V70: Engine Safety Recall Notice

[Clan]

The particulate filter stores soot particles ( black smoke) so the gas coming out the rear is extremely clean .. Roughly every tank of fuel there is a regeneration process carried out , an extra squirt of fuel is given after the power stroke to increase the temperature of the exhaust gas , this will then burn away the soot particles stored in the Particle filter and leave it empty ready to absorb more soot ... It seem that some of this extra fuel is going past the pistons into the sump .. but its not like petrol which will wash away any oil , Diesel fuel is very oily anyway so i guess the small extra percentage must be deemed safe .. It will eventualy evaporate off on a long journey , but perhaps the cars concerned dont do many longer journeys ..

[dan 244]

I have a v50 D5 and started a thread in the v50 section, and then noticed this one. We have had the letter, and oil is about 15mm above the max mark, and ouite runny in my opinion.

I will be booking my car in next week, but wont be happy unless the oil and filter is changed, if I wanted to save money on my last oil change and have deisel at 1.20 / l instead of oil at a great deal more, I woudnt have paid 300 pounds for the service.

What hapens to these cars once out of warentee as mine runs out in september, and I had planned on keeping it till five years old. Its only done 16500 miles at the moment. (Alough the low milage it is not short journeys, most are 10 - 20 miles, just a couple of times a week, not every day.)

If I had to be doing 25000 miles a year to prevent problems it would have been nice to know two years ago when I bought it!

[Nick44]

Thanks Clan, that's very informative.
My car does most of it's miles on the M11. 80 mile round trip most days, and I get through a tank of Derv a week.
However, I do also spend between 1 and 2 hours a day queing in traffic for the Blackwall Tunnel. In your opinion is this excessive time spent with the engine effectivly idling adding to the problem?
(Probably sounds mad to anyone not familiar with South London, The first 5 miles of my journey to get across the river takes 5 times longer than the next 35 miles going North, and in reverse going back home South)

[kev ryder]

have a 58 v70 2.4d,just got my letter,always find it hard to dip properly,do it cold on a morning,pull stick out,wipe and re dip,but always seems to be oil dripping all down stick making it hard to get a true level,anyone else got this problem,does seem very watery today thou.

[Eltel2812]

Kev

Mine's the same, difficult to check usually takes two or three wipes to get a "true" reading even when cold but it's well above the max mark. However I think it was overfilled at the last service as well which hasn't helped. It's going in today for attention.

I note in the letter it says if you can't turn the engine off apply the parking brake and leave it until it stops running - I assume that'll be when all the engine oil has been burnt and it's seized solid! Does anyone know if you could stall it under these conditions - presumably not with a geartronic?

Terry

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Eltel2812

Kev

Mine's the same, difficult to check usually takes two or three wipes to get a "true" reading even when cold but it's well above the max mark. However I think it was overfilled at the last service as well which hasn't helped. It's going in today for attention.

I note in the letter it says if you can't turn the engine off apply the parking brake and leave it until it stops running - I assume that'll be when all the engine oil has been burnt and it's seized solid! Does anyone know if you could stall it under these conditions - presumably not with a geartronic?

Terry

Not with auto no , but you might hold the rpm down with the footbrake fully applied for long enough to prevent heating the oil too much and reducing the runaway effect and it might stop ..
But dont hold it for too long or the auto box oil will overheat . I think volvo are saying let it run away , its safer to repair the engine than endanger yourself or others ..
If you have manual you might just stall it and be ok .. , if it were me i'd leave it in gear running away down the road and apply the brakes until it stalled , that way the clutch wont overheat and fade away to nothing ..
But this run away is most unlikely to happen its a very rare thing if your engine is worn as well ..

[dan 244]

dealer cant look at mine untill wednesday 9th June, have spoken to volvo uk today as I am not happy with diluted engine oil drained down to 3/4 full, as in effect with the dilution of deisel probably only 5/8 oil 1/8 deisel. I only had the car serviced 1500 miles ago, and have level 15mm above the full mark, so 1500 miles more, and I wil be getting something like 1/3 deisel in my sump, this cant be good.

They are due to phone me back am tomorow. I feel that as they have no resolution to this problem that they should be draining oil, and replacing to the 3/4 mark, as they have been instructed on new services. Otherwise in 1500 miles time are they going to drain down to the 3/4 mark again and dilute the oil further.

My gues is they will be very reluctant to do this, as I was quoted 145 pounds by the dealer for just a drain down and new oil.

[Tony g6hbq]

I suppose if we all stick together and insist on new Oil and Filter, they might take notice.
I spoke to my dealer today who said the software had been done on 24/5 when the car was in for an electrical fault.
I said I felt the Oil had been compromised and I wanted fresh oil and filter.
I will speak to Volvo tomorrow to reinforce my point.

[dan 244]

good luck

[Eltel2812]

Had mine done yesterday. No new oil or filter - but I had only done 3K since last service - I'd be more concerned if I'd done a lot more. Got a Volvo letter saying it had been drained to 2/3 full and to keep it at that until further notice. To be honest I can only recall the odd regeneration in that 3K miles that I detected i.e drop in MPG and everything very hot under the bonnet and exhaust so it probably hadn't diluted much in any case and it had been overfilled at last service.