I replaced the oil filter/catch can breather system and there is still oil fumes/smoke coming out of dipstick hole and oil filler cap when removed. When I hold my hand over filler cap there is very little vacuum. Car is 2010 S40 with 50k. What is normal? On initial startup it pushes air out of oil filler cap when removed, then settles to just very little suction. Ideas?

 

what happens when you place a rubber glove (ie latex surgeon's ) over the filler cap? does it inflate or kind of pulsates up and down?

 

It will pull just enough vacuum so latex glove is trying to get sucked in. On initial starting of engine though it will blow air out of filler when removed. I feel a lot of vacuum on my other cars but this one very little. For most part it does the up and down dance, and at times starts to inflate. Should it not pull vacuum constantly?

 

hello

i am facing the exact same symptoms you described word to word , replaced with a new pcv system on the same 2.4i engine , i pulled the oil cap out and noticed very minimal vaccum. i remember it being much more from memory , and also i noticed after taking it for a drive that the cam seal are being pushed out ,i have pushed them back in and they haven't started leaking yet , you said in another thread of how you got good vaccum back on the oil filler hole after cleaning the elbow hose that connects to the lower intake manifold , i have already done this to no result

i would really appreciate it if you can update this thread with how you solved this

thank you for your time

 

Sorry to hear of your issue, hope it is not the same thing I had. Ultimately, my issue turned out to be a Head gasket failure. Although coolant/oil wasn't compromised either way and car drove fine, a compression check showed PSI all over the place. Leak down also confirmed it. Depending on year of S40 improvements were made with the PCV box. Did your oil filter/PCV box start leaking oil as well? Im assuming you replaced it thinking the diaphragm was blown but that you are still having the same issue. I would continue confirming that your PCV system is completely unblocked on all ends then doing a Comp check as well and proceed from there. You sound to be comfortable at wrenching. At least these engines are realatively easy to work on. Just for future reference though, you will have to seek out special tools for reinstalling head cover. Euro cars all seem to need proprietary tools, they are not like Toyotas and Datsuns. Hope that helps.

 

Hello

I really appreciate you taking the time to bother replying to my query , the engine actually first started leaking oil from the intake cam seal ,following the replacement of the seal I noticed that the oil filter housing whistle which is indicative of a failed pcv diaphragm , I concluded this was the cause of my oil leak from the seal , as when. The diaphram fails on our 2.4 naturally aspirated engines , the whole intake manfiold vaccum is put on the crankcase , this huge vaccum is what i believe caused the seal to get sucked in and lose oil, as when I visually inspected the seal when it leaked it wasnt pushed out ,it looked perfectly seated yet was leaking oil.

Fast forward to now I changed the pcv ,changed the breather hose to the top of the cam cover changed the elbow hose to the lower intake manifold, and checked the oil cap and there is very little vaccum like you stated earlier ,I did the glove test and there is vaccum across most of the Rev range , except on wide open throttle the glove inflates , this means the cam cover is being pressurized, this correlates well to what I am noticing as after the hose and pcv replacement I took it for a test drive following which when I pulled the hood ,I noticed the cam seal got pushed all the way out, I pushed the seal back in with a knife and tested again , and the seal pops back as soon its drive under high rpm


I have already removed the lower intake manifold and cleaned it out of some oil and also replaced the lower intake gasket ,none of this resolved the low vaccum on idle and the pressure on oil filler cap on wot, which is causing the intake cam seal to pop out, furthermore I have no symptoms of head gasket failure car pulls strong , no oil coolant mixing
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Pretty stumped now to say the least I replaced both the pcv hoses , the pcv housing is brand new ,I read in an earlier thread of yours where you state that you took some carb cleaner and sprayed the elbow hose to the lower intake manifold and fixed the low vaccum on the oil filler cap


Can you explain how you did this ? , My elbow hose is brand new , did you clean out the pcv chamber with the carb cleaner ? Or did you spray into the lower intake and attempt to clear it ?


Thank you for your time it's much appreciated

 

In my case the oil was finding the weakest point in the PCV system and blowing oil out the filter/PCV box. I thought for sure the diaphragm was breached according to the forums. The only thing missing was the sound everyone else mentioned. I found that by my2010 that the box was improved so I ruled out the PCV box. But still plagued with positive pressure I remember disconnecting the elbow Just to the right side by intake manifold and introducing carb cleaner with engine running. 2 person job to have one feather the gas as another shoots carb cleaner. I thought this had worked but next time the car was driven it did it all over. That's when I put up my hands and said its time for a compression/leak down test. Although I did not have water mixing with oil or vice a versa I suspected that the cylinder pressure was leaking past the HG into the crankcase somehow causing positive pressure. I had anywhere from 150 psi to 60 and between 5 cylinders. It was time to pull the head. You might just disconnect the elbow hose from PCV box and see if you vacuum on it. The connection at lower manifold where it connects is a pretty good size so In retrospect I doubt it being plugged. Please share your finds and remedy and feel free to ask any more questions.

 

The elbow hose was pulled off and I attached a longer hose to manifold when I introduced a can of carb cleaner. Initially, I thought it worked but later found out that it didn't. Mine was a worse case scenario. I hope your issue is minor. Good luck!

 

I have tried everything upto this point short of removing the oil filter housing again and checking for clogs which I think unlikely ,but will do tmrw, as it's the only last thing before the compression leak down test for which I have to get gauges and a pressure source , I would never have guessed it to be the head gasket on this car , but clearly dazed so far on what it could be

I will definitely keep this thread updated on what I find and want to thank you again for you insight it's much appreciated

I made big post detailing exactly what I did till now as a reply on this thread but I can't see it now , did i accidentally send it as a pm as I don't see the post anymore on this thread

Thank you for your time