By the way, Thanks Hudini for the tip on the nut on the exhaust manifold. Mine was gone. I put on a new one on and the noise is gone.

 

CEL came on today. P0130 O2 sensor?? wtf?????????

 

Should be unrelated. Could be something like you knocked the connector loose. Or could simply have gone bad. I would clear the code and see if it returns. Plus trace the wiring harness from the top O2 sensor to the connector under the plastic cover on the firewall. On my 2001 the O2 harness has an extra harness extension to correct a factory flaw in the wiring.

 

So, I do have leaks from the cam area and have been following this thread. Its not too bad yet but... I checked the plunger and I did not find any evidence of a leak there. I wondered if using a black silicone on the new rubber seal after cleaning all the surfaces with acetone would be advisable?

Is it too simplistic to think that because the timing belt is clean (replaced 10k ago) and there is no evidence of oil flow from the area being slung on the outer timing gear that the tensioner seal is ok?

When I had the belt done (when I first got the car and didn't know my way around these bizzare motors), they checked the tensioners and said they did not need replacing. I hope they were right. Eventually I will need to do this job as I need to put a quart of oil in every 2 to 3 months. Will probably fabricate a tool to lock the pulleys together but I can't help but wonder why you couldn't put two punch marks to align the vvt gear again. Is it that sensitive?

 

Any silicone would probably be overkill. The O-ring holds up for 150k+ miles so a new one should be just as good.

By tensioner do you mean the little plunger thing? If no oil is being slung then no oil is leaking from the plunger. I've found the cam seals behind the CVVT gear and intake cam gear leak oil down the face of the engine but that oil does not tend to get on the belt. Just leaves a mess on the bottom of the engine and your driveway.

If you meant the actual tensioner then it has no seal. The tensioner is the gear on the right side in this photo. The water pump is to the left.


The CVVT gear is quite sensitive to proper alignment. Just a very few degrees is a ton of cam movement. I must have tried 4 or 5 times loosening and tightening the CVVT gear until I got it close enough that the check engine light does not come on anymore. One poster here moved it about 12 times to get it right. Remember when you remove the timing belt the tension on the cam lobes from the valve springs will tend to rotate the cams. You can lock the gears all day but fail when the cams move. You have to lock the cams in place then you can use the timing marks on the plastic cover to align the marks on the cam gears.

 

Well I was thinking of changing my screen name to VOLVOILEAKER. LOL
Update: I went under there today , the plunger thing is completely dry.The under side of the pulley is wet. Belt looks dry.
Looks like the oil is still leaking from the seal. There's a chance the seal moved when we put the cover back on . I was very careful but you never know. I'm sure it needs to be perfect. I have to pull the vvt pulley I guess. I'll see about renting the tool here locally . The CEL came on yesterday but then went off. codes P0015 P0130 P0015P . not sure what the "P"stands for at the end of a code . Cleared codes. Will keep trying.

 

Glad to hear the plunger thing was not leaking. I was concerned after you took the top of head or top valve cover off. You may have to take it off again. Cleanboth surfaces completely and dry with lacquer thinner or acetone before sealing and reinstalling the cover without the cam seals at both ends. After it is torqued and cures you can then press in the cam seals on both ends. Make sure they are squarely installed and the proper depth. Hold your exhaust cam so the slot for reluctor is horizontal and offset is down and install the VVT pulley at the timing mark and really torque to recommended spec or tighter.
I recommend you remove the crank pully to get all the three timing marks aligned.(when you get done make your own timing mark for crank on pulley to car or engine frame so the next time you do not have to take off the crank pulley). You might as well replace the crank seal too.
Then you should be all set.
We came up with the VVT plunger repair beacuse we replaced our cam seals already and after we put it together discovered the plunger was leaking. So we didn't want to talke the VVT pulley off again.
Sorry you are having so much trouble. Don't buy an old Volvo over 100k. There trouble.
Good Luck. Just love getting dirty. Cuts, bruises and sore back.

