I have a 2002 Volvo V70SW. The engine is the 2.435L
I have two questions:

1. I would like to get a good repair manual. Online is fine, but I really don't like manuals that are for 35 different makes and models of cars. I would love one specific to the engine and model Volvo that I have. I would like to hear recommendations, and why you would recommend. I need (among other things) to find and repair oil leaks.

2. My wife called yesterday and said it was an emergency. She was stuck at an intersection and the low oil pressure light came on and the car shut off. I drove over and added about a quart and a half. She made it home (about a mile) and the engine was pouring out oil the entire way. I checked the oil filter (which I despise the design) and that was not leaking. there was a stream of splatters all over the driveway. The oil leak was coming from the left hand side of the engine (looking at it from the front, which, in the US, would be the passenger's side) . I really couldn't tell where the leak was coming from as there is almost no visibility.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

1. your best repair manual would be the (easy to find for free) hacked copy (that works without a subscription) of VIDA 2014d and install it on your CPU. .
2. Low oil pressure WILL NOT make the car shut off (unless the engine seizes up!)
But a common leak on the front of the engine is caused by a cam seal that has popped out. - Oil will really pour out then!
Usually the seals pop out due to too much crankcase pressure - from a clogged PCV system.

Solution - new pcv stuff, oil pan off to clean PCV drain line, new updated oil pickup tube while you are there, new cam belt and seals (using a special tool to get the cam VVT cam gear off, and back on correctly aligned)

 

+1 on removing the timing cover and inspecting the cam seals and PCV system. There are also rear cam seals on the opposite side of the head. One other thing to look at is the turbo oil return line (by the turbo on the firewall side of the engine. If the back of the engine/firewall is a mess, that could be the culprit.

Plenty of Youtube vides on how to do a timing belt/set the VVT timing etc as well as the rubber glove test to do a quick test on the PCV pressure.

 

I was able to get the tire off (one of the lug bolts was seized) and it appears that the leak is coming from behind the timing belt cover. I will check and see if there is oil coming from the turbo oil return line next.

 

I took off the timing belt cover, and the leak is pouring out from behind the piece in the top middle of the photo. It is first visible as it seeps out on to the area circled in red. The arrows show where it is coming out from. So what is under here that needs fixing?

 

I saw from this video at 13:40 that the Cam shaft seal was "popped" exactly like the guy in the video says.

 

I have a V70 T5 2002 model which I have owned for about 16 years, I recently had exactly the same problem, I put the car in for a service with an independent Volvo garage, where he had serviced it for the last 16 years. He listed a load of advisories including "heavy oil leak". I had not noticed any oil dripping and couldn't see from a quick inspection where this leak was so just carried on using the car. A day or so later up came the warning "No oil pressure stop immediately" which I did and checked the oil, zero. I obtained some oil and refilled and drove home. This was about 4/5 weeks ago and the oil path and trails are still visible in the Waitrose car park. I contacted the garage who made excuse after excuse so I found another one in nearby Farnborough. I had the car transported to them and they carried out the repair and gave me an estimate for sorting all the advisories, which together with the repairs already carried this amounted to nearly £6,000. I'm afraid that after 14 years of servicing at my local garage, I feel he should have known about the breather problem and cleaned the filter etc on at two occasions in that time. Sadly I can't see him taking the blame for my woes. I'm afraid she has to go, so I'm looking for another, and my current car has to be scraped. It has a set of Michelin Cross Climate tyres fitted in September 2023 with very little mileage. Anyone like to buy them before I scrap the car?

 

After tearing everything apart, it was just the one camshaft seal that popped out. I ordered a kit and replaced all the seals, timing belt, water pump, etc. I know, however, that this is just a band-aid, and unless the PCV system is replaced, it will happen again. I ordered all the parts for about $600, and it looks like you have to remove tons and tons of stuff to get at the PCV system. This is definitely a design flaw. Someone should have a device like heart doctors use that go through arteries and clean them out. This could be done for the PCV system. That way, it will not result in a car that is just too expensive to fix.

 

1. Your shop notified you of a bad oil leak. And chose to ignore it
2. "Cleaning" the pcv system involves many hours, and most cars when it gets that clogged require oil pan removal, (in addition to intake manifold removal)
3. Sorry, I don't understand why they should take the blame for lack of oil changes/using regular oil (versus synthetic) on your 22 year old car.

 

most independent shops only fix what is reported or if something is obvious when they are working on a car. Dealers on the other hand will typically go through an inspection check list to uncover service items before they become repair items. If your indy never checked or recommended a test then that's between you and your indy. PS, PVC systems are one of those things that need to be inspected regularly and once serviced its good for another 100K+ miles - but my view is having to push a cam seal back in isn't a major to do. If it were a rear main seal, then that would be a big ticket item. Note that on newer cars, servicing the oil separator (aka flame trap) is a whole lot easier than on the older cars like the 850s and early V70s.

 

I don't know why those cam seals pop out really, but they are certainly prone. I've never heard of any other car where that can happen. The PCV system has to be done periodically and that is a strange, very strange design, but it just has to be done. When I have done those, I would pull the pan off and clean out the oil pan too. Sometimes it's dirty and sometimes not. While the pan is off there are some o-rings here and there you can replace. I don't know about the 2002 but my car has an o-ring in the oil pickup tube that will leak and you'll lose oil pressure from that.