My15 V60 D4. Giving off oily fumes

[DTaylor]

About 6 weeks ago I noticed an intermittent smell inside the car, when the engine was hot and i was stuck in traffic. Volvo dealers found nothing. Then on Saturday whilst stopped at the services whilst going on holiday the smell was back and worse than before. I pulled the bonnet to see smoke coming up from the right hand side rear of the engine.

I set destination for nearest dealers who had a very quick look and said the rocker cover gasket was leaking. My car goes back in on Thursday to be looked at

The smell is an oily one, a bit like when a breather hose comes off. It also doesn't do it all the time. I've been using the car on holiday all week and it has been fine up until yesterday when it did it again. There are NO fault codes, Volvo have checked and the car runs very well, 5 adults up eating up these Cornish country lanes and hills with ease.

So has anyone else had this issue? Or does anyone know what could be causing it? I'm happy to go with the leaking rocker cover gasket but why so intermittent, and why is there no obvious leak ie the drive is oil free, no drips. Also the fumes seem to come from quite a way down so its difficult to see what is leaking (from below and possibly to the right of the emap pipe)

I've think I've eliminated the air con system. Looks like pipes go to the left hand side of the engine, plus I've left it off all week.

Any thoughts?

[Spike56]

Could it be heat related? The rocker cover must be liable to some expansion as it heats up. This would allow oil, under pressure, to leak but only when hot. The oil wouldn't 'smoke' unless it's hot?

[DTaylor]

Yes, it appears to be heat related. I cant see anything at the rear of the engine that contains oil eg pipework. So I'm guessing it must be coming out when hot. Hope it's not an expensive fix

[Spike56]

Tiny spray of oil makes lots of smoke and fumes. Maybe falling on the exhaust or similar hot surface,?

[DTaylor]

Well, had the oily smell and fumes (smoke) on Saturday going on holiday.
used the car all week, and had the issue again on Thursday.
Ok Friday, and just drove back from Cornwall to Birmingham, (5 hours up M5 motorway - not fun) and again no issues, car ran a treat.

Lets hope the garage can get to the bottom of what this is and fix it. There's nothing worse than knowing the car isn't 100% right and needing to rely on it for work.

Now I'm home I'm going to remove the top cover and have a look around the back of the engine as see if I can spot something obvious (it has to be obvious for me to spot)

[DTaylor]

So the car goes into the dealers because of a smell of fumes. They do the repairs for the recall. It goes back a second time because it doesn't run right after the repairs. They replace the emap pipe.

I still have a smell of fumes.
They miss this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgU...ature=youtu.be

It's now gone in to my regular garage for repair. Should be getting it back later today.

[Zebster]

Leaking injector seal?

[DTaylor]

Arrgh. The garage have rang to say there is so much stuff on the back of the engine they can't see properly where the fumes are coming from.

They now want £350 to strip it all off to try and see.

Getting fed up.

[DTaylor]

Volvo missed it, twice.
Local garage can't see it and want £350 to go any further.

If they said "yes, rocker cover gasket, £350 to fix" then fine. But it's not. It's £350 and hopefully we can find out whats gone.

I may just have to drive with the windows open - or the air on recirc.

[Zebster]

I don't know if that was a leaking injector seal or not, but in my experience such a leak is pretty obvious when shining a torch onto the injector base while the engine is running.

Otherwise I'd clean the entire area, then keep an eye out for exactly where the oil reappears.