Engine gone bang
 

Hi All, after some major help on this..

Having owned my first Volvo for less 6 months (2012 Volvo XC60 2.0L D5204T3) it has unfortunately went bang and blew a hole in the engine block.
Gutted....
Obviously went straight to the trader the car was purchased from to see what they can and should do about it , Consumer Rights Act 2015 in hand.. after 5 weeks and an inspection of the engine, the report stated that the engine seized due to oil starvation.

Guess what the trader said.. they have said that I have been negligent and not checked the oil therefore it is basically my fault :speechless-smiley-5

At no point since owning the vehicle has the low oil level warning message popped on the dash and I know I checked the oil level on more than 1 (closer to 5 times) occasion and I even checked the level after the car went bang and every check the level indicated that it was well within the min/max marks.

Now I am trying to understand if there was an underlying issue with the engine before I purchased it, electronic oil level sensor, etc..

Any suggestions or advice or previous experience would be great, I've got the car coming back to me on Monday so I will start my investigations then to try and recover my losses and vehicle..

Thanks

trading standards is the way to go.

May find more info here https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=187

Sorry to hear of your misfortune but it’s a difficult one to prove either way. Was there an insurance backed warranty with the car? Have you contacted warranty company direct? There should be a reason for oil Starvation (hard to prove if it all leaked out, do you have any documented history of maintenance prior to purchasing ? When was the last oil and filter change? Was the correct oil used?

Thinking aloud would the ecu not store A message if oil level was low? Prwsumably once the block was holed there would be a low pressure alert? Anything prior?

"The engine seized due to oil starvation" doesn't necessarily mean that it was low on oil. Does the report explain the reason for the oil starvation?
A failed oil pump or collapsed oil filter wouldn't be something you could be expected to know about.

Car came with full SH dealer and last 2 Volvo specialists.
Report did mention there was remnants of non Volvo standard sump sealent, so highlighted that previous work/Sump removal.

I’ve contacted Citizens Advice and there automatically pass it onto trading standards, so will see how far that goes.

No it did not state how starvation occurred except it was there opinion and experience Of how it was caused.

Their warranty company were worse than the garage, no listening to my side at all, but they would do anything to not payout.

Great advice guys, thanks it will all help me to build my case.

the key thing is the sump being off before ...

Here is a scenario , Someone ran the sump low for whatever reason the bearings started knocking ..... then someone took the sump off and changed the bearing shells and put them back with a damaged crankshaft , then " got rid of the car" in an auction ... over your 6 months the scored crankshaft has eaten away at the beating shells and it has seized again ....

It would be interesting to see whether the bearing shells have been changed ... ...and how did the seller get hold of the car ..... an auction ?

Who did the engine diagnosis? The selling dealer or a specialist? A specialist who had previously worked on the car?

If its on finance or you payed any deposit amount on credit card they will act on your behalf also to help recover all cost. You would not expect a engine to blow up after 6 weeks and not have an oil leak if it had been properly service by the garage you got it from. Also check your paperwork to see what oil they used as if not by the handbook they would then be liable for incorrect maintenance.
Think you have a good chance of winning with this one especially owning the car for such a short time.
Please keep us updated.

I suspect Clan is on the right lines. Also possible that some sealant has got stuck in the pump blocking it

Evening all.
Got the car back from the trader, knowing what I have read up regarding the engine oil level I thought I would check what the oil level reading in the display was. Please correct me if I am wrong but the the reading will always be determined by the car having to be driven 30km (18 miles) right?

Since the car has not been driven and the oil has been drained from the car the reading was 100% oil level good. So my thinking is that this was the last level before the engine went bang. Correct?
Tried to attach picture for ref.

I have access to a diagnostic kit to read the ECU manufacturers specific and EOBD.
Loads of codes on the manufacturer side referring to supply voltage (battery is flat just about) CAN communication error (I don’t exactly know what is unplugged but obviously there will be some items unplugged), codes present for engine oil level sensor range/performance and engine oil pressure too low ( to be expected no oil present) I was able to view the data for the oil level sensor it read -114 indicating low oil level by ecu data.
Zero codes in EOBD side which surprises me a little suggesting EOBD side has been cleared perhaps, or am I just been cynical?

This is suggesting to me an oil level sensor issue, but every I have read indicate they are very very reliable.

All feedback welcome on my thoughts