PCV System Repair on a Volvo 5-cylinder

PCV System Repair on a Volvo 5-cylinder
by jblackburn » Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:28 am
As any engine runs, there are gases from the top of the cylinders that escape past the piston rings
and into the crankcase system. These gases are illegal in most countries to vent into the
atmosphere. Therefore, some kind of crankcase ventilation system must be designed for all cars.
Volvo's is one of the more complicated systems, and over time they inevitably clog up and stop
functioning correctly. The most common symptoms of a clogged PCV system are oil being
unexplainably blown all over your engine (mainly under the spark plug cover), smoke or positive
pressure up the oil dipstick after the engine has been running for 10+ minutes, horribly noxious
odors coming through your air vents when stopped, or blown engine seals. If it's gotten bad, you
may notice smoke coming out of your exhaust at all times.
This tutorial will help you clean the PCV system on your 1993-2000 5-cylinder Volvo engine.
Keep in mind that this is focused on a later-generation Turbo model (I have a 1998 S70 T5),
there will be some differences between each year and depending whether yours is a N/A or
earlier model. P.S. You can click any of the pictures in this topic for a larger view.
If you own a turbo, it is a good idea to clean the PTC nipple periodically every 40-50K miles or
so (see below), or get rid of the flame trap if your N/A car still has it installed.
One of the typical signs of a clogged PCV system
Some introductory notes:
Before you even start this job, make sure you've got all the tools you'll need together, especially
if it's your only car.
I found a 1/4" socket and extension bar (and a U-joint), along with all the metric sockets, to be
the most helpful in this job. I have a $15 Companion car kit I bought at Walmart that was
actually great for the task. Get a pair of long needle-nose pliers if you don't have any, they are
quite a life-saver if you drop things. A magnetic or claw-arm grabber would not be a bad idea at
all. You'll also need a couple Torx sizes (T-20 and T-25), one of the screwdrivers with multiple
bits would be just fine for this.
For the 12mm bolts underneath, you'll need a 3/8" wrench, 2 long extensions, and 2 U-joints to
reach the nearly impossible bolts underneath.
I'd go ahead and get a few extra small clamps from what FCP or IPD sent you with the kit just in
case you knock anything else off. You can always return unused parts.
**Many people (myself included) have found that the URO parts put in kits by IPD/FCP
Groton are absolute garbage. Please, save yourself the hassle of having to do it again in 2
years and buy OEM Volvo parts that will stand up.
Make sure you've got your radio code before you unhook the battery. Driving along without a
radio can be quite lonely.
Step 1: Drive your car up on ramps (I highly recommend ramps rather than jack stands). You'll
need the front to be elevated to reach the lower manifold bolts.
Step 2: Start removing components. I disconnected my battery and removed it from the car for
extra space (negative cable first), then the 3 hoses and electrical connector from the back of my
air box. Your car may be different here, I have a SAS injection pump, and on non-turbo models,
there are two vacuum hoses on the back of the air box. Make note of the orientation of these,
they control the air box thermostat flap. If you have never removed the air box before, just
disconnect the hoses (two torx screws hold the MAF sensor to the box, the other two pop right
off), grab the airbox and shove it towards the engine. This will let go of the clamp holding it to
the fender, and then you can lift it right out.
You'll also need to remove these two turbo hoses if your car is a turbo model. The front one
connects to the underside of the idle control valve (silver cylinder). I removed this hose and the
idle control valve to clean it as well - you can spray carb cleaner straight through it and it will do
a good job. The original Volvo hoses have 7 mm clamps on them, most of which can be gotten to
with the small socket wrench. I find it easiest just to remove the hoses and leave the clamps on
the ends so you know where they go later. I had to take a small 7 mm wrench to the back one by
the turbo, because there is no room for anything else.
Removed turbo hoses and air box
Now would be an excellent time to remove the throttle body and clean it if you have a throttle
body gasket. There are several 10mm bolts holding it in. If you don't have one, just hold open the
throttle and douse the inside with some carb cleaner and let it run back out.
Step 3: Next, remove the idle control valve and electrical connector. The valve is held into place
by the clips on the hoses and a rubber grommet on the bottom that simply clips into the mounting
bracket. Be careful with the top hose - I broke mine in half because it was so brittle. The clips
will come off with a good twist around the middle part of the clip. There is probably a better way
to do it without ruining the clip, but I hate those kind of clamps. You can replace them later with
the screw-type.
Here is everything out of the way
Next, disconnect the EVAP hose running into the engine block. After the white one-way valve
will do just fine; the rest can stay connected. The vacuum tree hoses should be disconnected as
well - my S70 only has one; those of you with 850's may have 2 or 3 here depending on the year
of your car.