 

I don't wanna take that cover off again. Did you know the cams always have pressure on 2 lobes so the cover is up about 1/8 in until you compress the valve springs as the cover goes on ? Than was fun. There's a tool that squeezes it down and holds it while you torque it down, but I don't have that either. I wanna pull the sprocket and pull the seal with a seal puller. What did you use, anything special?
Also, just to be sure, if that plunger thing was leaking . Did you guys see oil on the outside face off the vvt hub and sprocket

 

"Did you guys see oil on the outside face off the vvt hub and sprocket"

Yes. Plus it slings the oil all over in line with the leak once you remove the timing belt cover.

 

My sprocket looks very clean on the outside. is there an O ring on the inside where the hub where it mounts to camshaft? I thought I read that somewhere.

 

There is an o-ring inside the the mounting hub of VVT gear. Its about 1/16" thickness and the dia. of the hub. It keeps oil pressure in the VVT mechanism. If it were to leak it would only return inside the engine. So you probably do not need to replace it. Just be careful when reinstalling the VVT pulley that it is there and stays in its groove.
I assume your Cam shaft oil seal is the only thing leaking. Which is usually the first seal to leak with age. And you have to take the pulley off to replace it. Just make sure you run the engine a while to be sure the Plunger thing is not leaking. Run long enough to make the engine oil warm up.

 

Here's a couple pics of the plunger out of the hub. Notice how brittle the o-ring had become. The 3 bolts holding the gear on come loose easily with locking pliers. As many have said in previous posts, if oil is spewing off your timing belt when the engine is running then this most likely is the reason. I was losing substantial amounts of oil and a $1 oil ring solved it.

 

I got it done with #78 from ACE hardware, I did try a few different o rings but they cut ofF the edges when pushing it in but this one did fit tight, and so far so good NO LEAKS! I will post to update on it, the size is 7/16x1/4x3/32 PART #78 O- RING at ACE and guess what? $59c again this one work for me but there is not many other sizes close to this except for one bigger or smaller and thinner but that did not work for me. I want to thank everyone on this site for keeping this info posted and all the help available very useful you guys are life savers.
THANK YOU.

 

the leak started again for me, it did not last very long I was having leak after another day maybe I did something wrong with the o ring or something, I will try changing the VVT pulley, will buy a locking toll and give it a try.

 

i'm new here so hello all.

Been reading this thread since I just bought my first volvo year 2000 model v40. Car has 148,xxx on it and it's clean but as you all know these cars tend to leak oil and thus me signing up for a membership. I haven't really investigated the source of my leak but when I do I will get back here, that is if anyone is still responding to this 1+ year old thread

 

Find that leak first thing. If it's the VVT gear then replace the o-ring. Do not delay. My leak caused oil to reach the timing belt which led to several skipped teeth and 8 bent exhaust valves. $1.00 o-ring vs thousands in repairs? Easy choice.

 

I took a quick peek behind the timing belt cover and I does not appear to be the vvt puley. I am not 100% sure on this, since I need to fully remove the cover. It does look like it's the cam seal.

 

Man if you are going to go through the trouble of replacing the seal and you can afford the extra $200 on a new gear and you are planning on driving the car for a while I would be tempted to replace the vvt while you are in there. Mine started leaking at 145k miles and it seems to be a very, very common issue.

 

Today I removed the timing belt cover and started the car and the vvt pulley wobbles during idle instead of smooth rotation (hope that makes sense). SO I may swallow this hard pill and buy a $200 dollar pulley .

 

I got mine for $180 (my mechanic's wholesale cost) but it's totally worth it and will save a lot of trouble in the future. Fortunately we found out about the pulley while doing the timing belt/water pump replacement so that saved time in the long run. If you let it get too out of hand, that little plunger on the pulley will slowly start to sling more and more oil everywhere, allowing it to reach the timing belt like in Hudini's case. Solve the problem early!