Our stock '66 had been steadily leaking oil out around the valve cover fill cap. Oil later began bubbling up out of the dip stick tube too. Over the past month or so performance dropped, pinging became chronic and oil consumption increased. Extended hill climbs caused significant loss of power with regular drops in speed of 15 to 20 mph. We started investigating having the entire engine rebuilt.

Plugs were renewed, points were filed clean and regapped, valve lash checked repeatedly, ignition wires replaced, carbs cleaned inside/out and mixture adjusted -- nothing seemed to help. I've never had a timing light so timing was set by finding maximum engine speed at idle.

It was timing. Just before breaking down and purchasing a timing light I decided it wouldn't hurt to use Ignition Timing from Scratch as documented by Ron Kwas on the Swem site. The car now runs better than ever and almost no oil is leaking past the oil fill cap. She holds steady 75 MPH on extended hill climbing with no problems.


3000 miles since last engine cleaning - oil bulemia gone!



It kind of makes me sick to know my ignorance put such unnecessary strain on the poor engine. I'm glad those old Swedes made 'em robust enough to stand up to an idiot's abuse. I'm also glad that a few grand wasn't thrown at an engine rebuild before it was necessary. Its funny (and sad) but both classic Volvo experts around here looked at the car and just took my word that the engine was worn out and needed a total rebuild.

This weekend should be warm enough to try whole heartedly to clean the engine bay up. Its been several years of frustration cleaning that beast only to have it caked with grime again after a few thousand miles.

Anyone else having issues with oil seepage past the oil filler cap should definitely try to have timing adjusted.

Best regards,

Joe M in WV