Greetings,
Bought an s70 with 100, 000 miles. It has been great. Until... I noticed that it was eating oil. To the tune of 4 litres since the synthetic oil change on October 2oth. I couldn't figure out where it was going as none has been of any notice under the car. Finally I find a guy who works on lots of volvos. He tells me the seal in the turbo is blown. In fact he says the turbo must be replaced.I am told that they overenginered the turbos and that they blow a lot. Oil was going through the turbo line and burning in there. I am hoping that this replacement will take away the missing oil problem. He also put dye in the oil to see if he could see it anywhere else, but claims the turbo is shot. Any thoughts?

 

Correction, the car had 100, 000 KMS on it.

 

A clogged vent system will make the car burn oil as well.
Turbo's don't burn up all the time.
I have alot of customers with over 100,000 miles on them with original turbo.
Even a few with 200,000 miles still original turbo.

 

I will look into the vent system, but lots of oil covering the turbo unit and you can see where it is sneaking through. Also, the turbo response is weak when driving. The mechanic seemed to think I could still drive it for a few days until the turbo change on Wed. As long as I keep an eye on the oil, do you think that would hurt?
Thanks

 

It really won't hurt much more.
But if the system is clogged it will pump oil into the turbo and will leak like you say it is around the turbo.
Not turbo is ever totally dry.
They will all have oil on them.

 

Not to be an *** but this isn't a FORUM ISSUE. This belongs in the S70 section of the forum. I am going to be moving it there. The other mods should have done this already.

 

Hey again,

Turbo Replacement Issue:
Thanks for the response.

The car has been eating oil at a rate of 1 litre for every 1 000 miles.
I have been recording the consumption of oil.
I have never noticed dripping under the car nor do I notice any irregular amounts of smoke emitted from the exhaust.
It has been annoying not knowing where the oil has been going. Yes... according to the mechanic who specializes in volvos the turbo is shot. I had just never heard of a turbo drawing in oil throught the return lines. But I guess it is possible that a turbo can get to the point that it needs to be entirely replaced. Any other thoughts or suggestions that I may pass on to the mechanic would be appreciated.

Kind regards,

JD

 

is there any threads on how to change it and what it requires? please help. i need to change mine and i want to know what gaskets its gonna need, if any, and/or steps to remove and replace. thanks.

 

Hmm... 100,000 KM is NOT very much for a turbo... that's about 60,000 miles. That's REALLY early. You say you just switched to synthetic oil, too? That throws a few red flags up for me. Often times, when switching to a synthetic on a car that has run petroleum all its life, you will develop oil leaks. Most of these leaks will eventually go away or get significantly smaller, but early on, they can be quite severe. The science behind oil leaks when switching to synthetic is as follows: Seals, as they age, become hardened. Petroleum oil doesn't clean things up like synthetics do. When you have a rotating shaft seal in place over a dirty, gritty rotating (or reciprocating, in the case of valve stem seals) the grit will make tiny cracks in the seal. These cracks, in turn, will get filled in with dirt and carbon deposits, creating what is known as a "false seal." Along comes the cleaning power of synthetic oil, and that dirt is cleared away, leaving a small hole. Now, eventually, the seal will soften a bit, and the hole will mostly close, thus eliminating part of the leak. I've seen valve stem seals start leaking after a switch to synthetic, even. Now, I've actually never torn apart a turbo, so I don't really know how the rotating shaft seals in there are made, but I'm sure they're a bit different to the other seals on an engine, considering the harsh environment of a turbo, however, I'm sure there's enough similarities, as well. If I were you, I'd keep driving the car for a while- make SURE you watch the oil carefully- and see if the consumption starts to slow down. If so, see how much it drops. Then, maybe get another opinion on the health of your turbo. As I said, while it's certainly POSSIBLE that the turbo has failed with only 60,000 miles, that is definitely on the "early" side of the bell curve of turbo failures. I too, have seen a couple 200,000 milers with original turbos on them.

 

It's not THAT hard, and doesn't require many gaskets. The connections to the manifold and exhaust pipe are actually gasketless... they're just machined really, really well, and don't need them. only gaskets needed are new copper washers for the coolant lines and oil feed line, and a new gasket and seal for the oil return line. I'd imagine a fairly knowledgeable DIYer with a good repair manual could do it in a 2-3 hours with no trouble at all.

 

You need 8 copper crush washers and a oil return line seal, you can get that from IPD. It will take, like carrots said, about three hours. It's pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of bolts in very hard to reach places that don't allow for an easy and quick removal. And have an oil pan underneath the car large enough for a full tank of coolant and quite a bit of oil.

I just took my turbo off of my car to swap exhaust housings on it and it had zero shaft play. Did I mention it has 215k miles on it? There must have been some serious neglect or abuse of some kind for a turbo with only 60k miles on it to be completely shot.

 

Awsum!! thats what i thought. thanks!!

 

Do you know the best place to buy the turbo.. I called volvo and they want roughly $1,200 just for the part.what is IPD?.........I am looking at a car that needs a turbo......

 

Does anyone know where I can get pictures and/or instructions on how to change the Turbo in my 98 S70 GLT. I have 200K on my baby, but she is leaking oil from the TC and blowing white smoke on startup. Just did the PVC (6) months ago. Thanks

 

have a 98 s70 glt original turbo needs pcv system and noticing lack of power. 194K miles on her!