I have an 02 S80 (non-turbo) that has a terrible oil leak. The dealership showed me where I was missing both of the plugs that seal the ports that would supply oil to the turbo, if my car had come with a turbo. They said that the turbo and non-turbo models use the same engine block and if a car is not a turbo model, those oil ports coming out of the block are just sealed with plugs. There were two huge holes adout the size of quarters where the plugs should have been. Anyone ever heard of this? Also, anyone have any idea how this could happen?

 

That's the first I've heard of that, I also have a non-turbo S80, but have never encountered the problems you're seeing. Keep us posted!

 

Those ports don't SUPPLY oil to the turbos. The oil return lines (Turbo model) EMPTY into those skirt holes and drain down into the oil pan. If there is a TERRIBLE oil leak (oil seen escaping out of the holes while the car is running), then you definitely have a MAJOR blowby problem...because they're not pressure ports.

Are you the original owner of your S80?

 

I took the car to an non-dealer Volvo repair specialist center and they diagnosed the problem the same way. Although they quoted me $170 parts and labor to reinstall the plugs in comparison to the dealership's quote of $620. The dealershjip was telling me that the plugs cost $51.03 each while the repair shop charged my $10.00 for both. As for my previous description of my problem, calling it "terrible". It appeared terrible to me. The oil wasn't pumping out of the holes, but there was enough coming out so that it would lose about 1/4th of a quart after 70 miles of driving (that's my round trip to work and back each day). The Volvo tech told me he had never seen this problem before (he had been a Volvo tech since 1969) and speculated that the plugs were never pressed in correctly at the factory. He could maybe have believed that one could have backed out by itself, but not both of them. He checked the vent box to see if it was clogged and building up preasure in the block but found it to be fine. I am looking at this from the bright side. I found an experienced Volvo repair shop today that I feel I can trust to charge me a fair amount on my future maintenance needs.

 

I saw this problem for the first time about 2 years ago and been seeing it since.