Help needed with PCV. Unexpected result after removal.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Pashabg

After closer look, I think the PCV has been done by the previous owner, however, I don't think it has been done very well. As seen on the pictures, the part with the banjo has been done in a DIY fashion, with zip tie. As far as I know, the banjo bit comes with a smaller white hose, that goes inside the big one. Here it is missing and the banjo fitting was attache strait to the big rubber hose. Needless to say it was very loose and I took it off by fingers without much of a problem.
Yes, I am going to order the kit (box, hoses, clamps and head gasket) and the big hose (with the banjo) tonight and install them when I get the parts. The car is not in much of a use at the moment anyway.

dont change the headgasket yet until you have a working breather system , headgaskets don;t "go" on these engines unless they have run out of coolant and overheated badly .

Causes of your mess :

Thermostat stuck open , how long does it take the temperature gauge to get to the centre position? a couple of miles is an appropriate time . also the TEMP needle should never vary from the central position what ever the outside circumstances when you are on the move ..

Lots of short journeys this will cause it too .

As you know some of the pipes are not secure so the breathing system will not be venting the crankcase properly . is the oil drain on the underside of the breather box draining into the engine ? The hole into the block can get caked up if someone has been using poor oil .

Leaks are most likely from the bottom corners of the radiator . But check that once you are on the road again ..

Head gasket is the very last suspect and must be proved before you attempt that job , not guess work ..

[ASt85]

It is only personal preference but

1) don't use cable ties ...they cut into rubber/silicone/neoprene hoses and do not develop enough pressure to hold the hose to the port securely

2) don't use oerlikon clips unless you have the specified diameter clip and a dedicated pair of oerlikon pliers in good condition

If possible always use the correct size worm drive clip for the hose, preferably Jubilee with a hex bolt and tighten with a spanner not a screwdriver.

[Pashabg]

Originally Posted by Clan

dont change the headgasket yet until you have a working breather system , headgaskets don;t "go" on these engines unless they have run out of coolant and overheated badly .

Causes of your mess :

Thermostat stuck open , how long does it take the temperature gauge to get to the centre position? a couple of miles is an appropriate time . also the TEMP needle should never vary from the central position what ever the outside circumstances when you are on the move ..

Lots of short journeys this will cause it too .

As you know some of the pipes are not secure so the breathing system will not be venting the crankcase properly . is the oil drain on the underside of the breather box draining into the engine ? The hole into the block can get caked up if someone has been using poor oil .

Leaks are most likely from the bottom corners of the radiator . But check that once you are on the road again ..

Head gasket is the very last suspect and must be proved before you attempt that job , not guess work ..

It gets up to working temperature after 3-4 miles. It is on average with my previous petrol cars (had a Honda CR-V that was much faster but that one was one of a kind). It seems pretty normal to me. The trouble is, that by the time a get to work or back home, it usually has barely moved (1.3 miles).

There are no temperature hesitation. It is very steady.

The radiator looks in very bad shape to me - it is almost completely blocked and plenty of fins are damaged, but never noticed any overheating.

One of the pictures I initially posted was of the hole between the box and engine block. That one had the mayo stuff too. The only place I found carbon deposits was the hole of the banjo bolt. It wasn't blocked completely but there was a bit. I tried to clean it as well as possible. Not very keen to pay over 8 pounds for a bolt, and I think I need 2 of them. Hopefully would do.

I have attached a picture. This is where I believe my coolant is going. Not sure why though. I posted a threat here a while ago with the problem and someone pointed out to me a cracked/ripped turbo hose, which explains the oil on the turbo, but I don't think it explains the coolant residue. Haven't fixed the house yet. It is worth noting that the coolant wasn't the green Volvo one, it was reddish. Done lot's of reading and some people complained about having coolant leaks when using aftermarket coolant, which stopped after switching back to Volvo OEM green one. I am planning to replaced it after I finish with the PCV.

Definitely not planning spending money on head gasket, unless I am complete sure I need to. I already envision about a 1000 pounds I need to spend on the car to get it to the condition I would be happy with.

[Pashabg]

Originally Posted by ASt85

It is only personal preference but

1) don't use cable ties ...they cut into rubber/silicone/neoprene hoses and do not develop enough pressure to hold the hose to the port securely

2) don't use oerlikon clips unless you have the specified diameter clip and a dedicated pair of oerlikon pliers in good condition

If possible always use the correct size worm drive clip for the hose, preferably Jubilee with a hex bolt and tighten with a spanner not a screwdriver.

