940 crankshaft main oil seal

Hey guys,
First post here, figured I'd introduce myself first. I'm Jake, studying engineering at uni, and bought my first Volvo in May - 1997 945 Classic (2.3 LPT), had about 150k on the clock. It's still stock, but I have plans for it to be a fast daily once my insurance as a 20 yo comes down a bit.

It's had a few issues since I bought it, replaced the clutch and a load of hoses, cleaned out the PCV system after noticing I was burning oil, and a general small things associated with age which are on the list of things to do. Until today, it ran pretty nicely aside from a slight misfire and lumpy idle, and was great fun to drive - sideways is the right way, right?
symptoms
Today, after a couple of short trips just driving around town, noticed that there was a fresh, suspiciously oily-looking puddle in the sump guard tray. I couldn't get the tray off as I've got barely any tools with me at uni, and no axle stands (just ordered some though). Got some pictures though and the source is somewhere around the bottom of the cambelt cover / crankcase, leading me and my more mechanically intelligent friend to believe that it's a leaking crankcase front main seal. First off, does this make sense? I'll hopefully upload the pictures I took in a second. The last couple are from underneath the cambelt cover - you can see the auxiliary belts in the picture.
I also noticed that during and after stationary revving, there was a fair amount of white smoke which smelled oily coming out of the back again, after I thought that had gone away since cleaning the PCV system. Not sure if it's related - I didn't think it would be if it's the crankshaft seal. It didn't seem to be cold enough outside for it to be the usual condensation in cold weather, I'm in Exeter and it was around 8 degrees today.
solutions
Second, how hard a job is this to sort out? Internet says it's a big job, most likely requiring removal of the engine (should be alright, my dad has an engine hoist and plenty of tools), but has anyone does this in the past / can you advise? Any pitfalls to watch out for?
I was tempted to just try to engine swap it if it's too much of a big job, I do like the B230FK / M90 combo but at the end of the day, it is a 4 pot and it doesn't sound amazing. Any recommendations for swaps - if the repair job is too much hassle of course?
Cheers!
J

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Welcome to the forum!

Great first post :)

You should be able to change the front seal with the engine in the car. Removing the fan (4 bolts on the water pump shaft) and pulling out the fan shroud gives you loads of room! The only issue being you may have to use pullers to get the crank pulley or timing belt sprocket off and that may require some space. If you've replaced the clutch then this job should be easy for you.

But the first thing to do is determine where the oil is coming from (may be something simple as the camshaft seal).

Take the plastic cam belt cover off (couple of bolts either side and a screw at the top above the cam cover).

Check the camshaft front seal for leaks and check the oil pump pulley seal for leaks (intermediate shaft on the diagram below) and you may even be able to see the crank seal.

Also check the cam cover isn't leaking as these are a common leak area (put some pics of the whole engine/top on if you want)

If you're changing oil seals it would be a good idea to change the cam belt too, especially if there is no history on when it was last changed. It's an easy job compared to modern cars!

A Haynes manual is a good thing to get as all these topics are covered.

Oh and post some pics of the whole car, we love pics here :D

https://www.2carpros.com/img/diagram...t/90E02478.gif

Also, here's a video guide on replacing the timing belt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVZ-DpDX1TQ

Good post Dave - thanks for that - helpful as ever!! J - definitely need some pics of the car!!!
Form the above it looks like a straightforward job, but then changing Spark plug no. 4 was supposed to simple but was a sod, so there is bound to be some glitch or other. LOL

I can give you a hand and tools if it can get from Exeter to Bristol!!! Pullers, ramps, fridge etc.


Once you get that cam cover off, it should be obvious where the oil is coming from - remember it may be multiple places.
The slightly grey exhaust smoke is likely to be from a different issue, amd may be just down to a cold engine. Good luck buddy.

Thanks for the great post Dave!
I will have a look at the places you suggested when I get a chance to do some work on it. I think it's going to be worthwhile to just replace a load of the seals if I'm going to have to replace one of them, might as well do it while all the belts are off. Would agree with the cambelt replacement as well, part of the reason why I went for the 940 was due to its non-interference nature! Thanks for your suggestions again! That diagram will come in handy as well.
Thanks Woz, I'll see you on Saturday!

