So I've had an issue recently with the crankcase pressure and my seals (rear main and cam) blowing oil all underneath my car. I managed to find a loose vacuum hose on my turbo and replaced it. that seemed to help a bit but I still go through 1/2 qt of oil in 200 miles. My fuel economy is fare at 28 mpg hwy so I'm assuming I've found the main vacuum leak. I have flow through my oil trap and over to my intake hose so my PVC appears all good. Now, I still have a bit of smoke coming from the dipstick so this morning I decided to run a lg vacuum line from my vacuum tree and stuck it in my dipstick hole to pull the remaining pressure off the crankcase. The car smoked a bit at first but then ran well getting 30 mpg. Is this not a wise thing to do? I also tried the vacuum line off the tree and on the accordion intake hose to run the fumes through the turbo system. Both ways the car seemed to run fine. I've yet to see if the oil leak has stopped but I don't think it has. Now, I'm almost wandering if the oil leak could be somewhere up around or above the turbo because the back of the engine around that area is wet with oil. It has to be coming from somewhere that it is fairly heavy to have the underside of the car oil soaked all the way back to the rear. NOW, to complicate things worse...I recently had the timing belt, water pump, 1 crank seal and 2 cam seals replaced out of town. When I returned home, 500 miles later, I felt like it was leaking on that side. I had my local mechanic look at it and then he said he let it idle for .75 hour and could not see any major leak on that side and felt the seals were all good. Now when I run the car on the street and then park it there is oil all over the bottom of the timing cover and dripping off the frame just underneath that side of the engine. After looking it MAY be coming from just on the back side of the timing cover against the engine up a little higher on the engine but I can't see past that area. When I took the cover off I can see it's pretty wet down near the lower part of the case but no oil on the belt. I'm lost now and feel like I've tried everything but I'm also determined to solve the mystery. Can anyone help?

 

I would thoroughly clean up the engine first then trace the leak. It could be...

- Cam seals: Remove timing belt cover and visually inspect. The cover is held in place by one 12mm bolt. Remove the bolt & wiggle the cover while pulling it upward.

- Turbo oil return line (known to leak after a while). Visually inspect the tube attachments at the bottom of the turbocharger as well as the other end that goes onto the block.

- Oil filter being loose (unlikely but worth an inspection).

- Oil cooler lines/cooler attachments. Known to leak.

- Cam cover, which does not have traditional valve cover gasket but is held in place with liquid-type gasket & bolts. Clean the cam cover seam good and then run the engine to see if there is a leak.

- Oil thermostat housing, to the right of the crank pulley.

I would replace the entire PCV components, unless being done within the last 3 years/30,000 miles.

Other members would be kicking in soon with great alternatives.


JPN

 

How about checking if its not the FRONT Main Seal ?

 

+1.


JPN

 

Thanks! Any help with locating these places? Photos or diagrams? Including the front main seal?

 

Will reply when I come home. In the meantime, other members may be replying to you.


JPN

 

Jack the car up for convenience and just get under the car with camera...and click some pictures preferably from :

1 -the front side facing towards the back of the car covering the full view of the front of the oilpan.
2 - from just the front of right front wheel facing towards the left wheel - that will give Front main seal idea.
3 - from just behind the right front wheel almost touching the ground aim towards where the axle goes into the transmission - this will cover axle seal and turbo to a extent.
4- Get out from under the car :P and click some pictures from standing close to left wheel facing the engine - rearcam seals
5- Remove the timing cover by removing 12mm bolt and sliding it up and out, take some pictures of that area inside the cover - because you mentioned dripping from under the cover.

Now sort the best pictures and post them here.....and let experts chime in there expertise.

