blocked breather pipe leadin to rear main seal failure.

[t5tart]

just dont the pcv onmine after reading up on the volvo speed forums
I am a total novice took me an afternoon and its a hell of alot better now
rear seal and clutch cost £650 to do at a gge ...I'm not about to start droping gear boxes

the parts from volvo were about £80

[Rufus T Firefly]

I changed my PCV system yesterday, parts were about £70 including the black plastic box and the big pipe that goes roung to the turbo. It was not too difficult, just a bit fiddly getting the bottom bolt out of the Inlet manifold steady.
Volvo sold me the parts but the pipe was different, the one I took off was just one pipe but the new one had a smaller vacuum pipe with rubber elbows on the ends fitted in the outer foam sheath - no where to connect that? The new inlet gasket supplied was also different, the old one was one piece and looked like plastic but the new one was 5 seperate pieces of metal - looks like an exhaust gasket set to me. My T5 is an early 94 with the turbo intercooler pipe over the top of the engine. The parts guy knows my car so I was surprised at the difference.

[t5tart]

I changed my PCV system yesterday, parts were about £70 including the black plastic box and the big pipe that goes roung to the turbo. It was not too difficult, just a bit fiddly getting the bottom bolt out of the Inlet manifold steady.
Volvo sold me the parts but the pipe was different, the one I took off was just one pipe but the new one had a smaller vacuum pipe with rubber elbows on the ends fitted in the outer foam sheath - no where to connect that? The new inlet gasket supplied was also different, the old one was one piece and looked like plastic but the new one was 5 seperate pieces of metal - looks like an exhaust gasket set to me. My T5 is an early 94 with the turbo intercooler pipe over the top of the engine. The parts guy knows my car so I was surprised at the difference.

I had exactly the same thing with mine
the earlier ones have a different vacuum system where the smaller hose goes to the top of the engine near the top mount ...... the hose in the large pipe is for the later models where it connects to the inlet manifold

you can remove the vac pipe from the foam shorten it and replace the vac pipe (that connects to the turbo intake air pipe at the little heater where the large pipe connects) and conect it to the end of the steel pipe that runs under the spark plug cover by the top mount

the inlet manifold gaskett should be paper
the 5 seperate sound vey much like the exhaust gasketts


where the vac line connects at the top of the engine


where it connects at the turbo intake (covered in foam which i reused)

[t5tart]

ooops appoligies for the rather large pics



oh also a good idea to give the heater a good clean ( the block that sits in the intake pipe) dont soak it in carb cleaner though as i found to my expense ......... abd get a pipe cleaner and clean out the bit the vac line pushes onto

[Rufus T Firefly]

Nice pictures!
Thanks for the info there, the little vac pipe I have left in situ and I have just checked the one that goes to the metal pipe sat on top of the engine - I replaced it with vac hose.
I did a bit of research and found that the little vac pipe provides a vacuum at tick over to pull gasses out of the crankcase. At higher revs it is not needed as the turbo creates the vacuum anyway. The strange arrangement on top of the cylinder head is that length because it is a calibrated length of pipe. - I dont quite understand that!

[Tiff_T5]

I just did my exhaust manifold the other day,and it had 5 seperate metal wafer type gaskets,I also got an inlet gasket at the same time, 1 complete gasket,made of green paper.

[t5tart]

yer mine was green paper too

[Daz T5]

Is the pcv somthing that should be changed as a matter of course? How do you know when it needs changing?

Darren

[iGGy]

I did mine last week at 120K and was a surprised by the brittle condition of the pipes and the blockages:

Oil seperator


Lower seperator return nicely blocked


Slightly blurry oil return port on block, err blocked


Now no smoke wafting out of the dip stick tube or filler cap. Definitely worth doing if your cars approaching or over the 100K mark.