Step 4: Now, it's time to relieve the fuel pressure. If your car has been off for a while since
driving it onto the ramps, you won't have much fuel pressure, just a couple spurts and some
dribbles. I use a small bathroom Dixie cup and the end of a flathead screwdriver. Undo the blue
cap at the end of the fuel rail, and press on the valve until all fuel flow stops. Then replace the
blue cap so you don't lose it.
Schrader valve at fuel rail
At this point, you can unbolt the fuel rail (I believe it was a 17mm open-end wrench, but an
adjustable will work just fine. The top portion of the silver cover across the fuel rail simply
unsnaps and can be set aside.
Bend the fuel line slightly up and out of the way so you can remove the manifold. You will also
need to remove the fuel return line from its connection at the engine. Unscrew the left fuel rail
bolt (10 mm) and bend the fuel return line up and out of your way. Replace the 10mm bolt.
You can now remove the spark plug cover from the top of the engine and set it aside (7 T-25
Torx screws).
Remove the PCV hose from the top of the engine (twist the clamp off, then pull the hose straight
up).
Step 5: You can now start un-bolting the intake manifold. There are two 12mm bolts under the
car supporting the intake manifold. One is attached to the dip-stick, and fairly easy to get to with
a 3/8" wrench, 12mm socket, 1 u-joint, and an extension. Crawl under the car, insert the wrench,
and work it up into the engine bay. I found a piece of duct tape around the U-joint to be quite
helpful for keeping it from flopping around trying to access the bolt.
The other one is quite hard. I had to use 2 U-joints, 2 extensions, and the socket wrench to get to
this one. It took me about 30 minutes to work this bolt out. People claim that it is much easier to
get to these if you remove the fan assembly from the radiator. I didn't try this myself, but it is
deifnately worth it if it makes getting to these bolts easier for you. Look behind the steering rack
and peer up into the depths of the engine, and you should see the bolt that comes out. Sorry, no
pictures, couldn't get a good shot of either of these from under the car. Feel around with your
hands up top, and you will be able to feel them under it. A better way would be to get a 12mm
actual wrench, and take the closed end to it under the manifold. Coincidentally, this happened to
be one of the few missing from my toolbox, so I had to have at it the hard way.
This will keep you from feeling like an idiot and doing this when you can't figure out why it's not
coming out
Don't do this
Now, you can start un-doing the 10mm intake bolts. Start with the lower 4 first, but do NOT
remove them. Simply loosen them a couple turns - you will need the U-joint for the left-most and
right-most bolts. I found removing the upper radiator hose and pinching off the expansion tank
line with some locking pliers made this much easier, as well as unbolting the throttle assembly
from the right side (re-attach the throttle assembly before moving the manifold). Stick a bucket
or drain pan under the car to catch the antifreeze. After you get the lower left bolt loose, you can
replace the radiator hose to avoid more spillage, just don't clamp it down again.
Locations of bolts
You will be able to reach the top 3 bolts with simply the socket and 10mm extension - grab the
bolts as they come loose with pliers from the top to avoid dropping them into the bowels of the
engine like I did.
Step 6:The manifold should now be loose. Pull it straight up, and swing it up to the right. There
is a small vacuum elbow attached to the left side of the manifold - just pull it off. The loose hose
will fit right through the opening it's stuck through. I wedged an old board under it to keep it up.
Shove rags or paper towels in the intake holes to prevent anything from getting into the inside of
the engine. You can now see the oil separator and all attached hoses.
You should now be able to pull off all the hoses (some of mine just snapped right in two) and
remove the oil separator. I honestly have no idea how to get to the lower left one, I ended up
taking out the right one and got annoyed trying to access the lower bolt and took a crowbar to it,
and it came right out.
Step 7:
Pull off all old hoses from the oil seperator, install the new lower fitting, crankcase hose to the
right side (clip it to the right side first, then the box). At this point, I screwed the box into the
engine. Then I reconnected the top two hoses. The big curvey one that you've got with the kit
runs back to the PTC nipple at the turbo - pull out the old one entirely, and then try to work the
new one in where it was. It's very hard - don't worry if you tear the rubber along the way, it's just
a protector. Make sure you are able to connect it at both ends.
Make sure you clean out these two ports thoroughly.
Old hose connections to PTC nipple
New hoses & oil separator box installed
Step 8:At this point, you can pull out the lower 4 screws that you haven't removed yet. Pull off
the old gasket, and clean the surfaces on both the intake manifold and engine block with a wet,
clean rag. Then dry them down thoroughly. Go wash all the grime and dirt off your hands having a good seal is important on this thing. Now you can place the new intake gasket on the
engine, and re-thread the lower 4 screws, leaving plenty of room for you to hang the intake
manifold back on them. Push the gasket with your CLEAN hands up against the engine.
