I always hear people mentioning it, but I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. Is this similar to the air/oil separators on BMWs or is it more involved than that?
I always hear people mentioning it, but I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. Is this similar to the air/oil separators on BMWs or is it more involved than that?
Depends on the vintage. In the 1970's, they froze up and pushed oil out the crank seals. The 850's tend to plug up a small vacuum hose, or oil it up and rot it out. Remove intake manifold in about 30 minutes, replace some hoses, clean up the oil separator and all is good for another half a decade or more. Early 70 series seldom give much grief, but they can plug up eventually, and there are some hard plastic hoses that will split. The newer ones, form around 06 or so on have an internal diaphragm on the top of the engine that will rupture and create rather disturbing squealing noises as it sucks air into the engine past the crank seals.
None of them are terribly difficult to repair or replace.
I just know my '91 240 needs a flame trap cleaning every year and sometimes changing out the breather box every 2-3 years is good. Didn't own my 2013 C30 long enough to find out about that PVC.
I actually need to do the flame trap on mine though. I don't think with my year I need to take out the intake manifold.
Volvo made the PCV system remarkably complex and difficult to get to. That's basically it in a nut shell.
They all have a vapor-liquid separator that lives under the intake manifold. You have to pull the intake to get to this thing. It's made of plastic and tends to become brittle with age and heat. Do anything wrong and bits break off and drop down into the oil pan.
RWD models tend sludge and coke up the line going from the separator to the intake, making it not work, pushing oil out past the seals. You can pull this line and rod it clear.
FWD models tend to sludge and coke up the tiny orifice in the intake hose, making it not work, pushing oil out past the seals. You can pull this hose to get to this orifice and clear it with a piece of wire.
All the PCV kits sell you a lot of parts you probably do not need. Rarely does the vapor-liquid separator box go bad, but the kits make you think they do and that you need to replace it.
It really is an absurdly complex design.
If you think those are complex, stay away from BMW....
TED_fiestaHP wrote: If you think those are complex, stay away from BMW....
Big plus 1 there.
So reliable placing a flame trap on a 240 can be a pain? I'll give credit to my previous owner of my car then as he did it every other oil change.
TED_fiestaHP wrote: If you think those are complex, stay away from BMW....
Do you mean this stuff? Because this came out of my BMW about six months ago. It wasn't really hard, but it was way more of a PITA than it should have been.
If the Volvo system (probably an 850 at some point) is similar, I suppose I can deal with a full day of aggravation when it comes time to change it.
All of that lives under and behind all of this other stuff.
TED_fiestaHP wrote: If you think those are complex, stay away from BMW....
Having swapped out the PCV/CCV system in my wife's 330, yes.
I wouldn't want to pay the labor for someone else to do it, but it's issues are kind of overblown in my opinion. Remove the flame trap where the vent enters near the throttle body, that's notorious for getting clogged, and serves no tangible purpose.
I've had my manifold off a few times, once specifically for PCV overhaul. I put a new starter in the last time it was off, while I had it off, I cleaned the oil seprator, put in new rubber connections, and replaced the little hose that goes from the oil seperator to the intake with some 5/8" ID hose. I got that idea from some others that had tried it out, and giving the gasses a larger diameter route to get to the intake seems to greatly reduce clogging issues. It's also a good idea for higher mileage engines with a little more blow-by.
Her's mine, only one bolt bottom left (your left when standing in front of it) is a real bear to get to, taking out isn't so bad as putting it back in. You'll need an extension, a tapped up u joint so it's flexible but not too flexible, and "The Force," to get it back in. Bottom bolts don't have to come all the way out though, the bottom manifold bolt "holes" are slotted so the manifold can lift up, off of the bolts. I've done standard manifolds and VVIS manifolds (as seen below) VVIS is much more difficult since everything about it is physically bigger.
Oil seperator is the black box with hoses coming out of it, below the intake ports and to the left of the starter.
In reply to bigdaddylee82:
What model Volvo is that?
In reply to Woody:
It's a '95 850 GLT, with a '94 850 something 2.4l VVIS engine.
Don't just turn the heater on high and limp home when one of these overheats, shut it off. Hence the different engine than original. Entire long block lower mileage engine shipped from 300 miles away was cheaper than a reman head.
Do enough of those BMW M54 CCVs and it gets a lot faster. Last one I did took about an hour to R&R (valve plus all four hoses).
I think on my '90 240 my flame trap lives on top of the intake manifold, so I don't have to take off header? My oil breather and hoses were done at 290k miles, nearly 5k miles ago.
Coldsnap wrote: I think on my '90 240 my flame trap lives on top of the intake manifold, so I don't have to take off header? My oil breather and hoses were done at 290k miles, nearly 5k miles ago.
Yes, the flame trap is very easy to do. Not necessary to clean it that often though, every year or two would be more than fine.
Oil separator is below the intake.
EvanB wrote:Coldsnap wrote: I think on my '90 240 my flame trap lives on top of the intake manifold, so I don't have to take off header? My oil breather and hoses were done at 290k miles, nearly 5k miles ago.Yes, the flame trap is very easy to do. Not necessary to clean it that often though, every year or two would be more than fine. Oil separator is below the intake.
Ok, awesome. Whew, one less thing I gotta do.
The 240 flame trap can be thrown in the river, too. No more breather problems, and I've never lit one on fire with it gone.
TED_fiestaHP wrote: If you think those are complex, stay away from BMW....
They're remarkably similar to BMW and for the same reason - they are engineered to allow crankcase breathing without losing oil to the intake stream, under sustained heavy throttle/WOT/boost.
At least you don't have to remove the intake manifold on a BMW to access the parts for replacement. Mandatory on Volvo whiteblocks because of the way it mounts.
American style PCV systems really suck when subjected to this kind of use, they tend to blow oil into the intake.
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