My daughter bought a 2008 Volvo S40 T5 from someone on Facebook Marketplace a few months ago for $1200. They said it needed a new oil cooler. It had a slight amount of coolant in the oil. I ordered the oil cooler and had my mechanic replace it and flush all the fluids. She believed the guy that it wasn't a head gasket or head causing it because the car ran fine and didn't smoke from the tailpipe at all. When she got it back from the shop I told her to drive it just once and let me check the oil for signs of coolant, but she ended up driving to work 2x 60 miles round trip before I could get there to check it. On the 2nd trip the alert for the engine running hot came up and the temp gauge went to max, she slowed down to 40mph and it went down to between 1/2 and 3/4, she then pulled off at a truck stop and called me. I expected to find low coolant but the coolant level was fine and didn't show any signs of oil in it. The oil was at the very bottom of the dipstick though and she said on startup it would run really crappy and white smoke from the exhaust for about 10 seconds then would be fine from then on. I topped off the oil and drove it home and it didn't overheat, the temp gauge stayed at 1/2. I don't see any obvious leaks other than a little oil over by the timing belt on top of the valve cover that was there when I first saw the car, not sure if the mechanic left it or if it leaked again but I can't see an active leak (Maybe only leaking when the turbo kicks in) my question is, what is the best way to see if the loss of oil and smoke on startup from the exhaust is a bad turbo? Is there a way to test that? I'm hoping it's not a head or headgasket
thanks

 

The first thing I would do with any Volvo that does not have a low coolant warning system (like yours) would be to install one. An example is below. The octopus hose on those cars leak - the engine overheats, and damage is done. You may have damage already - and if you do and decide to fix it - install a warning system.

As far as oil in the coolant being caused by a damaged head gasket - Typically Volvos don't do that (yes, it is common with other brands of engines, just not Volvos)


https://swedishcarparts.com/parts/18...0-c30-lcl76151

 

Thanks for the reply, but it wasn't low on coolant at all. Just very low on oil. It burned 3 quarts of oil in 120 miles

 

Sorry, I guess now you know why the car was for sale.

If that much oil is getting past the piston rings - I'm not sure it would be economically reasonable to try to solve that on a 18 year old Volvo. It's possible the oil is leaking from the turbo (into the exhaust) rather than primarily from the rings/pistons. (still expensive to replace) If the engine has been overheated in the past - sometimes that can make the piston rings loose their "springiness" and fail to scape the cylinder walls properly, causing oil usage.

 

That's what i'm trying to figure out if it's the turbo or the engine itself. Any easy way to check if the turbo is pushing oil into the exhaust?

 

Yes if the turbo is oily from outside , the seals have gone , if its clean then probably engine

 

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I got lucky. The previous owner used a few 6mm bolts for the valve cover instead of 7mm and when the car is under load and the turbo kicks in oil was coming out around them. Replaced them with 7mm x35 bolts, cleaned up the oil and drove the car fro a few days and it seems fine now.

 

??? " When the turbo kicks in" - forces more air past the intake valves into the combustion chambers. The turbo does not pressurize the area between the head and the cam cover.

If you want to test the piston rings - usually a teak down test will tell you how much is leaking past the piston rings.

 

so the oil was coming out the cam cover? as mentioned nothing to with the turbo and also nothing to do with smoke from the exhaust