I have approx. 130k miles on my volvo. At idle (in drive with the a/c fan on), white smoke, not dark,(oil burning smell) comes out the exhaust after about 3 minutes of warmup. I also smell it (bearly see it)coming from the hood in the area of my turbo. The smoke does stop when 1.)I start driving, or 2.) When I turn off a/c or 3.) When I shift it in park or neutral. I'm not seeing any oil leakage on the driveway. One mech. I tried by-passed the turbo and said the smoke stopped. He recommended that send my turbo off to Turbo City (Good or Bad????)to have it rebuilt. With the stated conditions, does it sound like only the seals have gone out? There is also a fluttering noise, like a vacuum leak, coming from the engine. It this related to the worn-out seals? I'd replaced the O2 sensors, so that is not the problem.

I know this has happened (or is happening) to other 850 Turbo Owners, so any comments will be appreciated by me and other confused people.

Thanks.

To me, it doesn't sound like the turbo (130K isn't a lot on this generation of turbo if it's been left in stock form and the car has had regular oil changes) though anything is possible. If you had a burned rear shaft oil seal, you'd see smoke - quite a lot of it - on pullaway starts, which then clears up as soon as you let your foot off the gas. And the burning smell would be unmistakeable because you'd be misting hot oil into a hot exhaust pipe. If as you say, the smoke goes away when you start driving, then I think you can relax a little and look for a different problem - possibly in the EGR/PCV system.

The other possibility is the turbo oil return line running from the bottom of the turbo back to the crankcase. The $2 seal at the top of this tube often fails, and a little oil can escape and a bit of it sometimes lands on hot engine parts - hence a faint smell of burnt oil. This is not a serious problem, and it's an easy repair.

You won't see an oil drip on the driveway from a bad turbo shaft oil seal, because the only outlets on the shaft are the exhaust manifold or the duct to the intercooler. The downtube, however, can (and often does) leave a small drip on the garage floor.
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David
1998 S70 T5SE // misc mods (mostly lighting) // red calipers // Michelin Pilots // Yakima //
1992 940 GLE//SilverStars

davidm,
Thanks for the reply. Can you (or anybody else)comment on the smoke only happening during the (3) stated conditions (see my first post). It appears that the smoke only really happens (and it really does product allot of white smoke)when there is a load put on the engine (activation of the a/c in the idle conditions only). Will this load produce the conditions of a worn seal at the turbo oil return line? Also, can the $2 seal be replaced without sending the turbo out to be rebuilt? I thought that the seals were an intregal part of the turbo itself? (sorry for my lack of turbo knowledge).

Also, can you comment on the hissing (like an air leak) coming from the engine.
Could this related to the worn out seal?. I can rule out the PCV system. During one of my last dealer visits, the mech. looked at this and said all is fine. Sooooooo... my the only area left is turbo related.

Thanks again for any and all comments!