smoking from dipstick

**mk3phill** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 12:48

can someone please not confirm that this is my pcv system blocked up,.. this white smoke has becomeing evermore dominant,. altho im not at the point where my dipstick is popping out. also the engine im sure is using oil,. could this just be down to what in there is so old its just seeping out somewhere.

times that its chucking out a bit of smoke from exhaust an a while ago i gave it about 2l of fresh oil an it stoped using it for a while,.. now its back.

also ive got some proper engine flush (not this additave stuff) so im thinking drain old stuff,. flush system an get some new oil in.. but will the oil flush be enough to clean out the pcv system or would dismantaling it be better to ensure a thurough clean

**tandino** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 13:35

Vapour out of the dipstick is a sure sign of blocked PCV.
Oil flush will not clear it im affraid..
New PCV kit from Rufe.....

**mk3phill** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 15:14

i said dont confirm it haha,.. arghhh thanks dude,. oh well nice new oil change to come also

least ill have some new parts to transferr to my new engine.

**Goodwood** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 15:18

Sorry to hijack the tread but i am having the same problem with my T5. The annoyance is the PCV was only replaced last year(5000 miles ago).

Could this have blocked up again so quickly?!

**cameron** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 15:43

Depends on if its been running on crapy oil or not

Dont use supermarket stuff thats £4.50 for 5 ltrs, get the best you can afford

Cheers

Lee

**Goodwood** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 15:46

Its been run on Shell oil, so not the worst around. Would an oil change make a difference then?

**timbo_1975** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 15:59

Even though you say the PCV has been done, has it been done properly? You have to pull the intake manifold off to do it, and ideally replace the small diameter parts / wash out the rest / check orifices as you go.

Always replace the vacuum / pcv tree on the throttle body.

Tim,

**Goodwood** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 16:06

It was done by a garage i trust who seem to understand turbo cars, they spent over 11 hours on it, used volvo parts and certainly charged me enough!!

**mk3phill** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 17:03

no worries man,. yer i dont think mine has ever been done but the car was looked after an always ran on castrol,. untill i got to it i dont think its had a proper oil flush so ive got some fusch 10/40 to change for now,. once i get money im going to be running the new engine on castrol. but can the pcv system be washed out as such?

**tandino** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 17:56

Originally Posted by mk3phill

no worries man,. yer i dont think mine has ever been done but the car was looked after an always ran on castrol,. untill i got to it i dont think its had a proper oil flush so ive got some fusch 10/40 to change for now,. once i get money im going to be running the new engine on castrol. but can the pcv system be washed out as such?

You cannot clean the PCV, new one only.
As for Castrol oil, Fuchs is better stuff than anything bar SLX as even GTX Magnetec is not really semi synthetic, it uses hydrocracked mineral oil for the bit that is supposedly synthetic based.
Fuch's semi does actually have synthetic base stocks so stick with that rather than Magnetec....

**Alan M** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 19:02

Replace the hose's on the PCV for sure and you can clean the cannister out if money is tight. The main hoses become brittle with age so are definately worth replacing. When you remove the cannister from the block make sure you clean inside the block with a small brush/pipe cleaner or something that can turn slightly that you can use to clean out any sludgy depoosits that you cannot really see. This can cause problems if not done properly and you will have to do it again sometime down the line and buy another inlet manifold gasket for yourself the second time.

**mk3phill** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 19:13

tandino- cheers dude, didnt know that about the oil, jus looked an the bottles state fuchs high performance semi synthetic 10/40, so seems ive got the right stuff.

alan - money is a bit tight but if it needs fixing then its gotta be done,. dont really want my engine to blow a main seal,.. if i didnt have to use the car its not a problem like i said im knicking the engine out of my 850awd,..futher inspection of the awd has given me some insight that itll cost roughly 3times as much to get the awd at a working state,.. than it would to get my saloon perfect. anyway i still use the saloon daily so its gotta be sorted.

thanks for your input though guys

**t5 pete** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 19:31

one thing to prolong the pcv i change the oil regularly i change myne every 3k or every year which ever comes first i have owned my car for 5yrs now and its never been replaced while i have owned it

**tandino** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 21:11

Originally Posted by mk3phill

tandino- cheers dude, didnt know that about the oil, jus looked an the bottles state fuchs high performance semi synthetic 10/40, so seems ive got the right stuff.

alan - money is a bit tight but if it needs fixing then its gotta be done,. dont really want my engine to blow a main seal,.. if i didnt have to use the car its not a problem like i said im knicking the engine out of my 850awd,..futher inspection of the awd has given me some insight that itll cost roughly 3times as much to get the awd at a working state,.. than it would to get my saloon perfect. anyway i still use the saloon daily so its gotta be sorted.

thanks for your input though guys

What year is your T5?
If its 96 ish then as far as im aware the rods on the AWD models were the old 9mm rods, your T5 if its late enough will have the stronger 13mm rods.

**dangerstevie** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 21:27

What years did the T5's get the 13mm stronger rods??

I always thought the oil to use in the T5 was supposed to be 5W40 Fully Synthetic

**mk3phill** · Thursday 29th January 2009, 21:56

Originally Posted by tandino

What year is your T5?
If its 96 ish then as far as im aware the rods on the AWD models were the old 9mm rods, your T5 if its late enough will have the stronger 13mm rods.

i dont have a T5 only a 850awd,. the awd was produced 96-97 only in 850 guise but carried on with s/v series if you mean my saloon its only got a 2.5L 10v only turbo motor is from my awd, the 2.5L 20v lpt

**Alan M** · Friday 30th January 2009, 08:02

Originally Posted by dangerstevie

What years did the T5's get the 13mm stronger rods??

I always thought the oil to use in the T5 was supposed to be 5W40 Fully Synthetic

10W40 semi synthetic castrol as recommended by ovloV.

**danny-R** · Thursday 23rd July 2009, 08:24

can i just ask, what is wrong with magnatec? as that is all i use as i can get it for free.
cheeers

**danny-R** · Thursday 23rd July 2009, 08:31

sorry to hijac this thread just i'm having these pcv symptoms and will have to see about getting it done onn the weekend

**Alan M** · Thursday 23rd July 2009, 10:19

Magnatec is recommended by Volvo so can be used to no ill effect. If you start to increase power dramatically it may be worth while investing in a true semi sythetic such as Fuchs. I would buy your PCV parts from Rufe at FRF or from MRG chippenham to get a discount. The parts will set you back around £60ish. The job can be tackled yourself if you fell comfortable with minor repairs to your car. That way you will save a few pounds on the job. It will take around 1-3 hours depending on how competent you are and if you know your car well enough. I will try to find a write up on how to do the job then post the link.