[t5tart]

I did mine last week at 120K and was a surprised by the brittle condition of the pipes and the blockages:

Oil seperator


Lower seperator return nicely blocked


Slightly blurry oil return port on block, err blocked


Now no smoke wafting out of the dip stick tube or filler cap. Definitely worth doing if your cars approaching or over the 100K mark.

how did u get the carbonisation out of the engine block hole??

think im gonna have to do mine again as i'm still getting smoke from the dipstick

think i didnt clean that bit too well

[iGGy]

I put a very slight bend on the end of a thin TIG filler rod and scooped out the bulk of it. Then had no alternative but to rely on any oil strainer and the filter to do it's job when the time came, as I fed and wiggled the rod down as far as it would go to clear the channel down into the sump. Then a cloth around my little finger, soaked in cleaner, to get the rest of it off.

The vacuum take-off on the PCV heater was also 100% blocked and therefore my idle recirculation wasn't working either.

[t5tart]

I put a very slight bend on the end of a thin TIG filler rod and scooped out the bulk of it. Then had no alternative but to rely on any oil strainer and the filter to do it's job when the time came, as I fed and wiggled the rod down as far as it would go to clear the channel down into the sump. Then a cloth around my little finger, soaked in cleaner, to get the rest of it off.

The vacuum take-off on the PCV heater was also 100% blocked and therefore my idle recirculation wasn't working either.

how far in does that return go ?? is it straight through to the sump ??? or does it bend? just dont wanna go poking in there and damage something

[iGGy]

Thats a good question, I don't know, so therefore I was using a bit of 'feel' with the rod. I did give it a quick blast of air just to hopefully move any bits I'd dislodged but were still in the oil way.

[JUDGENINJA]

I'm not sure if it helps.... but my Sump is off at the moment if you want some pics or investigation...?...

Just let me know...

[t5tart]

I'm not sure if it helps.... but my Sump is off at the moment if you want some pics or investigation...?...

Just let me know...

that would be great if u can
see that oil return

[JUDGENINJA]

Here you go...
Pic 1 - Picture just to confirm the part I'm looking at is the right one...??
Pic 2 - the square hole is where it enters the Sump
Pic 3 - The square pipe the carries on throught the sump to an open hole. i couldn't see any gauze to block up. It seems to just so straight through to the bottom of the sump..
I reckon a standard pipe cleaner should be OK to clean out, but it give it a proper clean it may be worth taken the sump completely off and give it a good clean...... mine was ovened to burn off excessive oil then shot blast before the Blue coating was put on....

[t5tart]

Here you go...
Pic 1 - Picture just to confirm the part I'm looking at is the right one...??
Pic 2 - the square hole is where it enters the Sump
Pic 3 - The square pipe the carries on throught the sump to an open hole. i couldn't see any gauze to block up. It seems to just so straight through to the bottom of the sump..
I reckon a standard pipe cleaner should be OK to clean out, but it give it a proper clean it may be worth taken the sump completely off and give it a good clean...... mine was ovened to burn off excessive oil then shot blast before the Blue coating was put on....

excellent pics there

thanks
the only concern i have is perhaps pushing some debris into the sump into the oil ????

dont think that would do the big ends much good ??

may be worth flushing and replacing the oil after cleaning what you think

[JUDGENINJA]

My sump was quite clean when I dismantled it... i'll drop off the box and see just how blocked it is.. If the box is as block up as yours there many be a possibility that the sump is fine and the box was doing it's job well... I'll try and let you know..

[stuAWD]

As an aside to this thread, just recently, I was talking to one of the people at my local Volvo dealership on the subject of blocked breathers, and he was saying this guy came in with an old 850 and all the oil separator and breather sysyem was totally blocked, they took a shortcut in cleaning out the breather system, they drained the old oil (very old oil) then filled up with engine flushing oil, and ran the car around for about 5 miles, drained the system and did the same again, it cleared the breather sytem out, and the guy never came back. Conclusion:- (1) it worked and the guy was happy. (2) it f****d his engine and he's gone right off Volvos.

[BlackBeast]

I will be ordering a new PCV system tomorrow, do i need to buy the 'Fresh air hose' as Vida calls it? Its the large air hose that goes from the turbo to the MAF.