Massive oil leak

[titanneil]

I'm ready to sell this car. I am chasing down problems that just don't seem to be normal, and i'm fed up.

I dropped my oil pan for the 3rd time in 3 months, this time to change big end bearings as it seemed I had a low oil pressure problem due to sludge. Naturally, the pan was covered in carbon bits and the pickup tube screen was clogged up yet again. Surprisingly, the bearing shells were in good shape with no scoring or unusual wear. I replaced them with standard new ones (because I had bought them already and they were not returnable) and all seemed well. Cranked the engine over for a few seconds with the ignition fuse out just to circulate the oil, then I started the car and it sounded pretty decent - so a quick glance underneath to check for drips and F! - oil is POURING out the oil pump end of the engine. Shut car off, clench fists, swear loudly several times then go inside to make dinner.
I had a weepy cam seal and possibly crank seal before, but it was just a bit damp and not an emergency. Now the car is inoperable. Since I now have no choice but to delve in to this tomorrow, has anyone ever had this happen? Seal or oil pump failure in the extreme?

[Xfingers]

I had an intake front cam seal blow out going up a steep hill with heavy throttle. Lost all my oil about 5 minutes later and had the LOW OIL PRESSURE STOP IMMEDIATELY (or something like that) warning message along with the red warning light on the dash. I had to replace the PCV system and clean the engine passages.

[pbierre]

You want to locate the blown oil seal. The first place to look is to remove the plastic cover over the timing belt chamber. From your description,
odds are good you'll see the leaking seal in this compartment, in fact, you'll see your timing belt slimed with oil at first glimpse.

The root cause of a blown oil seal is overpressure in the crankcase. The PCV system is there to collect the escaped exhaust gases in the crankcase,
and recycle them back into the intake manifold. When the PCV system becomes clogged, these hot gasses buildup pressure in the crankcase, and
eventually will pop an oil seal. When did you last check PCV performance? I mention PCV because, if it's clogged, and you do all the hard work of replacing the blown seal, another seal will soon blow because the root cause went unfixed.

[Xheart]

You want to locate the blown oil seal. The first place to look is to remove the plastic cover over the timing belt chamber. From your description,
odds are good you'll see the leaking seal in this compartment, in fact, you'll see your timing belt slimed with oil at first glimpse.

The root cause of a blown oil seal is overpressure in the crankcase. The PCV system is there to collect the escaped exhaust gases in the crankcase,
and recycle them back into the intake manifold. When the PCV system becomes clogged, these hot gasses buildup pressure in the crankcase, and
eventually will pop an oil seal. When did you last check PCV performance? I mention PCV because, if it's clogged, and you do all the hard work of replacing the blown seal, another seal will soon blow because the root cause went unfixed.

+1

A simple glove test over the oil filler may give a clue too.

Learn more here http://www.volvoxc.com/0/resources/h...g%20Method.pdf

[Rabid Koala]

It may be the VVT pulley on the exhaust side as mine was. This depends on if you have that or not. Mine does, it's an 06. The quick version of the story was that I replaced the crankcase ventilation system due to an oil leak and positive pressure in the crankcase. I thought all was well again until more oil leaked. My conclusion was that I damaged a cam oil seal with the crankcase pressure, so I replaced that. Started the care, way more oil poured out, which I later found out was due to driving the oil seal in a bit more than the original. I also had a ton of in and out play in the VVT pulley. It should be noted that the seal lip engages on the pulley extension, not on the camshaft itself. A new VVT pulley, new seals not set too deep and all has been well for about 10,000 miles.

[Astro14]

Seals get popped out by excess crankcase pressure. Massive leaks result. Replacing the seals is pointless as long as the pressure problem still exists.

When you had the pan off, did you clean the PCV system? Didn't we discuss that in an earlier thread?

Crank seal is relatively simple: remove the timing belt, remove the balancer, pull the crank pulley. You'll need a gear puller for the pulley. You'll need a seal installer - which I made from a 3" piece of PVC pipe. THe OD of the pipe matched the seal size and served as a driver.

The ongoing saga here is frustrating, I get that.

Two key questions: did you ever get a known good oil pressure gauge on this engine to see what the actual pressure is? Did you ever get the PCV system sorted?

[titanneil]

I did not get the PCV system sorted, but was able to blow some compressed air from the top hose through the box and exiting to the pan. The smaller hoses are not checked out yet. It is next on the long, long list, as the car is now stuck in the garage until the leak/seal is repaired. I just was shocked that it happened just as I had finished the big end bearing job. Maybe the pump is partially clogged and the additional pressure caused it to blow? Who knows. Either way, I have to fix it all now.
I will have to buy or make a tool to lock the cams as I am new to changing a timing belt on a car. I am intimidated by the CVVT system - I will have to do a lot of reading up to make sure I get it right...

[Xfingers]

there's a good youtube video that helped me deal with the CVVT hub on my 2002. It's been linked to a few times on this forum. If you can't find it, I'll locate it for ya.

[titanneil]

Update:
Car is iin the garage up on ramps, awaiting a better compressor or impact gun to take off the crankshaft nut. Pulled the PCV system apart, it was choked solid and the box was full of what looked like milk chocolate syrup (with chunks!). Scraped it out and have had it flushing in the parts washer for an hour, should be fine to reuse. All hoses, strangely, were pliable and quite reusable - except for the little plastic vacuum pipe that goes to the banjo bolt. When I sliced open the insulating sleeve the pipe crumbled into 20 pieces like little hard candies. I won't be reusing it.
Seeing as everything else is going back together, is there a generic vacuum hose or something I can use to replace my candied vacuum pipe?

[Astro14]

The candied vacuum pipe has a coolant loop that connects to the right side of the block. That keeps it warm so that oil vapor doesn't condense and clog it up on the way to the vacuum port on the intake (if we're talking about the same pipe). I would get new parts...but this pipe is available separately...