Hi everyone, this is my first Volvo, EVER! I just picked up a 96 850 turbo wagon with 145k on the odometer. The car runs great and has a bit of valve seal leakage, but nothing major.

The reason for the post is I have a decent amount of oil leaking from some where around the rear of my engine. There is oil on the bottom of my turbo, anf oil all over the rear of the block. There is also oil covering the steering rack and rear engine cradle(possibly dripping from the turbo).

Here are a few pics I took, hopefully somone can direct me in the correct direction of what to check or replace.





And of course a pic of the new ride...


Thanks for any help, its much appreciated

 

Could be:
Turbo drain seal
Oil from the PCV
Rear cam seal

 

that is a really nice looking car!

 

Thanks! it really is in good cosmetic shape, just a bunch of small things to fix, mainly electrical.

I just ordered a new PCV kit form IPD. I am going to replace that to see if it at least slows down the problem. I have major pressure in the crank case, and smoke and oil coming from the dip stick.

My suspicion is that the rear main is leaking, and that looks like a very fun job to do

Wish me luck!

 

Oil travels down, not up. Your rear main could be leaking, but it wouldn't be the reason why the back of your motor is wet with oil.


Rear cam seal(s) are more likely.

 

I agree to a degree. Oil can be pushed around with wind under the car, my whole rear cradle and underside of my car is soaked in oil. I have also seen pics of the ring gear/flywheel flinging it out the top of the inspection hole and all over the drivers side axle.

I hope its not the rear main, but everything above that area seems to be dry. This could also be past residue from the previous owner, they had the cam seals replaced right before I bought it.

The sad thing is, I think the previous owner knew he had a bad rear main, and he didn't disclose it to me. All he said is that it leaked about one or two drops of oil per week. It seems to be about a half of a quart per week.

 

I would replace the gasket & o ring on the turbo oil return tube - it's easy and cheap - and they leak often

 

I'm in the same boat myself right now. When I had the car in the shop to have the coolant return lines replaced on the turbo about 3 weeks back, they told me my turbo was leaking oil. This turbo was rebuilt before I bought the car and I suspect only has about 15k miles on it, so there should be no reason its leaking due to mechanical issues. I suspect its the return line gasket and o ring.

Suspiciously enough the leak looks similar to the first pic the OP posted: One small puddle directly below the turbo on the center of the housing.

I ordered new return line gasket kit from the local dealership for about $10...Figure I'll do them at the next oil change (which is very soon, once I pick up my BG oil change kit and filter). Cheap enough repair for a little peace of mind down the road.

 

The rear cam seals are extremely easy to replace and cheap, so let's hope that is the problem. They tend to walk out of the bore, as opposed to going "bad". I have had to tap them back in on I think 3 of my cars so far.


My experience with the turbo is that the PCV oil entrainment accumulates back there and there may well be a lot of oil inside the plumbing. The bottom of the intercooler also is a place where the oil accumulates. I am not sure how you'd ever know if oil inside the air plumbing is coming from the turbocharger itself or just recycling from the PCV.

 

If it is from the PCV recycling itself into the plumbing, has anyone figured out a way to stop it? I've been putting off cleaning out my intercooler and have noticed that there is a lot of oil accumulating in the elbow at my throttle body...Which could explain my oil burn off of about a quart every oil change (although once I get about 500-600 miles past the change interval I do notice that the oil consumption goes up a bit more, having to put a quart in every 2 weeks or so). Outside of increasing the diameter of the hoses coming from the oil trap (which has been well discussed), I can't see much else one could do to stop this pooling...Outside of maybe tapping a drain valve into the factory intercooler that you could open at each oil change and maybe put a little pressure into the system with a homemade tool...My PCV system was replaced within the last 30k miles or so (estimated, probably less) and I do have an extra kit sitting here waiting to go on, sans intake gasket...Kinda holding off until I can pick up a phenolic intake manifold spacer before I dive into pulling everything apart...

Whats the best option/cleaner to use for the factory intercooler?

 

Sounds like there could be several places oil is coming from, but of course you will want to get the worst first. If you're change interval is 3000 miles, 1 qt. really doesn`t sound too bad, between leaking some and burning some. One way to try to pinpoint the leak is to get a couple cans of Gunk. This stuff really works well in my experience. Get the engine up to temp. ( best way is to drive a few miles) and then let it cool down just a little. Soak it down real good with the Gunk, let it soak in and loosen up the firmer crud. Next spray it down with a good solid stream on the worst areas. Careful not to blast any places where water shouldn't go. It may take several applications (get nice and warm with each) to get the engine really clean. When it`s clean and dry, it may take quite a few driving cycles of various lengths to pinpoint just where the oils coming from. This is the only surefire way of seeing where the oils actually coming from. I`ve replaced seals in a lot of areas where I or some other tech (thought) oil was coming from, only to have a comeback for an oil leak. In my humble opinion this is where patience really pays off.

 

Hello, I am wondering if anyone out there can help. I have a MAJOR oil leak on my 2001 V70 non-turbo with 80,000 miles.


Oil can be seen running in a continual stream off the sump at the front of the engine towards the rear.
All is very dry around the cam seals, and I can't see any oil near the main pully.

I have even had the sump (oil pan) off and resealed that with expensive Volvo jointer.


The back (left hand) side of the enging is dry, as is the side nearest the bulkhead apart from the front corner.

It does not run oil until one or two minutes after the engine is started but there is a BIG puddle on the ground after a few minutes. It is not drivable, oil under the whole car and even on the tailgate window

Any suggestions anyone? It's driving me mad

 

Is the front main seal leaking?

 

did you remove the timing belt cover to look? there's a door in the passenger wheel well you can use to get a good look at the lower timing belt area. Other than that you'd want to inspect the PCV system components on the front side of the engine - kind of hard to get a good look but you may be able to see from below after removing the lower valence.

 

Thanks for your messages, It is all dry around the main pulley and cam pulleys.
The belts are dry with no trace of oil,

I have all the covers off including the one behind the wheel. No oil anywhere except that running off the sump. The bottom of the sump is 'dust dry'.
I will check around the PCV system as you suggest. I have checked that it is working using the 'rubber glove and there is a good vacuum

 

 

FWIW I am confused by some of the language here: Front of the engine, rear (which somehow equals left), near the bulkhead. The bulkhead (firewall) is clear, but if that's not the rear or left, and left is not the front, then I am pretty confused. Evidently it's just me, though. What is the bulkhead to you?

 

Sorry, What I weas trying to describe, is if sitting in the car facing forward is the righthand side (belt end) and the part of the engine nearest to you (that is what I was calling the 'rear') I was trying to say towards the rear of the car.

 

For what its worth, when we bring one in for service that has oil leaking down the back of the engine, we pull the top engine cover off and most of the time we find the spark plug area full of oil. When the oil gets to a certain level, it will begin to drain down the back of the block since that's the way the engine angles.

The culprit is about 80% of the time the seal in the engine oil cap. The other 20% of the time you have excessive blowby coming from around the top breather hose.

I would suggest cleaning up the engine with whatever cleaner you use and see where you first see oil. A rear main seal will generally leave a puddle on the LH side of the vehicle, just left of center over the engine bay.

 

Many thanks Tony1963, I have the covers off and there is no oil in any of the plug wells - all bone dry.
I will check the top breather hose again as you suggest, and give the engine a clean to try and find the source.
I have a problem in that my hands are the size of shovels and cannot get a hand between the engine and fire-wall / bulkhead.

It is begining to look like the horizontal joint where the two halves (upper & lower) of the block join is leaking!
Anyone ever come across this befor?