Saxo Boy

Bought one of these recently to do me for a while. I'm pretty sure I incorrectly refitted the oil filler cap after an inspection, as during a drive where I gave it some beans oil spurted out. However, given how much and how far it spread I'm pretty sure it must have been under a fair bit of pressure. I've cleaned up and correctly aligned the rubber gasket and so far so good. However, this got me thinking; should the very top of the engine be pressurised? I've ran n/a cars with the cap off (when I was younger) cause I wanted to watch the cams spinning (as a curious 17yo does). Do turbo cars pressurise this area when under boost or is this indicative of a problem?

FWIW the PVC breather system has been replaced/cleared recently so it should be breathing correctly.

Also, with a car this old what is the best way to get an idea of the general engine health? Is a compression test worth doing and how expensive would it be? The car is probably due a cam-belt but I don't want to throw good money at the car unless I know the engine is still good with life left in it. Part of me wonders if I just run it and see how long I get before something fatal or prohibitively expensive occurs (fwiw, I spent £1100 on it and the engine is the 2.3T with 112k and pretty consistent service history).

I'm kind of unsure how to treat the car to be honest. Do I spend time/money taking preventative measures in a bid to keep her healthy and lasting for many miles/years to come? Or, do I treat a car of this age/price as a banger and be thankful for every mile I can get out of it before it packs in?

Simon K

S70 T5, lovely cars but getting old. I was looking for one myself as a daily runner, but the mpg is a light poor. However, try these forums.

http://www.volvot5.co.uk/ or http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/

Best of luck.

SBK

Saxo Boy

Thanks, I'm on Volvoforums but I'm still a 1-post noob, so I don't get much attention

Hoping someone knowledgeable here will know if pressure in the crankcase under boost is bad for a) any engine b) this engine and, if so, what the consequences would be. If there is no real harm save for dodgy emissions I'd probably live with it rather than investigate. However, if its likely to be terminal inside 1000 miles then I'd have to get to the bottom of it.

As for fuel, I'm expecting it to be slightly better (but not much) than the ST220 it replaces.

Simon K

I thought the St220 used the T5 engine ?? Or some version of it ??

SBK

Saxo Boy

That the Focus ST. The ST220 is the Mondeo and it uses a 3.0 n/a V6, and not a particularly frugal one at that

pacenote

I would have thought that the engine is good for a few more miles yet being a Volvo.. If it were mine I would change oil and cam belt.

Cant comment on the pressure issue but Oil does seem to get everywhere if there is a poor seal around the filler cap ( If filler is on cam cover of course ) especially if you've been giving it "the beans" !

HTH

hodgy0_2

i drove for a few miles with no oil cap on my 16v golf, and oil got fvcking everywhere

obviously crankcases do get presurised, that's why they have breathers, maybe a breather is blocked?

Saxo Boy

The Volvo has a complicated PCV system. The system was recently overhauled (allegedly) and should be clear. I just don't know if some pressurisation is expected under normal operation. FWIW, the way you test the PCV is to drive the car for 10 mins and then pull the dipstick with the engine running. If puffs of smoke come out the system is blocked. My car passed this test <shrug>

Saxo Boy

Lol btw, why did you do this?

hodgy0_2

I forgot to replace it, after a top up

hodgy0_2

in fact I only knew something was wrong when the "low oil" buzzer went off, after I went around a roundabout a little spiritedly

thats weird -- I thought, I've just topped up, where has it all gone?

Saxo Boy

Wow, you lost that much!! Was the engine not smoking like **** when it hit hot parts?

hodgy0_2

yes and yes

Saxo Boy

Just been for a run and I'm pretty sure the PCV system is blocked somewhere There were no puffs of smoke out of the dipstick when idling but if you blipped the throttle there are.

What are the consequences of burring my head in the sand over this issue? So far, there hasn't been any additional leakage of oil from the seals or filler cap. Will it chew the engine?

Saxo Boy

http://youtu.be/leZ1yJxu9ro

Some puffs when you first open the throttle but nothing under a constantly load or at idle. One user on the vulvaforums said this is normal. Hope he's right. In fairness, I think this is what they are like when the system is shagged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqnrMJ5st1s