevent the crank from rotating. Therefore, in theory the timing would all be intact?

Interestingly, here’s where things stand:
1. Yesterday, I ran the engine for like 30 seconds and sure enough, oil.
2. Today morning, I ran the engine again for a minute and again oil.
3. Cleaned everything up and drove the car for 15 mins. No oil leaks. I only got it up to 55 mph a couple of times.

I had the car idling for another 5 mins and didn’t see any oil leak either. Going to take her on the freeway and see what happens. Fingers crossed.

The breather box was clogged. I couldn’t get air from one end to the other. 2 bottles of brake cleaner and a lot of tapping with a screw driver opened it up quite well.

Update: I have put about 35 miles since I posted earlier today. Majority of those highway miles. No leaks at all. Knock on wood - I’m hoping the problem is fixed! I appreciate everyone’s comments and feedback thus far.

 

I clip the belt on both sides keeping tension the best I can, then slide it off the pulley. Use a screwdriver to block the pulley itself when you undo the nut.
Of course all that is moot if your leaks went away which is possible with a clean PCV system now. Clean the engine and watch out for new leaks!

 

That makes sense - I’ll keep it in mind.
I’m hoping the leaks are fixed. I’ll update this thread as things go.