Oil Consumption

Yet again the T4 has been to Dealers for warranty work...

However, whilst the dealer and I were under the bonnet he made a comment that i found astonishing.

"Volvo say that it is perfectly in order to put a litre of oil in the car every 1000 miles"

That means you would be topping up a litre once a month !!!

To me that seems a bit excessive, I think if that was happening the bus pass would come back out.

Mike

Mike,

I'm sorry to say that my company T4 did the same thing...but not a litre per 1000m.

Apparently Volvo are'nt too fussy that the T4 drinks oil....it does mention it in the handbook somewhere I'm sure I read it there.

Cheers,
Jim,
'96 855-R (The Flying Wardrobe)

A lot of cars drink oil like it's going out of fashion: 24-valve Benzes are notorious for doing 200 miles per pint (Car magazine has run a couple of 300E-24s on long-term test that did just that) and VW / Audi 16V motors are also notorious for it too.

Usually, manufacturers put something in the manual about "acceptable" oil consumption -- for example, my wife's Punto manual says that a litre every 1000 km (600 miles) is normal. As it happens, our car scarcely uses any.

I've added 500ml to my 2.0T in the last 12,000 miles, but every car has different tolerances from manufacture, and it's this that gives the differences.

Does yours use a lot?

admittedly I am a bit dim!

I put mobil 1 fully synth in my T5 and was worried that the 0w 40 "thinner" oil might not last as well as the 10w 40 recomended..

As yet it seems to be handling it just fine. the more I read the more I think I made the right choice. Does anyone know if Oil consumption varies between brands and specs?

if it uses alot maybe you should run it on chip fat! See your local fish and chip shop about supply.

Loz


850 T5 CD Auto (Twisted Fire Starter }> )

Some cars are designed to use oil as they work, you can make engines live longer this way. The MR2 I used to have (1992 GTi T-Bar) used about 1 pint every 500 miles and this was so that even though it redlined at 7000 revs (and you got the best power out of it at about 6500 - 6750) it still lasted. A friend of mine had one at 150,000 miles and it still kept up with mine at 58,000 and the only problem he had was a clutch wear out at the 150,000 point. I was even told by the Garage that using the engine at a higher rev range is better for that particular engine because of the way it uses oil. (Thought they did say driving at 100 in third for long peroids was not recomended).

[Dan F]

The tolerances thing is quite correct.

I think manufacturers put inflated consumption figures in their literature so no-one can say that the amount quoted is excessive if that is what they are experiencing.
Who is going to prove they didn't design their engine to use a litre of oil per 600 miles? Hummph!! x(

I have had 3 440s in the past.
The first, a carburettor model (H reg '91) used no oil whatsoever.
The second, a turbo model, (G Reg '90) used quite a lot about 2 litres inbetween oil changes at around 6000 miles. Some may say that isn't a lot but 1 litre per 3000 miles to me is a lot.
The third, a 2.0i SE (N reg '95) used not very much, I would say about .75 litres between changes @ 6000 miles.
That is about acceptable to me.

My current S40 I am having trouble with as I have only recently had the oil changed for the first time since I have owned it.

The level, believe it or not, seems to go up and down!!
Last week I looked it was just below Max and this week I looked and it had gone above Max. Weird. The car had been standing for 2 days on each occasion. I will be checking again on Saturday morning so will see what it says then.

Cheers,
Dan.

Dan,

Dude, your car is being sick. thats where all the extra oil is comming from. You took it out to the club, it had a few pints too many and now it's brought them back up again, Simple!

Okay, Sorry, I was just a little bored having been so productive today... sh!t, I've even done my expenses ;)

Loz

850 T5 CD Auto (Twisted Fire Starter }> )

Craig.

In fact, oil consumption is about the only thing the T4 has not gone back to the dealer for (yet!!!).

I get very little usage and between changes it seems the only consumption is when i wipe it off the dipstick.

It seems it is just a cop out to cover themselves but strange how it never features in the sales brochures...

Oh, and the last visit was because the exhaust manifold was loose and abs appears to have packed up - although of course "unable to find anything wrong".

I asked what would happen if abs did stop working and was assured normal breaking would be resumed. When I asked what happened when normal breaking stopped working the dealer wouldn't comment!!!

Hop I'm not starting to sound too disgruntled with Volvo.


Mike

[Dan F]

Shouldn't worry. If the ABS fails then the normal servo operated brakes work as a normal car.
If that fails, then that too will be like a normal car.....in that you will have no brakes.

If that happens therei s not a lot you can do except, foot off the throttle and use the gears to slow you down.

Later,
Dan.

Dan,

Re: designing and oil consumption ...

Typically the process involves a complex balance of :
1. Desired service interval (c30,000km these days)
2. Cylinder system performance (for oil consumption)
3. Available sump packaging space
4. Acceptable oil capacity between Max and Min marks

Typically at the start of a programme a load of targets are set and stuff gets designed - then we have 2 years of frentic engine testing and development - and eventually we end up with a design for a nominal engine that "satisfies" all/most requirements in normal use ...

Also its worth running a 10w40 engine on 10w40 ! Its what it was designed and developed for ! We dont test the "wrong" oil to see if it still works ! To the chap using 0w40 - please re-fill - you're saving a few pence fuel on lower starting friction but putting your bearings in peril ! Sorry to moan but ... the owners manuals are printed for a reason etc etc ....

Dr D