leaky oil leaker
While I cannot tell you for sure where yours is leaking, I *can* offer a little advice, having a leaky 850 myself!
Looking from underneath is not a really good way to find the problem, it only confirms there is a problem.
Mine had a leaky turbo drain line gasket. I don't know if your car is a turbo or not, but there's a metal tube that comes down from the bottom of the turbo into the back of the block to let the oil in the turbo drain back into the pan after you shut it down. Mine only leaked in this area *after* shutting the car down, and seemed to be worse if the car was parked on an incline. The way I found this was interesting, I *thought* my drain plug was leaking - I tried to tighten it, and it wouldn't budge. Flushed the area off with brake cleaner, and it returned. Took my cell phone camera, put it between the firewall and the oil pan from underneath, and snapped a few pictures. Then, I could see it was coming right from the turbo drain line, dripping down the back of the oilpan, and coming down the drain plug, where it looked like it was a loose drain plug.
That was a cheap fix, parts were literally under 10 bucks, shipping was more than the part. Quick, easy job from underneath if you can get under the car and if it's high enough.
The rear cam seal on the exhaust cam was leaking. Had to pull the air filter box out, and pull a few vacuum lines out of the way to see the car was just losing oil all over the place here. It ran down the back of the engine and the transmission where the two met, and along a few things under the car. There's also a rear cam seal on the intake cam, underneath the distributor. The rear intake cam seal on my car isn't leaking, so I didn't change it! I was advised by numerous people to only use real Volvo parts, so I ponied up the 17 bucks and got a new one from Tasca Volvo.
What I am *hoping* is the final leak is the upper oil cooler hose. On mine, the hose is seeping where the metal crimps to the rubber. There's a guy who remanufactures the orignal hoses for about half the price of new. I was tempted to go with him, but my gut said the originals lasted almost 20 years, I don't want to skimp and have to do this twice.. so I bought new from FCP. Kit was around $225. On mine, I could see oil on the rubber hose where it's leaking, and it runs down the front of the lines, along the oil filter, and even along the front cross member where the radiator sits.
Once I knew where to look, it wasn't too hard to find. I also took some brake cleaner, and flushed things off real well from underneath and cleaned things up, so I can tell if I got them all.
Hope yours is an easier and cheaper fix than mine was!
Looking from underneath is not a really good way to find the problem, it only confirms there is a problem.
Mine had a leaky turbo drain line gasket. I don't know if your car is a turbo or not, but there's a metal tube that comes down from the bottom of the turbo into the back of the block to let the oil in the turbo drain back into the pan after you shut it down. Mine only leaked in this area *after* shutting the car down, and seemed to be worse if the car was parked on an incline. The way I found this was interesting, I *thought* my drain plug was leaking - I tried to tighten it, and it wouldn't budge. Flushed the area off with brake cleaner, and it returned. Took my cell phone camera, put it between the firewall and the oil pan from underneath, and snapped a few pictures. Then, I could see it was coming right from the turbo drain line, dripping down the back of the oilpan, and coming down the drain plug, where it looked like it was a loose drain plug.
That was a cheap fix, parts were literally under 10 bucks, shipping was more than the part. Quick, easy job from underneath if you can get under the car and if it's high enough.
The rear cam seal on the exhaust cam was leaking. Had to pull the air filter box out, and pull a few vacuum lines out of the way to see the car was just losing oil all over the place here. It ran down the back of the engine and the transmission where the two met, and along a few things under the car. There's also a rear cam seal on the intake cam, underneath the distributor. The rear intake cam seal on my car isn't leaking, so I didn't change it! I was advised by numerous people to only use real Volvo parts, so I ponied up the 17 bucks and got a new one from Tasca Volvo.
What I am *hoping* is the final leak is the upper oil cooler hose. On mine, the hose is seeping where the metal crimps to the rubber. There's a guy who remanufactures the orignal hoses for about half the price of new. I was tempted to go with him, but my gut said the originals lasted almost 20 years, I don't want to skimp and have to do this twice.. so I bought new from FCP. Kit was around $225. On mine, I could see oil on the rubber hose where it's leaking, and it runs down the front of the lines, along the oil filter, and even along the front cross member where the radiator sits.
Once I knew where to look, it wasn't too hard to find. I also took some brake cleaner, and flushed things off real well from underneath and cleaned things up, so I can tell if I got them all.
Hope yours is an easier and cheaper fix than mine was!
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4,517
Likes: 12
From: Cape Coral, FL
No. It would be the seal on the exhaust camshaft (rear cam) that is covered by the camshaft sensor.
There are 4 of them and if the PCV system is getting restricted and causing some internal pressure it will literally push oil past a weak seal. Since you did the PCV recently it wouldn't be causing it now but might have been
.
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=24925
There are 4 of them and if the PCV system is getting restricted and causing some internal pressure it will literally push oil past a weak seal. Since you did the PCV recently it wouldn't be causing it now but might have been
.
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=24925
Last edited by Kiss4aFrog; May 10, 2014 at 06:13 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post