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'86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Tim Christensen on
Thursday, 4 December 1997, at 10:34 p.m.
Here you go fellow Brickboarders: our 1986 240 GL wagon is leaking oil. Not a lot, about quarter or half-dollar size drops every morning on the garage floor. It's been running mostly okay. It has about 180K on it, and we REALLLY need to get another year out of this machine. I have taken very good care of the car the six or seven years that we have had it. Any general ideas what to look for? Thank you.(I'm your basic shade-tree mechanic here in upstate New York).
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Glen on
Friday, 5 December 1997, at 8:22 a.m.
You most likely need to replace the Crankshaft, Camshaft, and Idler oil seals in the front of the engine. If you bring it to a Volvo dealer it will be about $150. Make sure your flame arrestor is not plugged. A plugged flame arrestor can make crankcase pressure force oil out of the seals. See post later on regarding this.
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Linkan on
Saturday, 6 December 1997, at 2:33 p.m.
Clean your flame arrestor,and avoid synthetic oil,go for a good mineral such as unocal super 10W40
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Brad Hodge on
Saturday, 6 December 1997, at 9:02 p.m.
I just got through changing the oil in my 89 240DL. I used synthetic, and
then I come in and read this message. Why not use synthetic? Is it just
if you have a leak? It's hard to cut through the varying opinions on synthetic
to get to the bottom line. It seems to me that the exactness of the molecular
structure of the synthetic would be a plus, but I'm no chemist and certainly
not a mechanic. Does synthetic cause more sludge?
BTW, what and where is the flame arrestor and how do you clean it?
Thanks.
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Mark Klein on
Saturday, 6 December 1997, at 10:07 p.m.
Don't worry about using synthetics. If you have a seal which is seeping or about to begin seeping, the synthetic may leak sooner than the petroleum base oils. Its far superior in everyother aspect. I even use it in my lawnmower.
The flame trap is located in the rubber hoses which end up on the oil separator box on the side of the motor under the intake manifold. Normally you can pull the hose up through the #'s 3 and 4 intake runner to remove it. Then a liberal dose of aerosol carb cleaner can remove all the deposits. The individual parts are not very expensive, so a clogged one is worth replacing. Be sure to clean the small hose fittings, one at the flame trap and one at the intake manifold.
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Linkan on
Sunday, 7 December 1997, at 2:48 p.m.
I,m not saying there is any danger using synthetic oil.But my experience is ,
that you can run mineraloil and have a completly dry engine,switch to synthetic,it start leaking!That goes for gearbox and rear to.My 240 has run 230000 KM with no problems due to oil type.Save the money.
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Topi on
Sunday, 7 December 1997, at 11:58 p.m.
The most common OHC leak is the valve cover! Volvo's OEM seal is junk. Check it.
Re: '86 240 leaks oil[ALL/1998] posted by Dave Stevens on
Saturday, 6 December 1997, at 6:57 p.m.
The quick check to figure out if your flame arrestor is plugged and causing the oil leak problem is to perform the "suck down test". With the engine idling, undo the oil filler cap. If there is vacuum being maintained in the valve head then the oil filler cap should have a positive seal, that is to say a slight, but noticeable, suck down of the cap onto the valve cover. If the cap just sits there and rattles, then you've probably got a plugged flame trap (clean thoroughly and/or replace it -it's located off the crankcase under the intake manifold).
If the flame trap is plugged then positive pressure will lead to oil blow-by on a weak cam seal and/or the valve cover gasket. The valve cover gasket should be changed (preferably every time the cover comes off) and torqued down periodically to ensure a uniform seal (over-torquing will just lead to a warped valve cover and more oil leaks). Typically the front cam seal goes first, but the rear cam seal probably won't be far behind. Once the seals start leaking and become worn, even cleaning the flame arrestor may not stop the leak.
Here's the rest of the flame arrestor story that Glen was referring to ....
Link to Geln's Flame Arrestor Thread