And the day started out like any other....

[Welly]

Pottering about yesterday in traffic and the Volvo started to sound unwell. I knew immediately what it was and stopped for a quick looky......The Oil Filter Housing/Diaphragm has failed causing an over pressure of crankcase ventilation it causes a very loud "woo woo woo woo" noise like a siren

I know about this problem, it plagues almost all Focus ST owners and for some reason thought I would be immune from the issue basically it can be 'fixed' short term by pulling the dipstick which allows the engine to 'breath' and the noise stops.

Thing is I had the family on board and we were returning from an horrific day (another time perhaps) and wanted to be home pronto. I replaced the dipstick, noise returns, and we ventured the 6 miles home. Upon acceleration the noise would go (I assume the crankcase gases were being eaten up with the throttle open) but as soon as you came off the gas the "woo woo woo" came back. Driving very gingerly we nursed the thing home and I started Googling the issue.........

"Do not drive, it can blow the cam seals and spray oil onto the cambelt" I read ....... "pull the dipstick to release the pressure and it'll be fine" wrote a Ford Master tech I found on line

Rushing back out to the car I had a quick squint under the cam covers for oil (they 'release' quite easy for inspection) - nothing, no oil at all. Felling a bit relieved I tried to apply a bit of logic and decided it runs fine, I've sorted the pressure problem, I can now get it fixed proper.

There's a stupid niggling doubt now that I should not have driven initially like this but I didn't have the information to tell me otherwise (history was telling me that driving with the dipstick out was a no-no). I spoke to my mechanic first thing today and he said it was fine to do what I've done but it needs fixing asap, I'm using it today (max 2000 rpm) but I should be able to use her indoors for Tues/Weds until mine goes in on Thurs. I can't stop worrying that I've damaged some seal somewhere which'll rear its head at the worst time later on I guess all I can do is get it fixed and watch out for oil leaks like a hawk.

Sorry to ramble on but don't cars frustrate the hell out of you sometimes the mood I was in last night may have well have been for losing a family member

[Welly]

Here's the noise....

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[Doggy]

Very worrying when something like that happens - I'm guessing it has an automatic valve to relieve the pressure on a closed throttle and this has stuck?

Don't know if it's practical, but I'd be thinking of over-riding/bypassing it until you can make a permanent repair, (which I guess is what withdrawing the dipstick does).

To my way of thinking, so long as the noise hasn't changed, it probably hasn't managed to blow anything else.

Must admit though I'd be having kittens wondering if you have excess crankcase pressure, which would really worry me.

[Welly]

The 'noise' is the breather vacuum trying to pull air in from wherever it can - eventually it'll pull the Cam Seal inwards to create an air path - this is why I'm kicking myself for driving it

I've looked again around the Cams today and there's no oil so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[steve_earwig]

Some sort of emissions feature? I've no idea why the engine would need something like that but then I'm feeling extra especially thick today (headache, slept all day) so I'll probably figure it out when my brain starts functioning later. Anyway, at least you knew what it was about and didn't either a. ignore it until it manifested itself in a more apparent manner b. drive along scanning the skies for a spaceship or c. not hear it over the drum & base and only react when oils started to cover up your "Dave & Sharon" sun visor...

[Welly]

Spoke to another owner on the Volvo forum with the exact same model as me and he drove his around for 100 miles whistling like a kettle before getting it in for repair and with no further problems so i feel a bit better now. It's going in on Thursday.

[Welly]

Thought I'd chance my arm here and speak to my Volvo local dealer about this............

See, the internet told me that in North America Volvo recognised this Diaphragm unit as a weak design and extended the Warranty on it to 10 years as a good will gesture (why do Americans get the best deals? well actually I know why - they know HOW to complain and all get together to enforce the point whereas we just bend over and take a hit).

Anyhow, typically, their response was "oooh we've NEVER heard of that before".....and....."my Manager has been here 10 years and he's never heard of this either" (great, f*cking gang up on me why don't you).......finally the classic "why don't you pop it down for us to dia-ag-nose the problem and give you a quotation"..............yeah right, see ya

Arse holes.

[steve_earwig]

Oh ffs Can you find any details of this Merry Can extended warranty thing to chuck at them?

[Welly]

No not really, then they'd hit me with the UK/US differing policies etc and tie me up in knots

[scotty73]

No not really, then they'd hit me with the UK/US differing policies etc and tie me up in knots

what a bunch of arseholes no wonder their known as stealers

[Welly]

I know, you should have heard the snooty receptionist - she pretty much discredited my ability to diagnose what was wrong, suggesting I was 'presuming' what was at fault etc etc.

I may as well have rang up and asked her to show me her flange through the showroom window

[scotty73]

I know, you should have heard the snooty receptionist - she pretty much discredited my ability to diagnose what was wrong, suggesting I was 'presuming' what was at fault etc etc.

I may as well have rang up and asked her to show me her flange through the showroom window

Our local pug dealer tried that with me, oh we've never heard of the sump plug hole failing before you'll have to bring it in and have a new sump fitted that'll be £180 plus fitting costs

Oh is that all? well how the f*ck do i get it there it's up on axle stands with no f*cking oil in it genius... Oh you'll have to get it towed the 15 miles too.
New sump eh? i tapped my own hole (oh err misses) at a cost of about £18.

[lozz]

ijust asked someone iknow whos into volvos
and he rekons the pcv (oil-trap) valves are common cause for these kind of symptoms on volvos,

dont know if thats 100% or not tho

[Welly]

Well it's all fixed (as of last Thursday) and everything is running perfectly

Here's the offending Oil Filter housing and breather diaphragm:



This breather spilts open as soon as the diaphragm fails and has to be replaced with a new (uprated) one for £15.00.


The unit cost £143.00 (with my 15% owners club discount) and plus a new breather hose and 2 ltrs of new oil and delivery it came to £200.00. Fitting involved removing the Air Box, the under tray, the ECU had to be 'moved', the coolant drained, the rad fan removed, the rad moved and then you get to the housing which has to come out from underneath the car (good luck with that on your driveway).

It took my mechanic most of the day, approx 7 hours on and off, he said someone was on it generally the whole day including resetting an error message that came up during the day. I can believe the amount of work as you can't even see this thing from above. He'd never done one before so took it as a learning job and did me a massive favour on the cost and asked for £120.00 which I thought was fair considering the time.

[OdinEidolon]

I do wonder what they think when they build stuff like this... 7h of work? Whooo