I have a 2007 S40 2.4i with 80K. The dealer just replaced the defective oil trap now the car is leaking oil like crazy. Looks like it is coming from the front seal, but there is oil near the top of of the timing belt cover??? I have read other threads that said the oil trap issue will mess up old seals. Do you guys think this is a front seal issue or maybe a camshaft seal??? I will attach a photo.
Thanks
Dan

 

I have a 2008 V50 2.4 and the dealer just replaced the oil trap. There was no noticeable leak before the car went in for the service but was leaking as soon as I got it back. My dealer also didn't note any leaks when they did the service and I had them do an oil change at the same time.

The dealer is telling me the cam shaft seal is leaking and that it's $1200 to fix because of the labour involved.

To me it's inconceivable that the leak is not related to the oil trap replacement. Can anybody provide any more information that can help explain how this service could have cause a seal to fail?

 

The service couldn't cause the seal to fail. The oil trap is nowhere near the cam seals.

 

Unusual to see a leaking cam seal on a five year old car. What's the mileage?

Could just be a coincidence. But not all techs are like ES6T and so I would also put sabotage and stupidity on the list of possible causes. When business is slow why not create the next job while you're doing the current job, eh?

 

That's quite a conspiracy theory but of course, anything is possible. Clean it off and see if it still leaks. I doubt someone would take the car apart enough to damage a cam seal intentionally and then put it together just to hope the customer comes back to buy the job.

 

You wouldn't need to take it apart to damage the cam seal. I'm not saying this is what happened but it wouldn't be hard to seal the crankcase and apply a little shop air - just enough to blow a seal out. It would be particularly easy when you're working on the PCV system. I know you wouldn't do it, but....

 

I didn't even think of that, probably because doing that sort of thing never crossed my mind. I have seen plenty of ****ty techs upsell unnecessary work or quote high labor times, but luckily never seen anyone sabatoge a car. But unfortunately, it is entirely possible.

 

Well, not to say sabotage doesn't happen, but it doesn't look like it did this time. The car is going back in this morning and the dealer (along with Volvo) is going to fix the seal free of charge. That obviously make me very happy.

This issue appeared very suddenly, the howling started and the check engine light came on the next time the car was started. I immediately took to the Googler and found the problem with the symptoms and engine code as well as the fact it was covered under an extended warranty. I asked the dealer if the car was safe to drive without causing any further damage and was told it was, but for the next guy reading this, that is not the case. Relieve the pressure by pulling the dipstick up a little and get it straight to the dealer.

 

I don't think the oil leak was caused by the dealer, because almost everyone that has this fixed gets an oil leak. This is my theory; this PCV issue causes an extreme vacuum in the crankcase. It would even suck the dipstick out of my hand. I bet if left for thousands of miles, like mine, this vacuum sucks the seals in too far, or maybe just the lip of the seal. So until you get it fixed the vacuum is keeping the oil in, then after the fix there is no vacuum and the oil starts to run out. Just a thought. I have about 6000 miles on mine since the PCV fix and the oil leak has almost stopped on its own. But, I have purchased crankshaft and camshaft seals and I am going to replace them soon, I was due for a timing belt change anyway, might as well knock it all out at once. The only major pain is the tool that keeps the camshafts from moving, mine was $110.

Dan

 

So we went from inconceivable that the seal failure was unrelated to the oil trap service to it's a known issue and dealer will fix it under warranty.

I feel strangely trolled by this whole thread.

 

The dealer fixes the oil trap under warranty for eligible cars. The cam seal is goodwill in this case, and goodwill is totally case-by-case.

 

To me, the issue is related to the oil trap replacement. I never thought or said that my dealer maliciously sabotaged my car or negligently broke something in the process of replacing the oil trap. I went from a car running perfectly fine to a clogged oil trap to a oil leak in the space of a couple weeks. It was inconceivable to me that this was just a coincidence as my dealer first told me, and I was right, one issue caused the other. Having gone through this, I've learned that once this problem first starts, you need to stop driving immediately to try and avoid an oil leak.

