Oil Leak (Turbo Oil Return)
 

Hi Folks,

Just completed a head swap on my 2004 V70 D5 (EuroIII). Pretty much everything went smoothly apart from 1 job that I had not envisaged that would be hard, re-fitting the turbo drain pipe and seals!

I spotted a leak on some newspaper I left under the car from after the head swap, went and took a look and there was some misting around the oil return into the sump, and a pool of oil collected on the oil cooler...I am pretty sure its the seal from the oil return line.

Now removing this pipe was easy, fitting it was a real pain, with the rubber o-ring in place on the pipe, I could not get it to align with the turbo very easily at all...I think I must of damaged the O-ring in the sump end which has now caused the leak. New parts are on order from Volvo and I will attempt again next week, any tips from the folks here? Would I be advised to unbolt the turbo from the manifold to slide the return pipe in straight into the sump?

Cheers,

JD

Hi James
I had to fit a new turbo 4 years ago, and I do remember it being a pain,
I did have the pipe on the turbo when fitting, then it all went in ok,
Dave

Thanks, I spoke with the tech as my local dealer also, they suggested loosing the turbo off the manifold to create a little space for manoeuvre. The turbo is actually bolted to the top and bottom of the exhaust manifold so not sure how much wriggle room it gives me over the studs...but will give it a go,.

I will be tacking the job on Monday all being well....so fingers crossed.

JD

For those of you interested then yes you need to loosen off the turbo to get this part to fit and seal correctly, my procedure was as follows:

1) Remove the turbo heat shield
2) Remove the oil supply feed from top of turbo
3) Unbolt the turbo from the exhaust manifold
4) Unbolt the exhaust hanger for the downpipe (gives you a bit of flexibility)
5) Jack the car up
6) Remove the oil return pipe
7) Use a bit of superglue and stick the new gasket on (trust me)
8) Fit new rubber washer on return pipe and oil it
9) Get assistant to pull the turbo up just a small amount
10) Bolt return to turbo
11) Make sure oil return is seated correctly into the sump
12) Refit turbo to manifold (this process will force the oil return further into sump)

Top Tip: Get some extra long torx bits, its a bit of a faff upside down, I also used some superglue on the bolts to hold them on the torx while aligning.

Now leak free...