I have a 2001 v70 2.4t with just under 100,000 miles... Unfortunately due to the economy, I have to sell it... I recently drove it to the local carmax to get an appraisal, just for s**ts and giggle to see what they'd give me for it. I hadn't driven the car in about a month, but it was fine when I drove it there. I waited at the carmax for about an hour while they did their appraisal. When they came back to me I was shocked... they told me the car was emitting white smoke and that it likely had a bad head gasket.... their appraisal: $2500. OUCH! I didn't really believe them about the head gasket though, because the car was fine when I drove it there, and never exhibited any problems before that.... Sure enough, though, when I went to leave the parking lot LOTS of whitish smoke coming from the exhaust.... I couldn't even see out the back window. I managed to get the car all the way home.

Now, once I got her home, I checked the oil.... it didn't appear to have any water in it, but it was low, so I topped her off... I also added a thing of engine oil stop leak for good measure.... it's still smoking though.... I did notice, however, that the smoke coming from the exhaust is more blue than white, and it doesn't smell like coolant... it smells like burning oil. I'm wondering if this could be something other than the head gasket.... I think I read somewhere that failing turbo seals could exhibit these symptoms.

Does anyone know how I could better diagnose this myself... I really don't have the money to bring this car to a mechanic. Like I mentioned before, I really have to sell this car, I have no money, and selling this car is likely the only way I'll be able to make rent. KBB private party value on this car is $6800, and I'd like to get at least $5k for it, but I need to resolve this issue first, or it won't sell. Car drives perfect, too.... it's just the smoke.

 

The vent system might be clogged causing it to pump oil into the system causing the smoke.

 

Also, it seems that it smokes more when heated up and at an idle then when first started or when driving at speed. Not sure if that helps.


You talking about the PCV? What's a good way to check this?

 

Yes the PVC.
Well under the intake manifold on the passenger side there is a Banjo fitting that screws to the bottom of the intake. There is also a small hose that attaches to the bango fitting.
If you can slide the small hose off and check the nipple and see if it is clogged. If so try to clean it out. It is hard to get to though not much room at all to work.

 

Not much room indeed... I can't even see the thing, let alone get my fingers in there to take the hose off.... I'll keep trying.

 

I with the others here sounds like a PCV failure. I was into a dealer. I saw PCV service $450. I asked what that was about. They tell me the PCV valve is buried in the engine somewhere so it hard to get at and thats why the expense. The next question is how do you tell you need this service? Here is what I was told. When you warm the car up pull the dip stick if smoke comes out the dip stick hole your PCV is clogged. So I suggest you try this.

I don't think head gasket failure is common on these cars.

Jim

 

OK, I'm trying to get at the banjo fitting under the intake... does anyone know if there's a procedure for this somewhere? The Advance doesn't have a hayne's manual for this car.

 

It is a major pain in the A**.
You just have to fight to get to it.

 

Well there is in fact smoke coming out the dipstick hole when the car's warmed up, so it seems this is a definite PCV problem. Somewhat a relief over a blown head gasket. I'm wondering, will I only need to get that banjo fitting off, or should I go through the whole system.... It seems to me I should check all the way down to the oil catch. Maybe the catch is full? I don't know how I'm gonna get to it though, my hand is too big to get anywhere near it.

 

I would inspect the entire system.

 

OK, managed to get the banjo fitting off, what a PITA! No obvious clogs, but I've gotta disconnect the other ends of the lines. Seems like I'm gonna have to remove a lot of other parts to get at the rest of the system. Anyone who's removed the whole system got any pointers? I'm already figuring on disconnecting the turbo pipe and upper radiator hose... might as well do the thermostat while I'm at it. I'm really hoping I don't have to mess with the intake, or take the alternator out. It's starting to look like a whole lotta work for a car I'm gonna sell.

 

Would be best to remove the intake. It is pretty easy to remove.

 

Was afraid you'd say that.... means purchasing a new gasket as well.

 

Sorry and yes it does.

 

So, It's been a while since I started this thread... Unfortunately I had a lot of stuff on my plate and didn't really have the time to get around to this until the last few days.

