Looking at buying a 2006 V70, 2.4l FWD. Has 290k km. Smoking from the oil fill cap while running.

Maintenance records for the last 6 years, nothing indicating any PCV work.

My question is how long can there be PCV failure before things are too far gone? I'm not worried about doing the work, I'll be more than capable, I'm just worried about any lasting damage that could have been caused as a result of it not being fixed in time.

Thanks!

 

Looking a bit more into this and I'm seeing that a compression test would be a good way to test how things are internally. Makes sense considering PCV failure can cause seals to go bad from the additional pressure!

Any other ways to test/verify? Potentially just a flashlight under the car for oil leaks?

 

in my mind, the worst case scenario is not the clogged PCV (which may push out a seal or two and cause oil leaks) but whether the engine has been properly serviced with regular fluid (ie oil) changes. Any signs of sludge looking in the fill cap? what does the dipstick look like - any foam? any smell of gas etc? how does the coolant look?

 

it did look like it had some sludge in the fill area and there appeared to be sweating oil from the cap as there was fluid on the cover. (i would believe due to the pressure build up?)

didnt have a look at the coolant and it didnt smell like gas

 

If you get a chance to inspect the car again, do a "glove test" (ie surgeons/latex glove over the oil fill cap. If it inflates, you have positive crankcase pressure and need to sort out the PCV. If you get the right price, you may want to do a full PCV service including hoses, oil separator and cleaning out the ports in the block. Not an uncommon job for older Volvos like the 850 where some people recommend dropping the pan to totally clean out the sludge in the PCV ports and to service the oil pick up. Google for the procedure on doing a PCV refresh for this model to judge if you want to do it as a DIY project. Again my experience is with an 850 where the intake manifold gets lifted to access the PCV hoses and the oil separator. Newer models allow access to the oil separator up top (on my VW CC it sits right on top of the engine - I only had to pop out a coil pack for access... I believe newer volvos are similar but not sure when that started)

 

I didnt't quite do the glove test as I forgot to bring one but I did try it with a piece of paper. That didn't have any real suction but I don't think it was an adequate enough test.

All the PCV stuff does appear to be right under the intake manifold. Hadn't heard about taking off the pan to clean more thoroughly, I'll look into that idea if it's something I'd be into doing.

Just sucks to go see the car because even just being an hour away means I can only really go on weekends (traffic can be brutal, easily making it a 2hour drive). Trying to look into getting a garage to inspect it better than I can but I don't know any of the garages around him. Then chances are the owner won't let me borrow the car for a couple days to get it done with someone I know lol (understandably, letting me take the car for 1-2 days and 200-300km may be iffy from a sellers standpoint. Have no idea how insurance works in that case if anything goes wrong)

Would hate to pass on this car because its the spec and colour I want. Blue, FWD NA. Though I would also hate to buy the car and see all kinds of new issues. Gotta love used car shopping lol. Deadline for a car closing in too because of winter. The Miata won't cut it and our Sonata is in no condition to be safely driven in Quebec winters.

Done rambling, thanks for the input so far, helps me try figure things out lol

 

My coaching on the purchase: 1) buying an 18 year old car with 150K miles (250Km) is going to have regular service item and repairs. Its tough to predict - the best insurance is whether the car has a full maintenance history 2) Given the regular repairs and service items will happen, if you can do your own work for most stuff then you can probably live with the risk. 3) ultimately it comes down to a right price. If you value the car at say $5000, and you know the PCV needs service, your offer should be in the 4200 to 4500 range (ie assume 600-800 for a shop to do a PCV clean up / refresh. 4) If you have tools/time/skills and want to do the work yourself, check out Youtube for some vids on the process to help make that call. Post up how you make out.

 

Went an saw an XC70, body had more rust, 250k km. Passed the glove test, no sludge in the fill cap like the first one I saw. Glad I went to go see another, give myself things to compare and know what they're supposed to look like.

Won't be getting it though, still prefer to have a non-XC model but this has just been confirming that I want a v70, these things are comfy as hell lol

If the stars align I'll find myself an NA FWD manual in blue/white. Ill be a happy camper then