Very good advise! Thank you! The kit I am ordering comes with the clips you are recommending.

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by Pashabg

This could also explained my problem, as the car has been constantly used for 4 minute drive to work and back, over the past two years.

This is very bad for any engine, petrol or diesel.
The engine can never get properly warm.

You need to go out and run the engine continuously for >2 hours to properly heat it up and evaporate any condensation.

[Pashabg]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

This is very bad for any engine, petrol or diesel.
The engine can never get properly warm.

You need to go out and run the engine continuously for >2 hours to properly heat it up and evaporate any condensation.

It is - agree. That's why I started walking.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

This is very bad for any engine, petrol or diesel.
The engine can never get properly warm.

You need to go out and run the engine continuously for >2 hours to properly heat it up and evaporate any condensation.

Its not so much the coolant that needs to heat up it's the oil and it needs to get up to around 100C to start evaporating the moisture off into the intake system . But no doubt this is the problem . A good hour trip should get this process going . Things will improve now with ambient temperatures around 20C .

[pierremcalpine]

For what it's worth, I had some beige gunk just like what is shown on your pics when I did my PCV last year. Maybe not as much of it but it was there and it scared the crap out of me. I reached out to previous owner to ask about history, whether oil was every mayo-colored or whether he had ever had unidentified coolant leaks or oil leaks, etc and he said no. That somewhat calmed me down but 12 months worth of monitoring of oil and coolant as well as general performance suggests same as what's been said: short journey's will yield a volume of that ugly beige stuff in the PCV over time, no big deal.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by pierremcalpine

For what it's worth, I had some beige gunk just like what is shown on your pics when I did my PCV last year. Maybe not as much of it but it was there and it scared the crap out of me. I reached out to previous owner to ask about history, whether oil was every mayo-colored or whether he had ever had unidentified coolant leaks or oil leaks, etc and he said no. That somewhat calmed me down but 12 months worth of monitoring of oil and coolant as well as general performance suggests same as what's been said: short journey's will yield a volume of that ugly beige stuff in the PCV over time, no big deal.

You could wrap the breather box with thick felt material to keep the constant cold air stream off it on short journeys . I think the 850 had something similar .

[MMT5]

Originally Posted by Pashabg

It gets up to working temperature after 3-4 miles. It is on average with my previous petrol cars (had a Honda CR-V that was much faster but that one was one of a kind). It seems pretty normal to me. The trouble is, that by the time a get to work or back home, it usually has barely moved (1.3 miles).

There are no temperature hesitation. It is very steady.

The radiator looks in very bad shape to me - it is almost completely blocked and plenty of fins are damaged, but never noticed any overheating.

One of the pictures I initially posted was of the hole between the box and engine block. That one had the mayo stuff too. The only place I found carbon deposits was the hole of the banjo bolt. It wasn't blocked completely but there was a bit. I tried to clean it as well as possible. Not very keen to pay over 8 pounds for a bolt, and I think I need 2 of them. Hopefully would do.

I have attached a picture. This is where I believe my coolant is going. Not sure why though. I posted a threat here a while ago with the problem and someone pointed out to me a cracked/ripped turbo hose, which explains the oil on the turbo, but I don't think it explains the coolant residue. Haven't fixed the house yet. It is worth noting that the coolant wasn't the green Volvo one, it was reddish. Done lot's of reading and some people complained about having coolant leaks when using aftermarket coolant, which stopped after switching back to Volvo OEM green one. I am planning to replaced it after I finish with the PCV.

Definitely not planning spending money on head gasket, unless I am complete sure I need to. I already envision about a 1000 pounds I need to spend on the car to get it to the condition I would be happy with.

Reading your post and to put your mind at ease I suspect you meant the A/C condensor looks to be in bad shape as this will be at the front and you cant visually see the rad from the front.

My 2007 T5 is still on its original radiator at 214000 miles but is on its second A/C condensor which are relatively easy to replace.

Looking at the photo of the bottom of your turbo, someone has been doing remedial work there at some point as there should be a bracket with a 10mm bolt through the middle of it that supports the two pipes. That shiny section on the turbo oil drain pipe is where the bracket would have been.