Intake manifold gasket installation

[howardc64]

Helping a local Volvo owner with his 02 V70XC's PCV job (118k miles). The lower bolt near the thermostat housing won't come all the way out (my 01 T5 and V70XC was unblocked)

Rather than removing the thermostat housing, is it easier to just cut a slit in bottom of the bolt hole on the new gasket? The intake port is still completely sealed by the gasket, the slit won't compromise that part of the gasket. Just going around the bolt. I believe it is the upper right hand bolt hole in this picture



By the way, this car's PCV's oil drain port was completely clogged. So far, my statistics are

01 V70 T5 + synthetic. All clear at 100k mi.
01 V70XC + synthetic. Banjo nipple clogged at 100k mi.
02 V70XC + dino. Oil drain port clogged at 100k+ mi.

Looks like our PCV may not fare much better than the pre 01 5 cylinder. Synth is probably the key to keep PCV healthy.

[cattlecar]

Slotting that last hole is commonly done on these engines.
No ill effects I have ever seen

[howardc64]

cattlecar... thanks for the quick reply. We'll do that to make the task simpler

[Astro14]

Not synth per se...but changing the oil before the additives wear out...in particular, before it becomes acidic and starts forming sludge.

Unfortunately, many oils will not make it 7,500 miles in this car before turning acidic. Most synthetics will make it that far...

[howardc64]

Not synth per se...but changing the oil before the additives wear out...in particular, before it becomes acidic and starts forming sludge.

Unfortunately, many oils will not make it 7,500 miles in this car before turning acidic. Most synthetics will make it that far...

Thanks for the clarity Astro14, make sense. By the way, one note I forgot to mention is I ran my mobil 1 at 5000 mile change intervals. On the dino oil car, I unfortunately don't know the oil change interval.