So I'm about half way done with this PCV replacement. I did end up removing the intake for access to the catch can and lines.... This was a huge pain... there's a lot of stuff connected to the intake, hoses, throttle body, whatnot that is nearly impossible to reach, and you have to disconnect all of it to get the intake out... The Hard lines for power steering, and the hard fuel line were both in the way of maneuvering the intake out of place... luckily the power steering line is removable.

I have one last piece to remove, and that's the pcv line running from the catch can back around to the cool air intake tube... right upstream from the turbo. I believe the valve at this junction is called the PTC.. is that right? I'm wondering why, though, is this line bundled with a coolant line inside a hard plastic shroud... It seems there's no way of separating the two lines, so I'll have to remove both. Does anyone have some insight on this?

 

Just remove it from the catch can and then blow through the hose to make sure it is clear.

 

How come Volvo chooses to bury a service part like that? It took me about 30 seconds to remove the PCV from a small block Chevy, shake it to see that it was clicking, spray a little brake cleaner into it, shake it again, blow it dry and reinstall it. And I'm not a professional mechanic. Do the dealers bribe the engineers to guarantee high profits in the service department? Or am I missing something here?

 

I ask the same thing!!!

 

Well I did end up removing the coolant line so I could take the whole part out of the car. It turns out the section of hosing from the catch can up to the banjo fitting on the underside of the intake was the most clogged up... I ended up having to take a guitar string and pushing it through this section... It's much thinner than the other hoses, and I couldn't get the end of the brake cleaner straw into it. All the parts are clean now, and I'm halfway through reassembly. Called it quits for today because I gouged my finger up really bad trying to get that same length of hose reattached to the turbo inlet pipe. I've been asking myself the same question as well, why the hell would they bury a regular service item so deep in the engine bay... I think the engineers over at volvo don't pay too much attention to the servicing of their designs. It seems like as long as it fits in the engine bay, they're good to go.... You know all this stuff is put together before it's even in the car, getting at it after it's in there is nearly impossible

 

Ok, I'm about ready to drive this damn car off a cliff. I FINALLY got the car back together... I think you really have to be a chinese midget to be able to reach the various bolts and hoses associated with the PCV system. I had a real problem trying to get the far left intake manifold bolt in... It had taken me about 2 hours to get all the hoses reattached, especially where the banjo fitting attaches to the underside of the manifold... Scratched my arm up really bad just trying to reach it.... When I finally started reattaching the intake manifold, I dropped that far left bolt... TWICE!! The first time I was able to reach up from the bottom of the car and grab it... but then the second time it got hung up somewhere and I couldn't find it... I ended up having to disconnect everything again, banjo fitting and catch can included... the bolt somehow ended up wedged between the block and the catch can... This time I decided to put that bolt in first, before reattaching everything, since the bottom holes on the manifold are notched, so you can just slip it onto the bolts... Well, that ended up making the manifold that much more difficult to move around to get at the banjo fitting... I ended up spending an hour and a half just getting that one bolt in. Called it quits for the night after that since I was so frustrated, went back the next morning to finish up mounting the manifold, and that far left bolt was just missing... WTF!??? I thought someone was playing a horrible horrible joke..... somehow it had fallen out of the hole when putting the banjo fitting on, and I hadn't noticed.... I couldn't find the bolt, and I wasn't about to take everything back apart, so I ended up purchasing another bolt. After I finally got everything back together, I started her up and for the first 5 min, no smoke..... but after that, it started F***ing smoking again!!!! AHHHHHHH.... I'm hoping, it's just some residual crap in the system, since I defenitely cleared any clogs. I ran to the store and got some seafoam to run through the fuel and the vacuum lines, but before I do that, I decided to do an oil change, since the oil that is in it is old and crappy. I damn near stripped the drain plug trying to get it off, but finally did, and now that all the oil is drained out, I can't get the damn oil filter housing off. I've now broken three wrenches on the damn thing... The first was a strap wrench, the strap ripped in two. I then proceded to break two professional oil wrenches, the kind that tighten as you turn, the harder you turn the harder it squeezes the filter... Both of them bent to the point where they won't grip anymore, and I've also stripped the ridges off of the bottom of the canister... I'm out of ideas, for trying to get this thing off. I think there was less man hours involved in replacing the transmission in my roommates Tahoe.