This is a 97 T-5 that I've had for a couple of years. I'd never noticed any emission problem before. Thinking it was because the cat had cooled while waiting in line at the inspection station, I returned another day and left the engine idling, about 20 min. By the time I got to the inspection, there was plenty of blue smoke, and I left a trail of smoke leaving the station. Once that got blown out, there was no obvious problem. I've never had much boost with this car, it's not nearly as peppy as our 96 standard turbo, so I'm suspecting the turbo is worn out and passing the oil.

I'm contemplating rebuilding the turbo, but is there a way to know if that really is the source of the problem? Any way to diagnose the issue? I haven't checked the compression lately, but it was okay when I got the car. I'm not yet sure how much of an effort it would be to get the turbo out and have it rebuilt, but I don't want to invest the effort without some assurance that that's really the source of the problem. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon

It's possible that it's the turbo seals, but my money is on valve seals as already mentioned.
Failing valve seals are very common on high mileage 5-cylinder Volvos.
I need to do ours. It's pretty involved, but doable by the shade tree mechanic.
I found this tutorial (https://sites.google.com/site/incarvalvestemsealreplacement/project-updates/write-up) and it seems pretty thorough. I'll use it as a guide when I do mine.

Keep an eye on your oil consumption - it can get quite excessive. Ours is using about a quart every 700 miles! Just haven't had the time to fix it yet as the car is used every day for a 90 mile commute.
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"Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different' - Sharon Craig

A very belated thanks for that link! I never would have attempted this job without it. But replacing the valve stem seals did do the trick. In my case, it was a lot harder than that site would have you believe. After cracking off a corner on one of the pry points, I did the unthinkable: I started hammering in paring knives around the periphery. It took three weekends of careful tapping/hammering before the cam cover gave up and separated from the lower part of the head. It took another weekend of scouring the surfaces with a 3M pad and Permatex gasket solvent to get the surfaces clean. A couple of weekends for the seals, and I finally got it all done. I have to admit to being a Nervous-Nellie; I do everything in slow motion and double check it all, as well. Glad I wasn't totally dependent on getting the car going again! Passed inspection with no problem, and it's now leak free after several hundred miles.

Oh, and I used the RHJones (?) method to find the "true" mileage, which was only about 10K above the odometer. I have to wonder about these cars needing valve stem seals after 160,000 miles, though. I don't think this car had very good care, but the seals were all hard as rock, much like Mr. Crimmins' experience at the same mileage. On the other hand, the '96 with 200K has had mostly synthetic oil through it's life. It does show some blue smoke on startup, though. Inspection coming up for that one this month! Hoping for the best!

Thanks again!


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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon

Using 'cheap' gasolines and prolonging oil changes will lead to early seal demise.

The cam cover should not have been that hard to remove. I wonder if the cover had been off once before and someone else used a strong RTV??? Do you remember the color?

Light amounts of blue smoke from the other car could be from valve seals or even turbo seal allowing too much oil in the intercooler. Remove the bottom IC hose at the intercooler and clean it out - see if that makes a difference.

Your mechanical work sounds like mine, too much time being anal about the process!!!

Klaus
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My back feels better when I sit in a Volvo seat

The remaining sealant was mostly a light brown and the spark plug O-rings were also calcified. I had a suspicion that it had been off before: I suspect the main problem was the centering pins, maybe too much sealant had been used and a lot of it oozed up into the pin seats. Because of that, I don't think rotating the cam shafts would have helped. I could see that the cam cover was separating at the spark plug holes, but not around the edges.

Previous owners probably had used the cheapest gas and oil available, and probably never bothered to change it.

Funny that the best tool seemed to be a couple of camp-kit cutlery sets from the local thrift store, the kind where the pieces are held together my a couple of pins. The knives seem to have a pretty nice edge, and are broad on the other side, good surface for banging. The long edge works well as a wedge. You never know where you're going to find the perfect tool, kind of like the best present for an infant is the box. Always an adventure ;-)

And my back is growing to appreciate Volvo seats more and more, too.

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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon

That's helpful info. re. the difficult removal of the cam cover.

I wonder what would happen if you loosened the bolts a turn or two and then rotated the engine / cams (by hand) with the timing belt still attached?
So the rotating cams would be pushing up at the center of the cover instead of you prying from the edges. Maybe that would break it free. Going to have to think about that.

I've switched to "high mileage oil" on ours for now. I'm curious to see if the consumption goes down any. It does seem like it doesn't smoke as much in the past 250 miles - that's not much of a test, but is encouraging.

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"Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different' - Sharon Craig

Oh joy, that's a job I've been dreading more than diving into the turbo. And the way I move, a two-day job really means a two-weekend job -- at least. Oddly enough, I was thinking the old 240 would be needing a new head gasket, but I thought I wouldn't need to do that on this car. I guess the up side is that since I recently did the timing belt / water pump, I can just push that belt out of the way while I do this. And the worst that can happen is that the car goes to the bone yard, which is what I was envisioning anyway.

But, oh lord, not another learning experience. I knew this car would need a lot of rehabilitation, but it just seems to be one thing after another. Our other daily driver, the 96 turbo, has been such a joy, even though it was a totaled vehicle, I was careless about buying this one. (The PO had been driving while texting, and looked up to see a car coming straight at him, veered off into a ditch and tore up the right front ... but the engine had been well maintained.)

I realized after I bought this one that the instrument cluster had been replaced, making the mileage shown meaningless. And I don't know anyone who could check the actual mileage short of paying a dealer an arm and a leg just for that. And then there's that blemish on the rear end that I hadn't noticed, obviously the sign of a used-car dealer's emblem removed. But it's such a pleasure to drive, how could I give it up! But next time, I'll be more fussy about maintenance records, that's for sure.

Thank you all, as usual. Spent the weekend cleaning out the storage room, aka garage. The junk removers come next weekend so I can actually have a decent place to do the job. Anyone need a 1920s Chandler & Price letterpress? Its ton of cast iron is definitely in the way ...
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'96 850T and '83 244 DL both at about 200K, '97 850T5; gone but not forgotten '81 245 and '64 Amazon

Definitely valve seals. A turbo doesn't create a lot of smoke at idle. While a leaking turbo seal will push oil into the air intake and 'gum' things up in the inter cooler and throttle, at idle it will not have any pressure to pump oil and air.

As for the lack of power, I would look at the vacuum lines at the turbo boost control valve and blow off valve.

Alschnertz, I love the write up for the valve seals! Not that I ever want to do that. Suggestion: put the front of the car on ramps to help in bending down so far. And cover the engine bay with a sheet when playing with the keepers. Turn your belt so that the buckle is towards the rear, keeps the fenders happy.

Check compression and do a leakdown test to ensure it's not rings or some other engine problem. If it blows smoke at idle on NA car it's normally valve seals. Not sure on a turbo. You could try the old school ring test. Rev the engine in 2nd gear to 4000+ rpms on a downhill then let off the gas completely. If it smokes it's rings.