90 740 T w 247,000 miles

Thought I was leaking coolant as liquid was accumulating on top of the water pump, but after wiping it all off and observing, I notice I have a steady trickle coming from where the timing belt cover meets the head. This started or I should say got MUCH worse, after I had problems with oil coming out of the filler cap. Once I got that problem fixed, this other one got much worse. Is this a problem with the flame trap (oil trap, PCV) being clogged and building up pressure that has to relieve somewhere (oil cap, front seal) and if so how do I go about solving this? I pulled the hoses off the oil trap today and cleaned them out but the actual trap is buried under the intake and about a million hoses.

Please help, this isn't my hobby car, it's my way to work and back.

 

if that water is coming out between the head and block, it sounds like you may have a cracked head, or blown head gasket.

if that water is coming out between the head and valve cover, well, there shouldn't BE any water up there, just oil.

I just *happen* to have a picture of the head just taken off my 940SE (same B230FT turbo engine), with a blown head gasket. the distributor on the left goes to the back, so the area you're seeing your leak is to the right.


unluckily, the corresponding pic I took of the top of the engine block, the area in question is obscured by the timing belt shield (to the left in this pic)


in MY case, the gasket blew between the #2 and #3 pistons and the coolant passages nearby.

if your car does need a head gasket, thats likely about $1200 at a good mechanic. find someone familiar with European cars and Volvo engines and not just the toyota/ford dude down the block.

 

think/hope it is from the camshaft seal, but may be due to clogged oil trap? Don't know

 

thanks for the pix and advice, may try to clean out the oil trap today, see if that relieves pressure

 

It's hard to tell from your picture, but a very common coolant leak is where the top of the water pump meets with the head

 

there's no coolant at the camshaft seal, just oil.

the waterpump is a much better suggestion.

 

if its OIL thats dribbling out, and you previously had an event that blew out the seal on your oil filler cap, then maybe its the valve cover gasket thats failed. thats no big deal at all to replace, at least, not nearly as major as a head gasket. in the valve cover there is only oil, no coolant water.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

I pulled the timing belt cover off and it is definitely leaking from behind the camshaft pulley. I am going to attempt to clean the oil trap with carb cleaner and change the oil, hope this is effective and stops the front seal leak as well.

 

does the leaking stop if you loosen the oil filler cap (put a rag around it to catch the oil that may spray out)? if not, you likely need to replace the seal thats failed. the valve cover goes over the top of the camshaft seal, so it could be leaking there too and look like the same place.

here's my head with the camshaft in place but the valve cover removed. you can see the camshaft bearing on the far right, the valve cover gasket goes over this (and all the way around).

(this is the same head shown in the previous picture, from the 940 turbo with the blown head gasket)

 

From the sticker in your pic, it looks like the timing belt was replaced at 187k. If you have 247k on it now, you are nearing time for a replacement. That is a good time to replace the camshaft, half shaft and front crankshaft seal as well.

 

I was back at the shop where my 940 is sitting headless, because the replacement head came today and I wanted to see it... so I took a few more pics for you...

this is whats behind the camshaft pulley, with the valve cover removed....


here's what one looks like without the seal in place, and with the camshaft bearing cap loose...


I dunno if this helps...

 

Awesome! Thanks man. Every bit of info helps. I'm a handy guy, but by no means an experienced mechanic.