Well this started about 6 months ago when I bought a 98 s70 glt. Of course I got screwed by a craigslist seller again and the head gasket had blown. So I sent it to a shop and I got screwed over 2 grand. Overheated immediately after the first two times I picked it up from them. They supposedly replaced the head gasket, and replaced the cooling system, including removing the hard wired fan to replace it with the automatic relay. Soon after it sprung leaks, the radiator bolts came out, and the head gasket blew again. Frustrated with letting apes touch my car I decided to buy a motor and replace it myself. I picked up a motor from lkqcorp with 110k miles on it and did the swap along with some blown axles, fried vac lines, motor mounts, and pcv system. Car started up beautifully until the pressurized oil system found bad oil cooler connection. Compression is good, turbo seems to be working(i'll know for sure when I install the boost gauge) yet, it seems to be slow. At about 3.5k rpms it seems to lose power. Is there anything I could check that I havent that would affect performance? Or maybe its because the auto trans is old? Despite all these problems Ive had with my first volvo, I love the thing and I just don't know why It feels so slow.

 

Hi and welcome to the site.

It sounds like you have purchased that car a few times already. Is the CEL on? Is the turbo controller vacuum lines connected properly? How old are the wires, plugs, etc?

Those S70 GLT's are fast off the line and up to about 100 mph, there must be something wrong. The tranny will NOT cause the car to slow down at 3,500 rpm's.

Do a stage 0 tune up.

 

Well that is problem, im not getting any CEL or anything. I have new spark plugs and wires in addition to replacing most vacuum lines. I have 2 sets of plugs and wires if need be but I doubt it. When I start the car up it runs and idles beautifully. I'll double and triple check my vac lines, but wouldnt that throw a code?

 

New problem:
I connected the oil cooler to thermostat lines and eliminated that leak. After the car started fine, warmed up to temp, and idled fine I dropped it to the ground and took it for a drive. I hooked a boost gauge up to the vacuum tree and read good suction. As I drove it seemed fine at first but the boost would get to 0 and drop. Then I soon after lost power and blew craaazy smoke out of the exhaust. I found a leak dripping off the intercooler and I suspect its the oil cooler but im not sure. Could this be because of a bad oil cooler? I have a spare turbo too but I doubt the seals have gone bad, or that a blown turbo would produce nearly that much smoke. Also, its an auto tranny but it seems to only smoke in 1st, or really low speed in other words.

 

Sounds like a bad turbo to me. Have you pulled the intake at the turbo and check to see if the turbine is tight or not?

What brand plugs and wires do you have?

 

I have 2 sets of plugs and wires from the old and new motors. Both have volvo wires and I think they both have NGK plugs. The smoke seemed similar to that and i'll check the turbine in the morning seeing as though its still hot. What could the leak by the intercooler be?

 

Intercooler up front? I don't know, check to see what kind of fluid it is.

If you are having issues with high RPM's, use Volvo plugs to see if it changes. How old is the cap and rotor?

 

It appears to be oil. Thats why I suspected the oil cooler but im not sure. The cap and rotor was supposedly replaced by the shop and I used it on this motor. I'll try the volvo plugs once I get it running. I have a turbo from the last motor that I know works but this one seemed to have less shaft play which was why I used it. I dont doubt its blown but I know how annoying it is to replace it.

 

There's a small weep hole on the intercooler by design; you will get some residual oil in there from the pcv and a bit from the cold side of the turbo. So I suspect the seals on the turbo are blown and/or pcv is clogged.

Suggest a compression ck too if you haven't done it yet.

 

Thank you everyone. The PCV system is brand new so I guess Ill start messing with this turbo.

 

Double check to make sure the PCV breather box hoses are connected properly. Most parts diagrams have them backwards.

The oil cooler (part of the radiator) and intercooler (in front of the radiator) are not connected. I think he is saying that the radiator might be bad???

As for the turbo, is the one that you are using, the one that was on the motor when it overheated? If so, maybe it has some blown internal seal but a good shaft. Is that possible?

 

This other turbo was put on the last motor after it overheated the first time. Is there anything I can do to fully inspect it before I put it on? And yes my friend assumed the whole radiator assembly was bad because of the leak. I dont mind throwing money at my car, but I want it to be in the right direction. I would hate to replace the radiator when something else is causing the problem. I'll recheck the pcv system but I bought it from FCP euro and followed their diy video.

 

I'm not sure. My guess is that the shaft would have play or smoke, etc.

This video thumbnail shows that the connection on the photo left (passenger side) goes to the top of the motor.

 

Well as I said the frustrating part is that the turbo on right now has less shaft play than the spare one I have even though either of them arent very bad. Im double checking the pcv but im almost positive its on correctly. I started it and smoke was coming from the turbo so that answers that, so i guess i'll drop the turbo.

 

Also I got a P0410 and P0171 code thrown. Secondary injection failure and system too lean?

 

Hard to tell between. Just a lot more oil in and around the one from the car

 

Swapped the turbo and started with no apparent smoke but it got a little cold so its a little hard to tell on a minor level. No codes thrown but its running horribly. Guess im gonna find a compression tester tomorrow and go over all vac lines and check valves