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My long 850 rant! 850

posted by  AlanS on  Sun Oct 24 11:52 CST 2010
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last visit: Sat Oct 4 19:59 CST 2014
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As you know, I have been posting recently..a lot...trying to get my wife's (now mine) 1995 850 NA in tip-top condition. We have had it since 1997, and have been very diligent about maintaining the oil and scheduled maintenance. Now that I have the car, it smells like anti-freeze and is using oil. I went over the entire cooling system...changed ALL the hoses and heater core...even did away with the junction box in the firewall and routed the hoses directly to the 'feed tubes' that mesh with the heater core. The green O-rings from FCP were crap...leaked... I went to Volvo last week, got some nice new OEM ones... a week later...leak. AHHHHHH! (more about that later).
I changed the entire PCV system 2 years ago...when checking the flame trap last week, I accidentally pulled the hose out of the canister located under the intake manifold. There was no way for me to re-attach that hose without dismantling the car...I did that this weekend...new hoses while I was at it....ports and hoses, clean as a whistle. I put my hand under the flame trap sections (it separates to install the screen) after it has been running for some time....OIL...wet! Now, is it that it is normally a wet area and the O-ring is worn that fits in that unit? Or am I sending oil up that hose and into the flame trap? I know that I am using an unusual amount of oil (Quart every 500 miles)... Mobil One since 1997. Just got home from a 2.5 hour ride... oil is down past the mark, was in the range before the ride. No smoke upon acceleration or idle. I got water under my mat and it smells like anti-freeze is coming from the engine cabin when I open the hood (not a speck of anti-freeze around...did a black light search tonight).
Here is a solution that I thought of for the heater core. You know the tubes that connect from the junction box to the core? Well, since I have no junction box, I was going to cut those tubes to about 3" long...GLUE them into the heater core and then attach my hoses to the tubes...NO LEAKS GUARANTEED!
I like the car...I have had a P1800, 544, 240, 740, 760, S40 (my wife's new car). I like Volvos. But I want to end my misery... I can't afford to have the head serviced...time and $$$.
If only I knew of a great mentor, diagnostician in the Long Island, New York area. I would pay for an expert consultation.








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    My long 850 rant! 850

    posted by  someone claiming to be jean on  Sun Oct 31 09:49 CST 2010 [RELATED]

    Get a leak-down test. If you have too much blow-by, no amount of pcv work will help.








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    My long 850 rant! 850

    posted by  tmannian on  Sun Oct 24 13:22 CST 2010
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    last visit: Sat Sep 20 10:31 CST 2014
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    Gluing the hoses isn't a terrible idea, but I'm not sure where exactly the leak is coming from. If its coming between the hoses (where the junction box should be) then I don't think this would work. If its coming between the core and the hose then it should. Did you get the aftermarket core or the OEM one from FCP? I wonder if the hole is slightly big making the o-ring fail faster.

    How are you sealing the firewall between the engine and the passenger compartment? Have you checked the engine side for leaks? You added dye to the coolant right, I don't believe it will show up with just antifreeze.


    Your PCV puzzles me, the oil coming up is too much, but it just seems like there's too much vapors coming out. How? Well not sure. You use mobil 1, but what grade, have you switched to a lighter weight? Did you do any cleaning of the passageway between the oil separator and the block? Thats where the gunk builds up the most (as its where the heavier oil goes). I wonder if a clog there is forcing everything through the intake. A pipe cleaner to really get at the passageway followed with an oil change (IIRC it goes straight in then drops off into the oil pan) might solve it. Taking it apart (and killing 5-6 hours) sucks but hopefully thats it. If there's no clog, I'm thinking bad news.

    Your car shouldn't be burning more than a pint per 1000 miles. Though consumption rates go up if you drive in mountainous regions (in Long Island :-))/tow/hard cornering/lots of traffic/high-revving.

    You sure you're burning the oil aka you're not seeing any leak, right?


    --
    If you're not driving it "like its stolen," are you really driving?







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