V70 T5 PCV kit - PPS any good?
 

Hi all,

Now I seem to be unable to sell my T5 I'm thinking of continuing my restoration programme with a PCV change; the car is on 264K.

Now, I have two options here, both from Parts Monster.

1 - Genuine Volvo breather box, with some Volvo pipes etc but the main breather pipe as a PPS part (this pipe alone from Volvo is around £170!). Total cost around £135

2 - PPS complete PCV kit including inlet manifold gasket. Total cost which includes all of the above £69.


Now, when I first got the car, I bought a PPS water pump from Parts Monster as I thought it was genuine (his listing is very misleading). The part arrived and I was totally unimpressed with what appeared to be a generic unbranded water pump so promptly sent it back and replaced it with a genuine Volvo part.

Are PPS components any good? I am assuming they can get a breather box and its parts correct? I really don't want to spend a mint on the Volvo kit as its truly money down the drain (not that I'm not used to it!); is the PPS kit good enough to fit?

I know its potentially around 4 hours labour so want to get it right.

Thanks guys.

I take it the expensive pipe is the one that is heated by the engines coolant system? Does this pipe definitely need replacing?

When I had the PCV changed on the C70 recently I got all the pipes ETC. in but only needed the box and the pipe that runs from the cam cover to the box ( I definately needed this as the old one had disintegrated!! )

When it comes to servicing the PCV, the box is the main part that needs replacing, along with the inlet manifold gasket, the pipes should be visually checked for cracking/degradation/blockages and if they are fine they shouldn't need replacing..

The other item that needs checking is the banjo bolt that attaches the main pipe to the inlet manifold. These can become blocked and need clearing out. Interestingly the banjo bolt on my S60 was blocked up but on the C70 it looked like new!

Robert DIY on the tube mentioned that the box itself rarely needs replacing, just a good clean out. Sounds reasonable and wonder who has just done that here on the forum? It might be one of the expensive parts of the kit.

I have to be honest, on my S60 I did just clean out the PCV box with petrol and it didn't cause any ill effects, infact it is still fine now ( touch wood ) and the car has just rolled onto 260,000 miles. I had the box replaced on the C70 for 2 reasons:

1 it is the wife's car that she runs the children around in so I wanted to
make sure I covered all the bases where reliability was concerned

And

2 I wasn't doing the work myself at home because I'm too old and
arthritic theses days!!😁😁😁

I had an 850 which I kept as a donor car, and as a learning opportunity I took the PCV box off of it and tried to find out what was in it and how it worked and might be cleaned. The PCV box doesn't come apart without some damage as the seams are welded together, inside is simply a series of baffles to keep the oil from being drawn up into the pipework and manifold, whilst there's nothing there that would make it uncleanable with the crusty sludgy oil residues inside the baffles I figured without opening it up it would take a lot of solvent and repeated flushing to get it clean inside.

When I did the PCV service on my S70 T5 a few months back, I used the PFV oil separator box and small hoses, with a genuine Volvo camshaft breather pipe, and did the 5/8in heater hose mod (https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/fo...ic.php?t=53448). I used 5mm ID silicon hose for the other pipes.

http://www.duckfieldengineering.com/...S70/NewPCV.jpg

All working fine, and the PCV oil box seemed to be of a decent quality.

Thanks, but I decided to buy it all from Volvo including injector O rings.

I can see a value in buying from Volvo, it should give you the peace of mind that it will all fit correctly and be of a similar standard to the original which has proved durable over the years since the car was built. As a one off cost that shouldn't reoccur too soon one could justify a higher cost, but I really should do mine soon so I'd be interested to know how that worked out price-wise?

OK so I used cross references from Parts Monster. My purchase from Volvo came to around £133 and included:

PCV breather box
Small elbow pipe to block
Push fit rubberised connector at base of breather to block
PCV vent hose to camcover
5 x injector o-rings
Inlet manifold gasket
All new R-type clips for the above

The only part I purchased from PPS was the larger hose that runs around the head; this hose alone was £117 from Volvo so I went after market.

P.s - Do not buy into the elevated Volvo prices on eBay. They're all quite cheap from the dealership without inflation from sellers.

Caffyns in Eastbourne always give me great service and discounted prices on genuine parts. They advertise on eBay but cheaper if you buy direct, speak to Chris Gander.