My regular mechanic is telling me that the oil leak that I have is from the turbo unit and the oil is leaking onto the exhaust resulting in the fumes I experience when stopped and running the heater/cooling fan. He also tells me that it is a major job to repair - about a grand. Has anyone else had this problem. I am told it is a common occurance with this model (S70). I am loosing about a quart every100 miles. Thanks

 

Does the mechanic specialize in Volvo's? That sounds like too much money to me. What year is your car? Many times the oil leak around the turbo is is just the return line seals. You really need to make sure whoever is looking at it knows Volvos, and will be honest with you.

 

Hi,

Jim said pretty much everything I wanted to say. Very often, S70s/850s have minor oil leaks from the turbocharger, most likely from the oil return/supply line as Jim has described.

All too often, "regular mechanics" at town garages or franchise shops are not keeping up with technology or doing their homework (there are exceptions of course, but top-notch techs are rather minor at those shops). This is the reason why I keep recommending people to visit dealer/independent shops that specialise in Swedish/European makes (however, if you go to the dealer you'd better know your car, or they'll sell you unnecessary parts & services). But in this case, oil leak from the turbochargerdoesn't haveanything to do with modern electronics so a good cleaning & visual inspection, which you can do by yourself (keep safety in mind), would reveal where the oil is leaking from, as well as how serious it is.

See if this is the case:

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/turborepairline.php

I hope this gets you started. Wish you the best of safety & luck,


JPN

 

Thanks for the info. I trust my mechanic but he is not a Volvo specialist. I may just try and repair myself. It doesn't look too complicated and it's been awhile since I had greese under my nails. Now if I can just remember who I loaned my ramps to. Anyway, I appreciate your replies.

 

I use a hydraulic jack and jack stands. Car sits too low for me to use the ramps I have. I don't even know why I keep the ramps. They worked fine with my Jeeps and a Suburban but now I own three Volvo's and the ramps are useless.

 

Check your pcv system first. My oil return line started to leak, so I replaced it. Then my rms started to leak. It ended up being pcv system that would have been cheaper to replace than both of the others.
My local volvo dealer charged around $300 to replace the turbo oil feed and return lines. It was like $7 in parts.

Nick

 

I would inspect it really good.
It is usually PCV system clogged that causes leaks.
Also You will always see oil on the turbo unit of these cars. Everyone always leaks some.
But if you are burning some oil clean/replace the PCV system first.

 

I've had those return lines replaced twice, and also the adaptor plate they go into, and mine is still leaking. Are these cars notorious for that, and is this a notorious thing to fix?

 

Not really. I don't have any noticable leaks in any of my three cars. I have had to replace the turbo return line, but it solved the problem. One time it only held up for about a year though. The shop that did it replaced it for free the 2nd time around since it lasted less than one year. Haven't had any problems since. The last time I did a different car and did it myself. Kind of a pain, but not that tough.