Hey Guys I want to say thanks to all who have helped me in the past! With your help I'm basically loving this car more each day. I'm a Noob to Volvo's but not a noob to cars in general.

Quick question to the Gurus of the forum. Little info first. My wagon is close to hitting 130K miles and apart of the normal expected issues with having an 850 I have no leaks anywhere, not from oil cap, no smoke from dipstick, no issues on start up, no smoke or odd smells from tail pipe and the car passed CT emmisions with flying colors.

The only issue I have is the occassional valve tick. I just seafoamed it and did an oil change. I did indeed use a Volvo oil filter and used synthetic oil hoping the tick would go away, but it's still comes and goes. Well the car is 19 years old so everything can't be perfect LOL. I read another member RSPI had no smoke coming from his dipstick but he found blockage on one of the ports. I believe his car had more mileage though.

So... Should I go ahead and do the PCV work???? even though I have no issues????

 

The best way to tell is with a manometer installed in the dipstick tube. If you have any positive pressure, replace the breather box. If you have vacuum, you don't need to do anything.

 

preventive maintenance...

Do it before it clogs and you will never have the problem.
For $150 and a couple hours of your time IMO its worth the piece of mind.

Plus if you pull the intake mani to do it you can throw on a snabb intake spacer

 

In regards to the tick:

When it ticks, try adding some oil. Many members here, including myself, can attest to the fact that slightly low oil can cause a lifter tick. Just top it off and drive!

 

Yeah I topped off the oil to the max and it ticked this morning until it reached temperature. Then it just tics a few seconds then goes away, few moments later it comes back. Then again at every start up. I guess I gotta live with it. It justs sucks when I get a compliment about the car, I smile and brag then I start her up.....it sounds like crap.

Thanks for the recommendation on doing the PCV. Your probably right. Gotta find a good excuse for the wife though, baby no.3 coming soon. She doesn't understand about maintenance. She thinks I should wait till something breaks then fix it. Go figure, typical female. I'm gonna do the PTC cleaning this Sunday.

Hey how hard is to replace the exhaust manifold gasket? Engine is louder when it's cold. When I did the Seafoam treatment I saw white smoke coming outta the exhaust manifold heat shield.

 

There is a chance that the PCV has been maintained, you can tell by how hard the hoses are, especially the one going to the top of the motor. If the car is turbo, you can check the condition of the small elbows at the base of the turbo inlet tube near the turbo. If not turbo, it's real important to keep the flame trap clean/replaced.

Another good way to check the system for being clogged I'd to put a soft rubber glove over the oil cap with the car running. If the glove expands the system is clogged (pressure) if it tries to suck in a little it's likely fine. As Matt said it's better safe than sorry. Just make sure you request ALL VOLVO hoses or you'll be replacing them in less than a year.

I plan to replace my system every 50,000 miles. (That's about every 2 years for me).

 

Thanks RSPI thats a cool trick I'm gonna try. The guy I bought the car from did not know the difference between serpentine belt and timing belt. Luckily he already had the T-belt done by Volvo and they charged him $463. The new Volvo belt has less than 10K miles. The PTC and EGR look a little dirty. The hoses do look cleaner. I consider the PCV a major maintenance job and Volvo would of charged a couple hundred dollars to do. There are no receipts or records of it. So I'm in the middle of doing it for piece of mind, or wait until I can prove that there is positive pressure. I'm also concerned to tackle the EGR cleaning because the bolts are really rusty. Pretty sure somethings gonna break if I start tooling on it.

This car had the usual "keep me on the road" maintenance on it. All the brake pads have Volvo stamped on them, brake fluid was clean and nothing under the hood looks jerry-rigged with duct tape. Engine is not spotless because this guy never cleaned nothing under the hood. The maintenance receipts just show the normal stuff.

I'll keep u guys posted, gotta spend the money on a crib and changing table. After 16 years my wife is pregnant again! Car maintenance may take the back burner for a bit.

 

I actually have negative pressure! slight vacuum at the oil filler. PCV will wait for a while. I might just buy the kit and save it in the garage. I might do it when I get snowed in again. The price has gone up $20 bucks in 5 years

 

Maybe NOT so lucky. If the stealer only charged $463, they only did the belt. Watch it for water pump leak every 10,000 miles and if you hear squeeking from the area, you likely have a roller gone bad which is 50% of the timing belt break problems. One of the rollers goes bad, toss the bearings and then the belt. Replace everything next belt change.

 

Not likely. They probably did the belt, idler and tensioner pulley, and possibly the serpentine belt as well. If it was just the belt, the labor would be way too high (which could happen, sadly).