Before you changed the oil filter housing, what were the symptoms?

Check if any hoses are kinked or pinched.

May be possible that the replacement housing is defective.

 

wow , i am currently at the same situation i have posted multiple threads on different forums of excessive crankcase pressure on the same 2.4i engine , i have replaced the pcv housing . changed both the hoses from the upper cam cover and the elbow from the lower intake manifold , i have removed the lower intake manifold and have replaced the lower intake gasket as well ,after all this i notice very slight vacuum under idle
with a glove on the oil filler cap i notice it remains under vacuum thought most of the rev range but inflates as soon the engines go high rpm , i am stumped on what this could , i have made sure there are no clogs on the hose and the pcv housing is brand new ,i have done everything short of removing the oil filter housing and checking for clogs within , this over pressure on high rpm is causing oil to leak out the neck of the oil filler cap and the intake cam seal to pop out on my car , i have pushed back the intake cam seal in again and it pops it out again if drive it under high revs and pulls

a few questions for you

you said you notice very high pressure when you remove the cap on idle ? under idle it should be a vacuum, can you let me know what is your intake manifold pressure ? ( the reason being is that a higher intake manifold pressure can point to a vacuum leak , which reduces the vacuum available to the pcv to draw out crankcase fumes

i have noticed in my current 2.4i engine with the problem the the idle intake vacuum without any airconditiong turned on is around 10.9 to 11 inhg (inches of mercury) , i have seen another 2.4i engine go all the way down the 8.9 inhg (inches of mercury when on idle and no aircon turned on, which makes me think i got headgasket or lot of blowby past the rings , which seems unlikely as the engine got barely 50k km on it

also your case does sound to be a clog maybe on the holes on the block for the oil drain back from the pcv chamber or the hole on the block where the crankcase fumes are supposed to enter the pcv chamber


hope this helps and please keep us updated on how you resolve this as i would love to know how to solve this

thank you

 

wow , i am currently at the same situation i have posted multiple threads on different forums of excessive crankcase pressure on the same 2.4i engine , i have replaced the pcv housing . changed both the hoses from the upper cam cover and the elbow from the lower intake manifold , i have removed the lower intake manifold and have replaced the lower intake gasket as well ,after all this i notice very slight vacuum under idle
with a glove on the oil filler cap i notice it remains under vacuum thought most of the rev range but inflates as soon the engines go high rpm , i am stumped on what this could , i have made sure there are no clogs on the hose and the pcv housing is brand new ,i have done everything short of removing the oil filter housing and checking for clogs within , this over pressure on high rpm is causing oil to leak out the neck of the oil filler cap and the intake cam seal to pop out on my car , i have pushed back the intake cam seal in again and it pops it out again if drive it under high revs and pulls

a few questions for you

you said you notice very high pressure when you remove the cap on idle ? under idle it should be a vacuum, can you let me know what is your intake manifold pressure ? ( the reason being is that a higher intake manifold pressure can point to a vacuum leak , which reduces the vacuum available to the pcv to draw out crankcase fumes

i have noticed in my current 2.4i engine with the problem the the idle intake vacuum without any airconditiong turned on is around 10.9 to 11 inhg (inches of mercury) , i have seen another 2.4i engine go all the way down the 8.9 inhg (inches of mercury when on idle and no aircon turned on, which makes me think i got headgasket or lot of blowby past the rings , which seems unlikely as the engine got barely 50k km on it

also your case does sound to be a clog maybe on the holes on the block for the oil drain back from the pcv chamber or the hole on the block where the crankcase fumes are supposed to enter the pcv chamber

hope this helps and please keep us updated on how you resolve this as i would love to know how to solve this

thank you

There should be a very slight vacuum at idle... If you're not experiencing a whine or whistle at higher RPMs then you're fine.

 

Time for a compression check - blowby can overwhelm any PCV. But checking/clearing the oilways from the PCV assembly into the block is also worthwhile, even though it requires doing the job over again.

What grade of oil is in there? How many miles/km on it, and the engine? Does it lose oil?

 

U agree... I'm almost temper to say what you're experiencing is normal.

The crank case is under vacuum at idle (your 11hg) that sounds normal.
high rpm there is no vacuum (significantly less) in the intake to be used by the crankcase. due to the high rpm and leakage from the piston rings there should be a pressure in the intake.

The problem with the cam seals is due to a loss of contact material. Either by heat cycling and the seal shrinking ever so slightly or loss of material from sliding in and out of the cam. Think about it like this, the easier it is for you to slide the seal in the easier it comes back out.

That's my. 02 anyway

 

Positive pressure at idle is not a good sign.

If the drain back and seperation ports in the block are clear it sounds like time for a compression and cylinder leakage test.

Are there any other signs?

Rough idle, oil in the coolant, check engine light, loss of fuel economy?

 

Thank you all for your ideas!

I'm not sure of the history of this car because my friend just bought it a few days ago. Here's my answers so far:

1. I noticed some creamy junk on the oil cap (could be indicative of a bad head gasket)

2. The oil drain ports on the engine block were crusty with carbon chunks, but not plugged. Regardless, I cleaned out all the ports with a screwdriver.

3. There is Vacuum at the intake at idle (not sure how much, but enough to suction my finger to it)

4. 163k km on the engine. Not sure what oil was used previously (or how often it was changed) but I replaced it with 5-30 synthetic.

5. Engine seems to run smoothly. Not sure about power.. I don't want to push it hard in its current condition.

6. There is EXPLOSIVE pressure behind the oil cap and dip stick. So much pressure that I recommended that he drive with the dipstick partially pulled out until he gets this issue looked into further.

7. No CEL

I agree that there could be excessive blow by due to worn rings and/or a bad head gasket. I suggested that he should get a compression/leakage test, and a head gasket leak test.

I'll keep you all updated. I'm also interested in what the problem is! Of course, any more insight would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Joey

 

This sounds a lot like my issue that I had covered under short term warranty after buying my C30 from the dealer. Had about 8 miles left on the warranty too... Oil calcification is a thing. It comes from neglected oil changes.

1. Milky looking on the cap can just be moisture.

2. See start of my post.

3. There should only be a little. It will be excessive with an issue.

4. If oil changes were neglected so badly, changing the oil won't help it. Lots of work to be done to fix that.

5. Have to be careful on this one. If the problem is what I think it is you'll lose all oil pressure and have to have the car towed somewhere (oil light). In fact it shouldn't be driven.

6. Stop driving it!

7. Not always going to happen.

See my picture...

 

Thanks for reply GRat9717.

In an interesting development of the story, my buddy took the car to the local Volvo dealer and they replaced all the PCV parts (that I just changed recent)... and they found that the car still acts the same. (no kidding).

They are now in the midst of pulling off the oil pan and are going to clean the oil pick up ports.

We will see how this turns out! It's looking pretty similar to the issue you had in your car..

 

going to check that out. hope its not too crazy to get the lower intake manifold off.
thx