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Oil in Large Black Pipe 700 1989

Over the weekend I cleaned the throttle body on my 1989 GL Wagon and found there was a small quantity of oil in the large black pipe that extends between the air mass meter and the throttle body. I doubt it is suppossed to be there.
What is the likely cause?








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    Oil in Large Black Pipe 700 1989

    That thick sticky guck in the bellows tube is normal. The source is obviously oil vapors from the the crankcase coming up through the flame trap. One would wonder how they ca go up stream in the air flow and deposit in the bellows tube. I can only assume that this occurs after shutdown while the engine is still hot. You do want to make sure flame trap is clear including the small rubber hose and brass fitting on the manifold, these do get clogged.
    --
    David Hunter








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    Oil in Large Black Pipe 700 1989

    Source can vary depending on whether or not your car is a turbo.

    I'm new to Volvos, but will hazard a try. If your car is a turbo, then it can be normal for the turbocharger to pass a small quantity of oil through its seals. This shows up as a fine mist of oil in the intake plumbing that may, eventually, build up enough to appear as the small amount of oil that you found. You should not find a flood of it though.

    Normally aspirated (non-turbo). If it has the crankcase vent system like the turbo, then it is possible that the oil you are finding is from oil vapors and mist that has gotten past the breather, air/oil separator, flame trap system and has been sucked into the intake. It is doing what it is supposed to do. To illustrate how it works, using a turbo intake system as the example, there is a small, about 1 inch OD, rubber pipe that joins to the large air intake hose that feeds the turbo. The small rubber pipe carries the crankcase gasses and crud to the intake side of the turbo so they are sucked into the engine and burned rather than being barfed out into the atmoshpere. If the big intake pipe or hose on your car has a smaller one attaching to it, and the other end of the smaller one goes somewhere around the number 3 or 4 intake runners, then it is probably similar to the turbo crankcase breather system and that MAY be the source of your oil in the pipe.

    BTW, in either case, turbo or not, the breather system needs to be cleaned out every once in a while. The crud can build up and clog it which allows the vapor pressure in the crankcase to build up high enough to push oil out of the front shaft (crank, intermediate, and cam) seals and the rear crankshaft seal, pops up the oil dipstick too. See the FAQ.








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      Oil in Large Black Pipe 700 1989

      Thanks N7SC - my wagon is not a turbo but the system works the way you described it. It is certainly possible that oil vapors are getting through the oil separator and passing through PCV valve and the flame trap and passing through the 1 inch pipe that connects between the PCV valve and the large black pipe. If, as you say this is normal then I guess I don't need to be concerned.








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        Oil in Large Black Pipe 700 1989

        Since I'm new to Volvos, I'm hoping that someone with lots of experience will read this thread and verify that what you are seeing is normal and that you have nothing to worry about.

        But, it makes sense that if the crud and crankcase vapors can build up enough to clog the air/oil separator, breather box, and flame trap, then they probably can leave a trail that looks like gunky oil too. Just as long as your oil consumption is within "normal" limits, and there is no evidence of other problems.

        Actually, on a non-turbo, I can't imagine where else besides the breather system you would get oil into the intake system before the throttle body, at least not any significant quantity of it.







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