V70 d5 euro 4 intake manifold oil leak
 

Esteemed members,

I bought my v70 from a former forum member last year. It has given me no problems in the 4 months and 5,000 miles I've had it. As it has just ticked over 150,000 miles, I'm in the process of getting it to stage 0.

It was sold with a disclosed small oil leak / seepage near the swirl arm. I keep a close eye on oil levels, and hasn't seemed to be an issue.

This weekend, while doing a ATF refresh on the TF80sc (now silky smooth), I noticed a stain on the top of the splash guard, so whilst the leak wasn't really troubling me before, it's now moved up on my priority list. I also noticed that the seepage seems to be right across the intake manifold now, with a good amount on the right hand side as well.

Some pictures for reference:

[IMG]https://i.ibb.co/GMWMDRf/20210125-130459.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Gcjjr15/20210125-130519.jpg[/IMG]

In the advert for the car, which is no longer available the seller mentioned it had the swirl arm mod. I can't find any info on this, so if anyone is enlightened as to what this is, please share. I only mention it because if the manifold has been off before, I wonder if the gasket wasn't seated properly.

I intend to replace the intake manifold gasket pn: 30713459 (Thanks vida), but am wondering if while I'm in there I'll need to replace the swirl flaps. Should I have a set to hand, just in case? Any thoughts on this?

Further, I'm a keen yet inexperienced diy mechanic. I'm more experienced with motorcycles than cars, but willing to have a go. Is there anything in particular I should be aware of before starting? Anything else I can do whilst in the neighbourhood?

I'd previously cleaned out the egr pipe, I'm expecting the inside of the intake manifold to be pretty nasty, so it will be getting a good clean. I figure while I've got everything dismantled, I'd remove the egr mixer and give it a good clean as well.

Any guidance and or thoughts would be very much welcomed and appreciated.

The swirl arm flap mod will probably just be where the arm has been better secured either by the hot pin method through the plastic ball joint and wired up or the volvo repair kit-[much info on here regarding the swirl arm repairs] if you have got a leak in that vicinity it could be possible it's on the plastic type cylindrical sleeve on the swirl arm rod to the alloy casting of the cam cover, if it is that what's leaking i don't know if you can get that sleeve from volvo as a separate part without getting the whole swirl arm assembly quite expensive-around £150,theres not much to go wrong with the flaps, apart from a good clean, mainly the bushes the flaps pivot on. cleaning the egr is a good move at this point, unfortunately to get to the swirl flaps you have to dismantle the high pressure fuel pipes [possible to re-use these successfully as some on here have done]so a new cam cover gasket required and depending on how brave you feel either a new swirl arm flap kit or some high temp gasket seal around the plastic swirl arm spindle bushes.

Many thanks sv70. Ah, yes I've seen that mod. Assume it should be visible from the engine bay, will have a look when the wife gets back from the shops. I guess that throws my theory about a poorly seated gasket.

I'm pretty committed to removing the intake manifold to replace the gasket, and also give it and the swirl flaps a good clean.

Would there be any harm, or for that matter purpose in using a few dots of high temp seal as well as the gasket? Typing it out, I guess the gasket is designed for purpose.

Has anyone else had a leak from the intake manifold?

The oil around the swirl flap end/thermostat is most likely being blown past the end bushes on the swirl flap rod, and is not the gasket itself. I had exactly this problem last year, got tired of the mess it was making, and replaced the whole assembly since it was worn out, also at ~150k.

Yes you will see the mod but its very close to the head, you will see it better if you get the wife to start and stop the engine 5 times and every fifth time the arm will move backwards/forwards to calibrate, if you take the cam cover off just a new gasket will seal fine, without any extra sealant, but like has been said it's the 2 end bushes that's probably leaking, in which case you either bite the bullet and get the full swirl arm kit, or just give a good coat of high temp quality sealant all around them, this is what i did around 6 months ago and mine has been fine. but that's your gamble to make.

Thanks for the replies.

Had a good look, it's definitely not the stock plastic swirl arm.

Re: End bushes. Agree, the majority of the gunk is by the swirl arm, however there are traces of it along the entire front of the manifold, including a major build up on the right hand side (visible in image).

I'll change the gasket just in case. I'm of two minds as to whether to replace the swirl flaps themselves or use sv70s suggestion of using a high temp quality sealant (@sv70 which sealant did you use?).

If I get the flaps from Volvo, will they take it back if they remain in the packaging?

Never heard of a non plastic arm, sounds like someone has got creative, i used Victor Reinz - [Reinzosil] in a blue box and rated up to 300 degrees C ,available on ebay or a local engine recon shop, i suppose if you didn't open the packaging they should take it back but i would ask them before hand whether you use FRF or local dealers to be sure.

https://i.ibb.co/zJ0db9N/20210223-145505.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Fg7DQfG/20210223-145455.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/k1b8jjh/20210223-145448.jpg

Hard to get a decent shot, but here are a few.

Looks like part of an old carb linkage rod, difficult to see how its attached to the arm, if it's working that's fine, but if you take the cover off anyway you can always put an original arm back on as either drilling for a pin or even a very fine bolt and nylock would be easy compared doing it all fixed with the cover on.

Mine is leaking from that area too.

Mine is also leaking from the part thats directly behind the dip stick, the one where the thinner tube goes into, you can only see part of the circular object, its to the right and back of the oil filter, but directly behind the dip stick, any ideas what that part is please?