With regards to pics, I'll put some up once it's up and running again! Battery died on me when I went to do a compression test (suspected head gasket was at fault, could still be but it's looking less likely). Uni work has taken over so nothing's going to be done on it until Saturday. But it's looking promising that it's a fairly straightforward job! Cheers guys!

No worries.

Even a head gasket change is easy on those engines :D

Update:
Spent four hours in <0 degree weather on Saturday with Woz taking the brick apart - replaced the front crankcase oil seal, the cambelt and the battery as the old one was dead. Works like a charm again! No oil dripping out any more, I'll try to upload some pics from under the belt cover. Looks like the seal was just beginning to weep when we replaced it, there was very little oil in the bottom of the cover and none on the belt, so it wasn't being flung around by any of the pulleys, just running down inside.
Will try to upload pics in the next post, the uploader isn't working for me for some reason.
Runs pretty well now! Still need to investigate the compression and distributor as it's running quite lumpily but I think the head gasket is alright. Pics to come when the uploader works. Thanks for your help Dave and Woz!
Now to source a replacement for that viscous fan, it's way too power hungry! And a few other performance items in due course.

Nice one! And now you know your cambelt is up to date :)

For the lumpy idle try cleaning out the idle control valve as these can get full of crud/oil. Also have you tried reading the ecu codes to see if anything is logged?

Also a good source of info/troubleshooting
https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/FAQIndexNew1.htm

I feel your pain, I have spent the last few hours underneath the 850 in the cold and snow flurries refitting the propshaft and finding things that need replacing along the way :D

I will dig out that 850 electric fan and shroud I have knocking about, I am sure we can make it fit. Provided its over 5 deg C outside when anything becomes possible. Glad it sounds like the problem is fixed. Keep an eye on the power steering fluid level though! Cheers. Woz Drive safe in this weather!

If you're going for some extra performance I can supply chips for the fuel ecu and ezk or even custom map if your going crazy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martin_r_smith

If you're going for some extra performance I can supply chips for the fuel ecu and ezk or even custom map if your going crazy.

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Interesting Martin, what is the benefit of these fuel ecu chips, and pardon me for asking, as I am not familiar with redblock tuning, but what is an ezk?

Do the standard fuelling arrangements need any enhancement - or is this only for tweaking after gasflow, charge density and turbo have been tweaked - a bit more info would be gratefully received,
Many thanks

Woz

The ezk is the ignition ecu, these have a separate one for fuel and ignition. The standard fuel ecu has a boost cut (the same as t5's do) so upping the boost to ~12psi will trigger the cut and all power is lost, this gets really annoying! The fuel ecu chips remove the boost cut so you can up the boost without running into issues. 12-14 psi on an otherwise standard B230 will get you around 190-200bhp.

The ezk has the timing set for standard boost so when running higher boost you are likely to run into knock issues. The modified chips reduce timing at peak load points to stop knock and knock enrichment.

The standard fuel table is OK for an unmodified car, there are some changes in my chips to help with a common lean condition on tip in. When you start to go with bigger injectors and turbo etc then more needs to be changed and a custom map is really the way to go, although I can supply chips which will run safely for most injector/turbo combinations.

Thanks Dave - I will give it a go some time when it stops snowing on me! And I haven't read any codes, not really sure how to do it to be honest so I will read up on it. Cheers!
Thanks Woz - should be a decent addition! That power steering fluid could be an issue at some point, will keep an eye on it also.
Martin - those sound pretty good! At the moment I am keeping it standard until the insurance becomes more manageable. But will bear it in mind for future use, I was thinking I could fairly easily install a manual boost controller and up it to around 10psi before I had to worry about knocking. But will have to look into it some more.

Still having trouble uploading some pics of the Vo. So here's a link to my Flickr! Tastefully named album as standard. https://flic.kr/s/aHsmgiqp8t

Love the reflections in that paint. Not bad for an old girl!!