 

A few examples:


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/5CF37C90EC414523AFE1E4600C2E7B6E.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/49B84D9D4A2F4FD0BF42CF9001A4064B.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/B23329D3134141D2812DF4D1A187E7AC.jpg[/IMG]

 

I'm new to this site, but let me share what I know; I bought my 96 Turbo wagon brand new (set me back $38K!). Now with 205K miles on it I thought I saw everything. A long time ago I had a serious external leak/ problem, and it turned out my engine oil LEAK came from the turbo oil return line on the rear/center of the block. The line starts right under the turbo and enters the block above the oil level into the block I believe. I do remember swearing moderately and/but I changed it out in about an hour using jack stands.

Now the car has the 205K miles on it and it was parked in my field for about 4 years. Got it running, inspected etc and sent it down the road with my college-bound daughter. Got GREAT mpg (30.1) and was dependable for about 600 miles. On the way home the car suddenly lost oil pressure and the car was shut off. 3 quarts later it re-developed oil pressure for a few seconds and lost it again. Oil was topped off and this time the lifters started tapping. Looking in the oil filler hole I could see the buckets were wet, but the oil was not circulating. Suspected the oil pump was cavatating so I un-spun the oil filter, put a pan under it, took off the coil wire (left fender side) and cranked it. Tons of oil spewed out and the filter was found to be full of (good looking) oil. Now I suspected the oil pressure switch failed and although I didn't reason why the oil went missing in the first place, I understood the hydraulic lifters had run dry. Since the lifters were still wet and there was little worry about them gauling I 'quietly' ran the engine. The lifters did pump up and got mostly quiet. I saw there was a lot of oil all over the back of the engine and splashed on the hot turbo and exhaust ststem so I next had to figure out where it was coming from. The weird thing was it was also ON TOP of the valve cover!?! I reved the engine up and much to my surprise a lot of oil and air came blasting out of the black metal 3" tube that fed the intercoller; there was a corroded hole on the bottom of that tube and blow-by (liquid oil not fumes) shot out and ran down the block. Then it hit the spinning axle it was flung everywhere. I then made a jubilee patch with a piece of rubber (like from a large diameter oil resistant hose) and held it over the tube with a 3+ inch radiator (Gate) hose clamp. No more oil shooting out, and it seemed fine... until I drove it. Then all that oil passed into my intake killing every mosequeto within 1000 miles. By the time I made it back home the blue smoke and the fouling engine cleared up and the car APPEARS to be running great. I do not believe for a minute the problem is cured, but I do believe the pcv located in the flex hose that feeds the turbo has become stuck closed. This raises the crank case pressure (especially on a high milage engine) and the oil over-comes the oil seals and comes out everywhere there's a seal. The turbocharger has a full floating bearing and the seal would most likly pee oil out and into the pressure tube I told you about. Another thing to consider is if I was loosing intake pressure, the waste gate would not be controlling the turbo and that turbo would be really cranking out some serious and constant rpms. I now need to replace (or clean?) that pcv valve and I SUSPECT all of my problems will go away.
One other thing, there is a series of little weird hoses that come in a kit that snake all over and under the intake side of the engine and behind the alternator that will also cause this kind of oil consumption problem. They were so weird shaped and the cost for Volvo to do it was fairly low so I just had them do the job... and it worked beautifully. Just some thing for you to think about.
You may feel free to call me with any questions or advice- cell 717-802-9097 or email me at Brian.Fahey@ navy.mil GOOD LUCK ;-)

 

Brian,

You have much more than a PCV valve. It is a PCV "system" and when it clogs up it exhibits the behavior you describe. Left un-repaired it will blow the rear main seal and the cam seals.

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exe...category_id/64

It isn't that horrible a job to do but it is a bit intimidating the first time you do it since the intake manifold needs to come off.

...Lee

 

Lee, I did the same job on mine 94 turbo and I still see some blow-by. Although there is no leaks from the engine anywhere but I feel some discomfort seeing that blowby when I pull my dipstick out.
All lines are either new or thoroughly clean. PTC was cleaned very well and infact I have widened the hole in there a bit thinking that it might help. The car has no drivablity issues and runs like a charm. Another thing i notice is that the turbo gauge never goes into the white side, It either stays more towards vaccum or comes to the middle position during acceleration-but I can feel turbo working nice.
Comment on this please...!

