This one is for the books...

I have three problems with my 1995 850 T-5R, all of which may be related / maybe not, and if I wasn't a masochistic engineer I would have sold this car by now... I bought the car at 70,000 miles, everything was clean as a whistle (I'm not saying it wasn't totally spit polished for me on the lot)...

Since I've bought the car I've noticed little bits of oil, drops on the top of the engine, I always assumed that it was a leaking filler cap, so I replaced it. (I still have the random drops).

Last time I changed the oil (75,000) I noticed what could be seepage from the main seal. (That combined with suspicious air conditioner has led me to buy a warranty from warrantybynet...)

Today I was on a rather long drive (150 miles), and on a long strech of highway I had the chance to let her run wide open, after reading many other posts recently (you people are a bad influence). First, she maxed out at 134 MPH on a very flat stretch, not bouncing off of the rev limiter, but stopped by drag (There goes the dreams of 150+). Second I experienced a re-occuring problem. On long trips I've got this problem where after the engine/tranny heat up pretty well, I seem to get this horrible shift between third and fourth (51-53MPH). It's very clunky and seems to have to guess between the gears. It actually makes the car clunk, and buck and once made the check engine light come on. The other symptom is at rest, the car very harshly clunks into gear between reverse and drive. The only codes left were misfires in each of the cylinders.

Being paranoid of the tranny, I flushed the system four months ago, since then I've been unsure of whether I have the correct amount of fluid in there so I check obsessively. It seems to be right on...

So today when it was acting up, I checked the tranny fluid at a rest stop. It seemed fine as always, sitting at the top of the hot line. BUT what I did notice is that I had a few small drips of oil coming out and running down my oil my dipstick tube. Nothing at all from the filler cap with the new gasket. And at the expense of a pair of dockers, there's more evidence of seepage at the rear seal.

So here it is:

Are these connected? It would seem as if my oil pressure is too high. Causing oil to come out both orafaces. What could cause that besides the relief valve in the oil pump (no flame trap in the turbo). Are these problems related, or seperate, or should I just take it to a dealership and play totally stupid? I'm hoping that some of the brilliance of John O, or Dave, or anybody who knows these cars better than me can help. I have posted a few time now, and all of your help has been invaluable in the past.

Thank you in advance,

and sorry for the length,

~Jonathan

High oil pressure would not cause oil to come out of your engine dipstick tube, but high crankcase pressure sure would cause that and also would force oil past the rear main seal. Have the dealer check engine for excessive blowby, plugged pvc system etc. When you checked the engine was the dipstick fully in the tube or had it blown out? Also have you checked the o'ring in the dipstick handle for damage?

I don't know about the 850's but in the S70's I believe the top speed is electronically limited by cutting off the fuel injection and when we did our "Italian tuneup" we still had plenty of revs left on the clock at 132mph.

Sounds like you could be getting blow back as well as it could be a clogged PVC system. I have also, albiet rare, seen a bad oil filter cause similar problems. What is the condition of the oil? Does it look or smell funny? Any moisture in the oil or dipstick tube? What brand oil filter do you have on? If it is not an OEM volvo filter, loose it and put a Volvo filter on. When was the last oil change and who did it?

Also, on my 94 854 Turbo I ran out of steam at ~130 mph as well. A week later I found a leaky turbo downpipe hose (1/2" hole from the inside out!). Replaced it and the car goes much, much better now. You may have a few loose hose clamps or leaky turbo duct work slowing you down. Good luck.

Prospero

I agree with the high crankcase pressure comments, mental slip when I said oil pressure...

Bought the car at 69,674 independent dealership stamp said oil had been changed at 70,000 mile service (car had OEM Volvo filter and I don't know the oil type). At 74,500 I changed the oil to Mobil 1 10W30 with a volvo filter. I'll check for moisture in the dipstick, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for. Condensation in the tube? Being an engineer in a lab I've had the luxury of running chemical analysis on my oil. I ran FTIR (Furrier transformation infrared spectroscopy) Which won't tell me specifics on degredation, but it will show contamination, and shifts from the baseline (a drop of mobil 1 from the bottle). I ran the baseline and my oil this morning the both check out identically.

So now I'm puzzled. I know there's no PCV valve (flame trap) to clean on this car. What should I check next...

~Jonathan

The problem you seem to be having can be so many things...But I guess to start, when looking for excess condensation in the oil you will see what appears to be fog in the oil in mild cases. In extreme cases the oil will look like coffee with cream and sugar, or even chocolate milk. The oil will also have the tendency to smell musty at times. This will all be visible when checking the oil on the tip of the dipstick. Condensation, appearing as milky stuff on the top of the dipstick and tube is normal to an extent. If you do not drive for 25 miles or so a day and allow the motor to run at operating temperature for ~25 min or so, you will probably see this. The condensate will also appear on the bottom side of the oil filler cap. It too will look like milk. If I had to put a specification on a quantity of condensation, I would say no more than a few grams between the dipstick tube and oil cap is normal. Since you and I are running the same oil, with the exception of me using 0-W30 vs. 10-W30, just as a benchmark I go about 2000 miles before my oil begins to get dark. At 1000 miles the oil looks like iced tea, 2000 miles weak coffee. How does yours look? BTW, I normally drive <5 miles a day, so condensation does show on my dipstick within a week or so. I hope I did not add to the confusion. Hope all works out for you.

Prospero

Prospero, you're right, I have a tad amount of condensation. -Just like you said at the top of the dipstick, and under the oil filler cap. The oil itself does look pretty good. 2400 miles on it and it's pretty regular in color for that milage (not opaque, or burnt smelling, but definetly not out of the bottle).

Not to write another book, I cleaned everything very well (dipstick, rear main seal area, top of engine area...), and then ran the hell out of the car. First some high speed driving 130 sustained for 4-5 minutes after 30 minutes of highway driving. Then check for leaking oil blowing out:

Rear main seal=none

Filler cap = none

Dipstick = the smallest trace...

Clean everything once again. Time for a Italian tune-up. High RPM's 4-6K for 4-5 minutes straight. Stop the car. Check again for oil

Rear Main Seal = Definate Seepage

Filler cap = none (possibly a small trace)

Dipstick = Major amounts of blow out. Dripplets everywhere spattering all over that area of the engine.

So I definately have a crankcase presssure issue. Now to determine root cause...

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks,

~Jonathan

> So I definately have a crankcase presssure issue. Now to determine

> root cause...

> Anybody have any suggestions?

> Thanks,

> ~Jonathan

Is it possible the crankcase ventilation hose is clogged or pinched? Not sure where it is though.

Since volvo turbos dont have a flame trap per se, the engine blowby and crankcase pressure are vented through a multi purpose valve that is in the iintake bellows. there is a vacuum line to the valve that gets kinked and poorous from the gasses going through it and it often implodes. the valve itself gets plugged up from carbon deposits. try clearing the nipple on the valve. Rout it out with a paper clip or something. the other end of the vacuum line goes to the intake manifold near the thermostat housing. this one also decomposes. volvo has changed part numbers for this, so they probably kinow they have a problem

Thanks so much,

I'll go over that whole system tomorrow. I've been meaning to clean the throttle body, I have the gasket, so I'll start at one end and roto-rooter the entire system.

I'll post my results...

Thanks everybody,

~Jonathan

If anybody has any more suggestions please let me know...