Hello,

I have a 2001 Volvo V70 with 198k miles. Maintained extremely well, rarely any issues, transmission only 20k miles old, had oil change on thanksgiving and there was no oil leak at the time.

About an hour ago I was driving normally, there were no issues with the car, but I had to idle in a parking spot for 10 minutes waiting to pick up my friend from work.

As I pulled out of the parking lot my "NO OIL PRESSURE IN ENGINE, STOP SAFELY" light flickered 2 or 3 times, but as I got on the road and started driving it remained, so I pulled into another parking lot and turned off the car.

There are 2 giant puddles of oil in the parking spot where I was waiting to pick up my friend, they are near the front of the car on the left and right about where the engine is, and there is a line of drips both leading into and out of the parking lot where I had driven.

UNDER the car is entirely covered in oil, there is a smell of burning oil, and even the rear window of the car is covered in a thin layer of oil.

I was able to purchase 3 quarts of oil and fill the engine enough to limp the poor thing back to my house, and the oil pressure light did not come back on during my ride home, but it is still leaking oil.

How could this have happened? What issues could have arose? I heard no loud sounds, I didn't hit anything and I don't think I bottomed out the car. What should I check?

Thank you to anyone who could help or refer me to someone who can help.
I have a video of the parking lot that I can attach to give a visual of where the oil was leaking while I idled.

 

there's two places to check out 1) lines to/from the oil cooler 2) if you have a turbo, check the oil return line from the turbo back to the block. Since both will spray oil all over the place, best to start by cleaning the engine/parts as best you can then run the car to see if you can see a source for fresh oil leaking

 

Unless you've spent $$$ on the PCV system and used synthetic oil during your 198,000 miles - I would suspect a cam seal or rear engine seal popped out from the PCV system being clogged.

Rear window covered in oil comes from driving at highway speeds when leaking -

 

Sometimes people join a forum because they have an issue then forget they joined.
I hope xjetlife got it sorted.

 

Thank you guys so much for the responses,
Today I finished fixing my car, as you suspected it was the PCV breather system that blew out the cam seal and then shot all over the car. I cleaned the whole engine and replaced the breather box and all the pcv hoses along with the timing belt and the cam seal. total thing cost about $270 and took me 7-8 hours. Thank you guys so much for the help.

 

xjetlife . I've experienced a similar issue with V70 2006 2.5T turbo wagon. Your $270 total cost of parts sounds reasonable . Where / which seller, to buy these parts ?
thx

 

I got the timing belt from autozone, but for the breather box just walk in to the nearest volvo dealership parts department and tell them you need the kit to replace the breather box. They will include various hoses and gaskets you will need. Again, i saved upwards of $40 by asking them to not include any clamps and just used my own worm drive clamps. Total was about $230 for the kit.

 

recently happened to my friends car, i replaced the PCV box (which had already been done) but the mechanic that did it didnt know you need to stick a cloths hanger or something (i bent a screwdriver) to clear out the clog in the tunnel heading down to the oil pan.

being a girl she ignored all warning signs and lights, and drove it with low oil. I pulled out the oil filter and found some bearing material on it, but so far, that thing still runs fine and this happened months ago. Volvo engines are strong as nails.

If you're worried about running the car on low oil.. dont be.