 

I'm assuming (really, I'm hoping) that just cleaning a gooey pcv (because it's 'only' labor involved) and sucking on the vent lines to be sure they're clear and possibly even passing a solvent through them to 'clear up the congestion' (also cost free) would be a good start for me. When the hoses and fittings were last replaced the blue smoke immediately dissappeared- it was like night and day. My belief that it's the pcv is based on the problem being intermitant; if it were a clog that would seem to be a permanent smoking problem. Unfortunately I work 75 hours per week with 4 different jobs not counting the custom embroidery and laser engraving/cutting business we own and operate...; now, just refueling a car is a scheduled chore.

I remember when I used to build or invent things just for the fun of creating something; i.e., I built my own (FAA type VJ 22) dual-control, flying boat; took me 7 on-and-off years of tinkering after work. I also built a Mk-1 MG Midget around a 215 ci Buick engine and transmission with NO bulges in the bonnet (that stupid-fast car still exists today- parked only), In 1973 I got out of the service as a disabled vet with too much time on my hands, so I lightened and balenced a thin-cast, 4200 cc, Ford I-6, and custom-made and dynamically balanced a light flywheel before stuffing it into a cherry MG-C roadster. I supercharged it with an "F" flow Corvair turbocharger fed by a heavy-walled, home-made (welded steel) exhaust manifold with a water-cooled, homemade waste-gate and water injected it through a football valve needle located in the throat of a monster SU carb with an electric enrichener I copped from an old Jaguar sedan SU, (it was a starting choke that I adapted and modified). I shaved a 289 ci V8 aluminum bell housing and welded on and milled a plate to accept an aluminum M-22 straight-cut gear transmission (with a cut-down Hurst shifter). My creation flat-towed bigger, heavier cars, campers 4 times from PA to CA (and vice-versa), and I blew by everything going up the great divide at 80 mph flat-towing (VERY stupid of me). I even pulled my plane around (that was @ 32 feet long with it's wings folded) all over the East Coast. Drove that killer car for 9 years and humiliated every Porsche I came across. I also designed and built a fully-articulating, variable-pitch, self-aligning wind generator (for myself) when I worked as a prototype engineer. Sadly now, I don't even have time to change my oil or clean a pcv. ;-( Sorry for the self pity- but it did feel good getting it out.

 

Well, the problem is still there. I guess I shouldn't post my question until I get the time to put a pressure gage in the oil-sender hole (and drop the pan?), but the fact that the cam buckets aren't flinging a lot of oil PLUS the hydraulic lifters are making noises again, makes me suspect the sending unit is 'speaking the truth'. I seem to detect a slight knock @ cyl 1 or 2 which MIGHT mean a damaged bearing dumping the oil directly back into the pan, but I don't know. Unfortunately I work crazy long shifts and I do not have a garage to work in- its very cold and wet here in PA and the car is dripping oil from the earlier mentioned leak; I'm not too keen on even starting this project let alone opening her up to the elements and having to leave her that way for a spell. I'm just wondering out-loud, and in-front of you-all because maybe someone else has gone down this same road. The smoking has tapered off to almost nothing, the oil level seems to be holding, the leak seems to be stopped, but the oil pressure SEEMS to be way too low because of the lifter noise. One last thing, the power steering pump was low on fluid, and there was a noticable girrring sound coming from the PS pump. I brought the PS oil level up to snuff, but the pump hasn't changed its tune. When I move the steering wheel back and forth the noise does change or go away for seconds, so I'm sure the PS pump was the source of the noise. Though it dosen't seem related, since it all happened at once I thought to mention it.
If you're in my area and you want to find me just look up in the sky for the very dark cloud.., I'll be directly under it covered in grease and woe.

 

Didn't anyone tell this guy it sounds like the oil pan o-rings need replacement from sitting and having such hi miles?

 

Do a compression test. After doing a dry test, do a wet test ...then report back the results.