Volvo bodge and fresh MOT happiness

[bigstraight6]

My old faithful daily driver Volvo seems to be living a charmed existence currently, it developed an engine oil leak between the engine and gearbox after I stupidly over filled it (albeit slightly)  when I did the annual oil/filter change  recently so I feared the main crank seal had failed which is a serious job to replace on one of these, the prognosis became even more desperate when I removed the oil filler cap and a fairly loud popping noise was apparent leading me to think something within the engine had failed and maybe caused excess crankcase pressure.

After a bit of online research the source of the popping noise turned out to be nothing more serious than failed vacuum engine mounts, in the true spirit of this place I effected a bodge and disconnected the vacuum supply to the engine mounts and wrapped some insulating tape around a small valve, and hey presto the popping noise stopped as has the engine oil leak! The euphoria was complete when the car went through the MOT last week needing no more than a few bulbs and handbrake adjustment, it even flew through its emissions test after I removed a completely shot EGR valve and fitted a blanking plate in its place earlier this year.

From thinking the worse that might well have been the end of the road for the car after only 8 years of trouble free service,  I’m happy now!