Hello,

I made a thread about 850r, and I took the car for ppi and it needs to be fixed some stuff. I need help from you guys.

First, when I test drove the car, it seemed have no power, throttle response for 240hp. I think I know why. When a mechanic took out the air filter, it was soaked on oil. The inside of air filter box was covered by oil too.
The mechanic said that front, rear engine mounts need to be replaced, VAC line to front of intake needs to be replaced, oil breather box needs to be replaced, and air filter. Estimate price for the repair is $1000.

Now, if I buy this car, I will fix all the problem myself, how hard is to fix those? The mechanic said that the the intake manifold has to come off to change the line and breather box. How hard is to do this job?

The mechanic said that it's in pretty good shape except those problems...
He also said that because the oil breather box is clogged, the pressure builds up inside of the engine, and the oil comes out to air filter box.

Well I don't really know what he was talking about, but what you guys think? I have never seen an air intake filter and box, covered with so much oil.....

 

gorillajin

To use an analogy. You can get as many face lifts as you want but when your heart fails, or is failing, you are done. How many miles on this car? I don't think I ever saw that on your previous post. From my wonderful experience with my Volvo, 10-30K after 200K and you have to make a decision. I've seen way too many blown or timing belts or head gaskets between 210k and 300K, that.. well it seems pretty obvious. Hopefully someone buys this car and just tears the motor apart before it self destructs. It sounds, to me, that that's exactly what it needs.

 

How many miles are on it? Same thing as I've said before, how mechanically inclined are you? Personally, I feel like the PCV is a piece of cake, I could do the PCV system in a couple hours, I've read that it takes others a weekend. Without knowing the extensive history, who knows what shape the engine is internally, it could need a head gasket and possible rings in the near future, and from what it sounds like routine maintenance has been over looked.

 

Thank you for the replies.
The car has 156k miles on it. Timign belt, cam belt, water pump, radiator, and other necessary stuff were replaced at 142k miles.
I am a DIY guy, I've some experience fixing cars so I don't really worry about fixing the car. I just want to know how hard is to take off intake manifold and replace those items that the mechanic mentioned.

So volvo has known issue with head gasket??? If it has leaky or blown HG, it should have have symptoms like oil in the collant, collant in the oil, white smoke from tail pipe, or loosing coolant...no?

 

The best way to know is do a compression/leak down test before you purchase it. 156k is not bad at all, it seems to be the common mileage for an R nowadays. They don't have known issues with blown head gaskets, but if they're not maintained, around this age is when that kind of stuff starts happening, and who knows how long the PCV has been in the poor shape that it sounds to be, that's not helping anything.

 

PCV System

 

So the breather box and the line is part of PCV system??? The hose was left side of the manifold when you look at the car from the front.
If anyone can post a picture of engine bay, I can point it out what needs to be replaced.
The car seemd pretty well taken care of...and the mechanic also said that it is not that serious.
But then, yeah I agree with you guys that if the owner took really good care of the car, he should have know the oil in the air filter....hum....
Should I just pass it then?

 

the breather box is the PCV system, it's what it's called on these cars, aka flame trap. They PCV system is not that serious to replace, and it should be routine maintenance, but when it's neglected is when it becomes a problem.

IMO, buying a car cheap enough that needs a head gasket, PCV system and a couple other routine maintenance parts is not an issue, IF the price is right. Look at my wagon, 300 bucks, all it needs is a motor. Bought that for 450 bucks. I know have a wagon with 104k miles on it for 750 bucks, what usually would cost 3-4k (but of course I'm not stopping there).

 

Ok, thank you for the reply.
So the owner didn't really take care of the pcv system.....and since I don't know how long the car has been driven like that, it might affected the HG or internal of the engine....
I will pass that car unless he can let it go for $1000. I don't have time and place to do HG job.
The thing that I don't like is, the owner shold know the pcv issue since he works on the car, but when I asked about it, he said the PCV system only can be a problem if owners don't take care of the car.

 

Before you completely pass on it, do a compression test, if you get solid numbers than the head gasket won't be an issue.

 

Hum....how much is for the copression test? I'm 90% positive that I will pass the car though....

 

Um, free. You can rent the tool from Autozone for free, and it takes maybe a half hour.

 

Well, I don't know whether the owner allows me to do it. If I want to do the test, I have to take it to a shop again, which is kind of troublesome.
I will pass on that car.

Thank you.

 

Just for the record. What was he asking for it?

 

He was asking $4000, but it was obo. I was going to offer him $3000 and starts from there.

 

I got email from the owner, and he took the car to a volvo specialist place to ask about the issue. The other place also said that it's not a big problem. All it needs is replacing a gasket. I don't know which gasket he was talking about, I am emailing him to find it out.
Do you guys know anything about a bad gasket that can leak oil in the air filter?

I checked the link, PCV system, but the pictures are way too small and it's hard to see. Anyway it looks like I can change a few parts while I work on PCV system. What parts should I replace around 156k miles while chaning PCV system. How much is the PCV breather system kit?

Thank you.

 

Which filter are we talking about?

 

I am talking about the air filter and air filter box. I asked the owner about what gasket needs to be changed, but he hasn't replied me back.
I just want to know what failed gasket can cause the oil come out to the air filter through air filter hose?
If pcv system is clogged, it can cause oil leak to real main seal, correct? If there is no oil leak around the area, does this mean the condition of the system isn't that bad?
One more thing, is it normal that radiator fails around 140k miles?

 

Oil all the way up there? That's a long ways up. I think if the PCV is clogged and has been left that way long enough, that it could cause that.

 

Thank you for the reply.
So there is no gasket to fail around intake box or hose area that cause oil on the filter and in the box....
I don't understand why mechanics say that it's not a big problem. They seem like leaking oil on volvo is no problem and every volvos are like that.
As you mentioned, gilber33, how can the oil in the air box is not a big problem?? Non of mechanic suggested me to do further test to check whether the car is ok or not. All they did was just visually inspected and said "this part is bad, you need to fix it"
Ah well....it's just too complicated to think about.
Maybe it's not a problem at all like mechanics said, but I will pass it.