I've got an 83'volvo 245 wagon with the 2.4l diesel motor. Recently I have had increasing problems with the conection between the valve cover breather and the air intake. My problem is that there is an unhealthy amount of oil leaching though the hose into the intake. There is enough moving through there that it also leaks down to the air filter and soaks it solid in about 2 weeks. I removed the intake hose from the manifold to find that the inside of the intake was literally dripping with oil. Now despite the fact it worsens the emmisions,(it's a diesel and bad enough),I have now found that it will puff out blue smoke at random while driving.(it is obviously working its way into the cylinders). I am under the impression that the valve cover must have ventalation, but any kind of filter I try to install only plugs with oil after a short while. What would be the effect of plugging this vent?, or does anyone have any ideas?.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Gord

P.s. I have tried just disconecting the hose so that it breaths into the air, and not the intake but it is messy and extreamly smelly.

The breather hose from the valve cover to the intake hose is drowning in oil, likely because the engine is getting worn out. If you rotate the air intake hose so the fitting is pointed up, it may help some, but this was a bit of a problem even when they were new. If you could reroute the hose so the oil could not run down to the air filter your biggest problem would be solved, but there is no fitting in the intake manifold anywhere. I suppose you could drill and tap a fitting, but there is the danger of getting some filings into the engine. Another possibility would be to find some sort of oil separater for the top of the valve cover- an old pushin breather like Chrysler used years ago. Not a filter, just something for the oil vapor to condense on so it will run back into the engine instead of out the breather.

Volkswagens have never really vented properly- back when the Audi 5000 models were first turbo'd they used to burn down on long uphill runs (There was a recall for "thermal events" I always loved that) The fix was a valve cover with better baffling, new fuel injector lines and an oil filler cap that actually sealed.

thanks jim Thats what i was thinking, a sort of seperator for the to condense in.