I'm not sure why you feel strangely trolled by this thread other than you don't really know what the term troll means.

 

This is exactly what my dealer said.

 

I have a fantastic dealer. We've had problems along the way, but what is important is how those problems are dealt with. They have gone to bat several times for me and I've always been happy with the result. They always provide me with a loaner or rental which is great. The buggers did stick me in a 2013 S60 AWD for a week while they waited for parts for the oil trap, that almost cost me $50K.

 

Ha! Free test drive of your next purchase. That's a smart move on their part.

 

Possibly. But you don't appear to know what inconceivable means so I guess we're even.

The more interesting question is how you found the magic dealer that rolls over and does a $1,200 job for free. Now that's inconceivable.

 

inconceivable
Adjective: Not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally; unbelievable: "inconceivable cruelty".
Synonyms: unthinkable - incomprehensible - unimaginable

I'm not sure how I used it incorrectly or out of context.

As far as finding the magic dealer that rolls over, just lucky I guess. As was pointed out, this is a good will gesture on their part, so I guess making a strong case, being firm but polite, cool and collected makes a big difference.

This is the second good will repair they've made for me. About 6000 KM out of warranty, my A/C quit. My dealer is a long way from home, so I took it to the local shop who quoted me $1200 (hmmm, seems like the magic number). They also suggested I take it back to my dealer because it really shouldn't fail so early. I followed their advice and after showing maintenance records for the car (again, to far and expensive to take it to the dealer for oil changes) the dealer agreed to pay 1/3 the repair, Volvo offered to pay 1/3 of the repair and I paid 1/3 of the repair. So simply by asking (and I really didn't expect they'd do anything), the repair cost me less than $400 instead of almost $1200.

Finding a good dealer is as important as finding the right car. Honestly, I haven't been very impressed with my V50, it's anemic at best (I should have got the T5), not overly impressive in any other way, not AWD, and seems expensive for what you get. I was not planning to buy another Volvo but having had two expensive issues where the dealer has gone above and beyond has me reconsidering. I also wasn't joking earlier, I almost didn't give that S60 T5 AWD loaner back! I'm sure if we weren't $25K over budget on our kitchen project (ouch), I wouldn't have. I see a S60 T6 or S60 T6 R in the future!

 

Well said. Goodwill repairs happen all the time. As a technician, I don't really control it. However, if there is an expensive repair needed on a car and I see the customer history shows they are good loyal customers, I will sometimes go and see if the manager will help out, even though it means I make less on the job in most cases. Being polite also goes a long way. I've seen plenty of customers come in who have their car regularly serviced elsewhere and demand that something be replaced for free because they read on the Internet that it is common. Well, guess who doesn't get a goodwill repair then. And in that case, I'll go out of my way to try to convince the manager not to give them anything for free.

Glad you have a good dealer. But be careful about saying too many good things about them here. Most people are very "anti-dealer".

 

just had the oil trap replaced on my V40, and sure enough, got a major oil leak. Wish I'd know about this before, because the car is older, and I would not have bothered replacing the oil trap; it was an expensive job and replacing the seal would cost more than the car is worth. The mechanic (a Volvo specialist) didn't warn me, and at first said the leak would not have had anything to do with the oil trap replacement, but it seems like a big coincidence.

 

A healthy PCV system is supposed to have a pronounced vacuum.
It's when the system gets clogged up that the vacuum changes to a positive pressure(blowby) that causes the camseals, front/rear crankshaft seals to start leaking.

One does wonder if the use of compressed air to help clean out and unblock hoses and especially the engine block ports might be contributing to seal leaks immediately post PCV oil trap servicing wherever the practice may be adopted?

If seals are not leaking on a poorly crankcase ventilated engine, they definately should not start to leak immediately after a PCV service as thats the main reason for it being done under relative urgency.