I replaced my spark plugs last nite and it seems to run great. One thing I noticed when I took the cover off was a pool of oil around the plug wires. I cleaned it all up the night before last. After one daily commute, I found oil starting to puddle up. I have noticed that the "leak" is coming from the Oil Cap.

Do I need to replace the cap or is the pcv system needing replacement as well? As far as I can tell, no oil is coming out of the dipstick.

 

Probably just need to replace the gasket around the cap. Pretty common problem, some people replace them every other oil change. PCV should okay if no smoke coming from dipstick with engine running and stick pulled out. Dealer should have the gasket for the oil cap pretty cheap.

 

Great to know..i'll see if I can find it at the dealer, unless anyone knows if I can find it at an auto parts store...I have just about every franchise within 10 minutes of where I work.

 

I doubt any of the retail franchises will have it. Better to go with factory on something like that. It is just a round rubber gasket that fits on the bottom of the cap but I think it is Volvo only. I could be wrong though, according to my wife I generally am. [:@] Napa would be more likely to have it than say Autozone or Advance. Good luck on it.

 

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have not posted in a few days, I have been really busy.

I did check the codes, finally. I was surprised how easy it was. Are there other cars that have this simple and useful technology? If not, there should.
The codes I retrieved from the Volvo are as followed 1-2-1 faulty MAF signal, 1-5-4 EGR flow is too high, and 4-1-3 EGR temperature.

This weekend I will clean the MAF sensor, and maybe giving theEGR valve a thorough cleaning before deciding tobuy a new one. I read on another thread something about using a special acid. Also, I read that MAF code is sometimes due tohoseleak. If anyone out there has a diaphragm on the hoses I would be forever grateful. I have already checked for leaks, did not find any. There are not many hoses on non-turbos anyways, butmaybe I need to put "everything in its right place". (Anybody a Radiohead fan?)

I would like to thank everybody for their great help. I have never worked this hard on a car, and I owe it in part to volvoforums. Thanks!!
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Green 850 congratulations on the PVC job.

 

You have to service your clogged PCV system. Changing the oil cap gasket will not fix it. Have you noticed that your MPG has dropped considerably since the engine is not breathing correctly?

 

I have only had the car for two weeks as of tomorrow. I am not aware of what kind of mileage I am getting since I will need to replace the odo gears. I have done some searching and reading, no oil spitting or smoke out of the dipstick.

Like I mentioned, oil IS spitting out of the Oil Filler Cap and collecting around the cap and subsequently, under the engine/sparkplug cover.

So, should I take everything apart or is there something specific I can take apart and clean first? $161+ seems kind of expensive since I still have to change both O2 sensors =( AC is cooling much better but I may just replace the evap when I swap out the odo gears as well. Not sure how much my back can take...

FCP price:




850-T300
[align=center]PCV Kit, includes all items listed below[/align]
[align=center]$161.50[/align]
[align=center]Kit FCP puts together[/align]

 

thanks guys, it took me from 8:30 in the mornig to 9:30 at night, and a lot of f bombs


my oil was also puddled around the sparkplug covers, and as someone else said it's the gasket for the filler cap (which i replaced)

it is still running allot better and holding oil, good luck with figuring out the problem

i would advice anyone to service theirs as soon as they notive symptoms, you don't want to have the dammage done and leak oil lik me[:@]

 

There are several writeups on PCV. If you don´t want to spend $161 you could just get the intake manifold gasket, and do some cleaning and unclogging.

However it is not the recommended way. You will probably recover the money on gas since your MPG will improve substantially once the car breaths correctly.

 

It has been almost two months since I began to do some seriously needed work on the Volvo. There were a lot of head aches, cursing, and a lot of hours spent researching. Here is my final report, hopefully it will help anyone reading this thread by heading them in the right direction.

First off, the best thing I learned was to use the codes provided by the car's computer. On thisVolvo model it was flawless,it diagnosed the system with a great deal of accuracy.

I ended up buying both a EGR valve and a MAF sensor. FirstI bought the EGR valve and it did not seem to make a difference. Which made me believe that maybe I did not need to replace it at all, but I'm sure it did no harm. The reason I was getting the EGR codes was because I replaced the hose that goes from the EGR to the controller, and the hose that goes from thecontroller to the intake.(with black hose) I ended up putting them back-wards, and that was the reason that the computer was giving me the "too rich" code. (The gasdid dilute the oil by running too rich) After getting that straightened up the idle was a bit smother, and the engine did not shake as much. The foul smell coming from the exhaust stopped. The biggest difference after correcting the mix up was that there was no white smoke coming from the dipstick. I was amazed because thats what I set out to do in the beginning.The car still stalled on me a couple of times and the idle was at times uneven. Today I replaced MAF,and the car runs so smooth and even.

So, even though this thread began by me queering information about the PCV it turned out to be a complete service and tune up.

Here are all the work I did:

Replacedthe PCV
Replaced the MAF
Replaced the EGR Valve
Replaced the Air Idle Control
Replaced the Fuel and Air Filter
Replaced theRotor, Spark Plugs, and Wires
Replaced the Fuel Pump Relay(did not need to though)
And an Oil change

If anybody is having a similar problem I suggest replacing the MAF(if it stalls and gives an uneven idle), PCV(for the smoke coming out of the dipstick and the pooled oil under the spark plug cover), and check the hoses and connections.

Thank you all my Volvo is running great.
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Glad you got it all fixed and running properly.

 

again, the easiest way to find out if the maf sensor is faulty is to disconnect it and see if the extra rough idle goes away. connect it again and see if it comes back...easy!

 

there is a modification that can be done to the pcv system that volvo came up with since this seems to be a common problem. im having that done by my mechanic since im burning oil at this point but before the oil burning i was also having fumes come out the dip stick.

 

What kind of modification?..are you talking bout bypassing it?

 

i dont think it by-passes it but really i dont have a clue. my mechanic told me about it and it was something that volvo came out with. i should be getting it done to my car with in the week or so i'll let ya know how it goes.

 

^^^ just removing the flame trap. volvo actually released the removal of the flame trap as maintenance at 120,000 miles for the dealer. now this only really happened if the volvo was always going to the dealer for all of its checkup/maintenance.

what happens in the flame trap gets clogged and caked up so much that it builds pressure in the crank case because the crank case can no longer breath.

 

yep ive heard many discussions about whether the flametrap was ever really needed on our cars..guess not.

 

I removed it about 2 months ago and drove car with no problems at all intill i found a new one and put it back IN. I dunno if that makes any difference in perforemance or that has any safety importance.