Step 9:Now you can lower the intake manifold back down. As you come down with it, hold it
slightly to the right and re-connect the small vacuum line fitting at the left side of it. It's
extremely helpful to have someone help you do this part - all they have to do is hold it for you.
Stick the hose from the oil seperator through the 2nd hole (between ports 2 & 3) in the manifold.
Once you've got that securely attached, set the manifold back on the mounting screws (again,
helpful if someone can hold it for you). Put in the left and right upper bolts, and then begin
tightening the lower ones (you may have to remove the coolant hose and throttle bracket again),
insert the middle upper one, and then tighten them all down.
Hopefully you can do this without dropping screws about 12 times like I did and having to take
the manifold off again - this became quite a frustrating process, and I eventually ended up losing
1 screw and had to run to the hardware store to find a replacement. You would not BELIEVE
how hard it is to find an M7 screw at an auto parts store.
Step 10: From here, you can reattach the 2 12mm bolts from below. The oil dipstick one can be
got to in the same way as before, and for the back mounting bracket, feel around with your hand
and thread the screw in. Then I took the 12mm socket in my hand and tightened the bolt as much
as I could by hand without trying to get the wrench in there again. It's good enough for me.
Again, if you've got a 12mm open-end wrench, you'll be able to get a better angle on it. Clamp
down the hose from the oil separator to the top of the engine block, and from here you can begin
reinstalling the parts that you removed to access the manifold. Bend the fuel lines back and reattach them securely to their perspective places. Make sure you re-connect the EVAP system
hoses to the purge valve and the intake manifold.
Majority of hoses, etc. reinstalled
TIGHTEN DOWN YOUR HOSES FIRMLY. Yes, it's a pain, but I blew off a turbo hose, and
the throttle body hose after putting my car back together, and it took me a while to figure that last
one out.
Wait, hold on there cowboy! You're not done yet! Before you install the airbox or battery
again, you need to clean the PTC nipple at the turbo intake hose.
Step 11:
Remove the turbo hose. The clamp is an enormous pain to get to, especially if you have the
stupid SAS valve in the way. I can't get a good picture of the screw, but it is right in between the
SAS valve and the wastegate actuator on my car. I used 2 extensions and a 7 mm socket on my
tiny wrench, and it worked pretty good. I had to jump on top and lay over the top of the engine in
order to get to the clamp at all - I'm too short to reach it from the ground
Turbo clamp is in the depths of that mess
Once you get that undone, undo the hoses at the PTC connection and the electrical connector.
Work the hose out, and you can now see how clogged it is. My camera died at this point into the
procedure. You can pull straight up on the PTC nipple, and it will pop out of the hose. Don't
apply too much pressure, or you'll break the O-ring or the plastic hose itself.
Turbo Hose Removed
PTC Nipple removed
Clean out the passages of the PTC nipple thoroughly
Attack the gunk on the PTC nipple with brake or carberator cleaner, or a can of Seafoam works
wonders. I then used a small screwdriver or drill bit to ream out the crud in the passages. The
smallest size drill bit in my kit will fit through the vacuum hose passage. Keep at it until you can
see clear through both ports, and there is no crud sticking to the inside. I used about 1/2 a can of
carb cleaner on mine - it really wasn't as clogged as I've seen pictures of some of them.
Coincidentally, pouring a small bit of Seafoam down the tubes into the PTC nipple every 20,000
miles or so would not be a bad thing at all to help keep the passages clear.
At this point, you can replace the PTC nipple back into the hose. I used a small flathead
screwdriver to push down the rubber seal into the hose - go around the entire thing and you
shouldn't have problems getting it back in and getting a good seal.
PTC hose fitting
Step 12: Reattach the PTC and turbo hose, connect the lines and electrical connector back into
the tube, and then replace the remaining components missing from your car. Push the airbox
back into the holder tab, and then seat it down on the other two mounting tabs. Re-attach the
hoses, the MAF end first, then the intake hose to the front of the car, and finally the air pump
hose (if you've got one). Reinstall the battery, connect the positive cable first, then negative.
Lastly, replace the idle control valve and hoses, then put the cover back on top. Give all of your
hoses a good tug and make sure they're nice and secure.
NOW! Cross your fingers, and start the engine. When it fires to life, you'll instanly feel rewarded
for a job well done
IT LIVES!!!
All in all, between losing parts, screws, breaking hoses, running to parts stores, and getting taken
away from it a few times to do other things, it took me about 8 hours. If I were to do it again, and
be more organized and less distracted, I could easily do it in 4-5 hours now that I know where
everything is.
GOOD LUCK!!! I hope this helps!
~Justin