D5 XC70 54plate Oil Leak from Crank Seals
 

OK

My 160k XC70 had been running fine with no issues for a couple of thousand miles. Suddenly noticed a considerable oil leak. This had come on very suddenly as I'd checked the oil regularly and it had been spot on.

It was going in for an MOT anyway so mentioned it to my mechanic. It passed on everything except for the serious amount of oil leaking out.

After some digging, my mechanic discovered oil leaking from both crank seals and reckoned the PCV filter was causing it. The car had required almost 3L of oil to top it up. He replaced the PCV/Oil filter unit and, despite a little bit of oil still being visible he passed it for the MOT thinking it was probably residual.

Anyway, the leak is still there. 400 miles later it needed another 3L.

Where do we go from here? My mechanic is a very good friend of 25yrs+ and. though not a Volvo specialist, is generally great at solving problems.

if its mainly at the rear of the engine the oil gallery core plug may have failed its a common problem on older d5 engines mine failed at 205k

Thanks Simmy

It appears to be coming more from the cambelt end of the engine if my analaysis of the oil puddles is correct. :regular_smile:

A front crank seal leak looks like this so see if there are any similarities.

Cheers

That's it.

It was the core plug that failed.

Decided eventually to just get it done as the rest of the car was in brilliant nick. My local garage offered to take it on but I thought I'd go with a specialist.

The nearest independent was a good 75+ miles away. Unfortunately, the process took a over EIGHT MONTHS!

GOt it back in the end. Was it worth doing? Probably.

wow eight months why did it take that long? . when i got mine done it took a day dropped off at 9 am picked it up next day at 9 am