Hi,

I'm having some trouble on my D24TIC and would like some advice on how to start fixing all of them. I will post them all at once because maybe someone can see a relation between them. Which to fix how? What is the order of importance?

nr 1, probably the worst one:
I have an oil leak. When I park the car, the next day I can find a few drops under it. Never can find much there, but i am loosing about 1 liter each 1000km so probably while driving it's loosing much more. Don't really have any blue smoke out of the exhaust. People tell me that 1 liter in 1000 km is acceptable for an old car (13 years old, 340.000 km) but since it never lost any oil untill a few month ago and now this much, I think something must be wrong. The oil that I find under the car comes from the plastic black box on top of the engine. (breather box?). Around the seal where it is connected to the engine, some oil gets out. Also on the other end of the breather hose, where it is connected to the turbo, oil comes out. These run down to the bottom of the engine and make everything oily so I can't really see if there is any other source of oil leaks.

nr 2
the EGR valve was disconnected. The car was always serviced in a Volvo garage untill i started driving it (it used to belong to my parents). Why would the volvo mechanics disconnect this? Nobody else ever touched it so they must have done it. The yellow vacuum hose was disconnected and plugged with a screw. What should be the difference between connecting/disconnecting it?

nr 3
when the car starts and the weather is humid, there is a very loud squeeling noise. I guess it is some belt slipping. When I wash the car it always happens. When it happens the RPM sensor gives me 0 RPM. Where is the RPM measured? This should give me some indication of which belt is the problem.

nr 4
probably nr 3 is related to this. The belts (including timing belt) had to be changed at 280.000 according to the volvo service schedule, and now i already have 340.000 and still didnt find time to do it. I have the belts, just still didnt do it. Should I be in fear now and not drive the car untill I find time to do it or it shouldn't be a problem? Also I'm not experienced at all. I did do some small repairs on the car and I do mechanical stuff and have tools, but I never really worked on cars or engines. How long do you guess it will take to change the belts for me? Are there any other jobs that I should do at the same time?

For the rest the car runs fine. In the last 2 years I replaced the battery, 3 glow plugs, radiator, thermostat, brake calipers and discs and A/C condensor, and replaced oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter.

Hope I can get some advice on how to keep this car running reliable as it has for many years.

Thanks

if this engine is anything like a b23, (i'm not familiar with the VW diesels they put in these vehicles), that breather box might be blowing off oil because the ventilation unit (PCV or FlameTrap in the gas engines) is plugged up. this will create certain problems.

Not sure why the EGR valve was disconnected. Perhaps it was non functional and was bypassed to temporarily assuage an emissions problem?

As far as the belts go- i wouldn't worry too much, but make every effort to have them replaced asap.

Be sure to get a second opinion (preferably one of a professional on this engine) before doing any work that you're unsure of. If nothing else, this post will serve to BUMP your topic back to the top!

Hope this helps, and happy motoring.