Hi All,

Have been away from volvos for over 20 years but now have a little time on my hands to play with them.

Just bought a 98 awd with excessive pressure in the base. Changed all the PCV lines, installed a new drain trap, new intake manifold gasket, and cleaned the sensors.

Just took it for a drive and oil was leaking from the intercooler. It was leaking right through a little plug shaped insert located in the bottom of the intercooler. Like a good steady drip and the crankcase pressure was up slightly.

I gather from this forum that the next step would be to drive the car up on ramps and locate the turbo drain line. Remove this line and check to make sure it is not plugged. Failing this replace the turbo?

If anyone can help me that would be great.

Regards,

Steve Parkinson
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

A huge huge thankyou to all of you that repsonded to my post.

I have finally unplugged the pcv system properly.

The valve down by the turbocharger was rechecked and it turns out that I did not clear it all the way through the first time.

It was really plugged solid.

As a result, I have NO pressure in the crankcase, NO smoke out the exhaust, and only a few drips coming out of the intercooler.

So, the moral of the story is.... If you have a plugged up pcv you will have:

a) a signifcant pressure build up in the crankcase

b) excessive oil in the intercooler

c) excesssive smoke ... literally large clouds of white smoke to the extent that it would be a crime to drive the car with way.

Regards,

Steve Parkinson
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Canada

whatever you decide to do, get the oil out of your intercooler. You can drain it out by simply removing the bottom hose and catching it with a catch can. High mileage engines can collect a lot of oil in there... I drained close to a liter out of mine when I first got the car - it's worked much better since then :)
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

Watch this video clip first :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmZ5fpfDCB4

Then go here for a real demo:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=48611

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

Thanks so much. This is going to turn out to be quite a journey.

In the mean time I have been offered a 98 V70 motor and transmission for $350.00. Now I have something else to think about. Its a N/A.

I wouldn't use it in your XC. The 168 bhp is not enough to move the XC with awd. A fine engine for a manual tranny!

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

I really appreciate you help. Volunteer Community Service at its best.

You can beat these things to death. I called for a used turbo and the junk yard indictaes that a 98 (V70, S70), and 96, 97, ( 850) are all the same turbo. Some vacuum lines, etc have to be changed it also says.

Does this sound right to you?

The 1999 and 2000 LowPressureTurbo should also work nicely. Some early 850 turbos did not have a gasket on the exhaust pipe, I am not sure about the 1998.
Before you remove the vacuum lines on the turbo, tag them as per location so you don't mix them up! I replaced my lines with silicone, but the R was worth that :)

I concur with cleaning out the intercooler. When it warms up outside, remove the top and bottom IC hoses, tape up the bottom hole, and fill it with hot soapy(foamless dish washer) water to break up the oil, then flush until clean. Use the soapy water to also clean the IC piping.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

No, no no. And no.

There is nothing wrong with your turbo, leave it alone. The factory put the drain hole in the intercooler just for that purpose. When the turbo spools up, a little oil gets past the outer seals and makes its way to the intercooler and drips out. Remember, it only does that when the turbo is on boost.
I drilled a 1 inch hole in the air guide under the weep hole and it never dripped in my garage again. Others put an oil soak cloth on the airguide shelf and change it when it gets full of oil.

If you still have positive crankcase pressure, did you clean out the PCT nipple? Just before the turbo air intake, a vacuum line is attached with a plastic nipple. This can get clogged with drying oil and needs to be cleaned. Use any spray cleaner and a tooth brush. I also used a very small screwdriver to scrape away the crud. Be careful, the nipple is brittle plastic and part of the air intake tube - replacement is expensive.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

Turbo drain line removed and its clear.

I guess it is my turbo!

Can I buy a turbo rebuild kit anywhere?

Yes, I cleaned out the nipple and the sensor where the pcv pipework hooks up to the turbo. There is a senor there and I was concered. I noticed some carbon in the hole and used brake clean and small pick to clean out the hole. The sensor there was open but closed tight on a spring when it got cleaned.

I am leaking about 1/3 quart of oil out of the intercooler when the engine shuts down.

I cannot drive the car due to the excessive white smoke ( and some blue) it is really pooring smoke out of the exhuast and the intercooler.

Help?

The email system is on the blink.

I take it all back, with gobbs of white smoke and that much oil in the intercooler, your turbo is dying. Sorry.

You probably do not have the tools to rebuild a turbo. It is better to replace with a new one or have a truck shop rebuild yours.

Even new, turbos are not super expensive.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

I'm just being curious about your quick diagnosis KlausC. You can tell the turbo is gone because of the white smoke? Is this an indication that coolant is leaking into the exhaust stream through the turbo?

The oil in the intercooler points to an oil leak in the turbo for sure - you're thinking the seals in the 'center' section of the turbo are gone?

you've seen/heard of this before?

again, just being curious...
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

Just like stunt airplanes that trail white smoke, they have a valve to dump oil into the hot exhaust which then blows white out of the pipe. Without a spark and lots of heat, oil will do that. Ask any 200/700/900 turbo owner that has had a turbo failure, mosquitos die by the millions :)

Yes, a headgasket failure allowing antifreeze to get into the exhaust will privide steam, it does smell different! and does not kill mosquitos with a huge fog.

Turbos seals do fail, but with Volvo and the new turbos, failure of the inside seal is rare and the outside seal leaking a little into the intake is common.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.

I kinda think its the turbo. I have access to a very high tech machine shop where I work. I rebuild turbos on large marine engines and such. I'm looking into the Garett website. they list T3, T4, kits, etc.

Not sure yet what model mine is, I do not have it off yet.

Question: I have still a fair bit of backpressure even though I changed out the PCV system. do you think the backpressure could be affecting the drainage out of the turbo and causing this excessvie amount of oil in the intercooler? ie. preventing it from draining back to the oil pan?

I'm kinda wondering about this motor a little. should I do a compression test hot with the throttle body wide open and all the spark plubs out and measure the backpressure in inches of water through the dipstick hole at idle? would the numbers mean anyting to anyone?

Steve

Just looking at the cost of the turbo if the engine is worn out.

With that much oil coming through the intercooler piping, I would suspect the inner seals of the turbo are compromised and causing the back pressure to the crankcase and the white smoke (super heated oil in the exhaust pipe).

You have a low pressure turbo and you need to stay with the same model. Upgrading to a higher pressure turbo will mess up the ECU.

Because YOU can rebuild it, go ahead. Hopefully the impeller isn't damaged yet, but if it is you will probably be better off with new. Or a used one from a junk yard (which you will still want to rebuild anyway).

I remember seeing a good pictorial on the web where someone rebuilt a high pressure with a new seal kit. I will look around.

Klaus
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Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.