V70: Engine Safety Recall Notice

[adb007]

Not sure about accuracy of a VIN table I saw in a post showing meaning of the 8th character of VIN re DPF.

I have a 2008 V70 D5 185 Geartronic car with VIN YVBW71408------ which according to Volvo Customer services, and my dealer does have a DPF.

However, according to the table I saw the 4 following the engine variant 71 suggests no DPF as Euro 4.

Oil level is too high 25 mm over the max on dipstick (1500 mles after service) and car in at moment to have level dropped.

Told dealer if Volvo wont pay to change the oil I will and argue with Volvo later. Don't believe that degree of contamination is OK for engine life.

[dan 244]

Good luck, let me know if any joy. I have a V50 D5 with same problem, and I am not happy with that amount of deisel in my oil, I have mine booked in next wednesday (over a week before it could be done!). Fortunatly I have several cars, so am not driving it at the moment.

I have to date spoken to Volvo uk twice and am awaiting a call back, my dealer three times and another dealer, all say no oil change.

I have done some reasearch on desel dilution of oil, which happens naturally in all deisel cars to a much lesser extent. And it transpires that up to 4% is acceptable, over that and the viscossity of the oil is seriously comprimised. I would say that we have close to 10% in our oil, and the draining to 3/4 will make room for a further 5 - 10%, which like you only took 1500 miles, so that will make 20% deisel. I explaned this to volvo uk, and they said they are only prepared to drain oil to 3/4 no oil change, so I asked for something in writing to confirm that this would not cause premature engine wear but they were not prepared to comment.

So if volvo uk are so sure that no oil change is required they should offer assurance in writing that no engine wear will take place, otherwise they should change the oil, but they are not prepared to do either.

How much was your oil change, I was quoted 140 pounds for oil and filter.

[Tony g6hbq]

E mailed Castrol got this reply.

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can understand your concern regarding your Volvo, however, it is
common for there to be dilution of the engine oil with diesel fuel to
quite high levels, especially in modern diesel engines fitted with
diesel particulate filters, and modern oils are designed to cope with
this.

It very much depends on the engine design as to what is a safe level of
diesel dilution, some engines can be sensitive to 10%, whereas we've
seen others running quite happily with 20% and even more on our test
beds. If Volvo feel that diesel dilution resulting in a 5mm increase in
oil level is safe, then that judgement will be based on their knowledge
of their engines from hundreds of hours of development testing, so you
can take some comfort from that. It would not be in their interest to
benefit from a short term cost saving by not changing the oil, compared
to the reputational damage if any number of these vehicles subsequently
suffer from premature failure.

I hope this answers your query, please contact us again if you require
any further information.

Regards.

Brian Utton
Castrol Limited
Technical Manager



Looks like we stand NO chance..
Volvo's attitude

[adb007]

An update.

Volvo dealer (nr Guildford) could not get authorisation from Volvo to change the oil foc so I said that they should do so at my expense on basis there would be no labour cost and I would pay for the oil. They said my last bill for service had oil included at £66 plus vat. I said change oil, expecting slightly less oil to be needed if not filling to max mark.

Got bill for £104 incl vat on collection for 62 units of oil (6.2 litres?) because it included filter change not pre-agreed and various ancialiary items. It took oil level to one division below high on dipstick and I calculate the 30 mm over max I had previously, corresponded to 2 litres excess or 20-25% contamination by diesel.

'Discussed with' service reception who dropped the bill to £63 plus vat incl filter insert by applying various discounts. Accepted this.

Dealer said that according to Volvo, a high degree of oil contamination was ok and 'they should know'. They were not prepared to say though that if the oil level dropped in future, it was ok to top up sump using diesel to save money and they would then accept any turbo bearing failure as unconnected to such a money saving approach! (You bet they weren't).

My impression is they are not at all happy with Volvo's position and have their fingers crossed that the software update will reduce the over supply of diesel during DPF regeneration. They said if it did not fix the problem (and their technical manager suggested it wouldn't) was I planning to do refills every 1500 miles? Good point.

Volvo customer liason said earlier this week to me (very helpful on phone explaining what they were doing and why) that if the oil level went up again after next 1500 miles they would then change oil and filter foc but expected the software change would obviate the need.

Emailed 'Honest John' at the Telegraph and asked his opinion. He said 'change the oil!' and noted that this was the approach being taken by Mazda who have a similar problem with DPF.

Will post again once I have covered 1500 miles - about 8 weeks.

[Tony g6hbq]

Reply from Volvo today


Thank you for your e-mail and for taking the time to speak to Mohammed
earlier this week.

I would like to reassure you that in the first instance, the dealer will
only need to reduce the oil level. Should the level rise again, they
will then replace the oil.

Please rest assured that the purpose of the action is to adjust the
quantity of oil in the engine, there is no connection with the oil life
expectancy or routine change point. Volvo do not believe that
any car affected by this issue will suffer premature or undue wear to
its engine components. Nevertheless, I have of course recorded your
concerns under file ******

As you have noted that your oil level has increased, I would urge you to
book your vehicle into your local Volvo dealer at your earliest
convenience.

Jo Howard
Customer Relations

Volvo Car UK Limited
REGISTERED OFFICE Globe Park, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1YQ
REGISTERED IN ENGLAND & WALES No 02281044




By the way car has been to dealer who drained out half a litre.

[volvo-4-life]

I've got a 2010 V70 D5 205ps, will this problem be affecting me too? Apparently my engine doesn't have a dipstick, so how will I know if I have too much diesel in the oil?

And another query, on overrun when I go to put my foot down there is a slight jerkiness,hesitance to pull away. I've noticed this over the last few weeks, doing approx 45mph in 4th and 5th. Is this linked? The car has done 8000miles since new in Sept 09.

I'm probably going to have to take it in to the dealer next week, but I would like some thoughts as to what could be the issue, that way I don't look a complete numpty at the service desk

[Clan]

Originally Posted by volvo-4-life

I've got a 2010 V70 D5 205ps, will this problem be affecting me too? Apparently my engine doesn't have a dipstick, so how will I know if I have too much diesel in the oil?

And another query, on overrun when I go to put my foot down there is a slight jerkiness,hesitance to pull away. I've noticed this over the last few weeks, doing approx 45mph in 4th and 5th. Is this linked? The car has done 8000miles since new in Sept 09.

I'm probably going to have to take it in to the dealer next week, but I would like some thoughts as to what could be the issue, that way I don't look a complete numpty at the service desk

If you are overfull the oil level readout will tell you .. there IS a dipstick , but it is a service one on the top edge of the sump at the front , grey in colour .
If your car is subject to this problem you will get a letter from volvo ... or you can phone your dealer and he will tell you from the volvo records and bulletins ..

[dan 244]

I have been wating since the 3rd for the call back from volvo uk, that was promised for the next day 4th. Time must go slowley there!

However since then I have been to my dealer open weekend, and got chatting with one of the technicians, he obviously listened but didnt commit to anything.

I was wating for a call from the service manager to update me on another issue the car was going in for yesterday, I caught up with him on Tuesday, and brought up the fact that I was still not happy about the oil not being changed, and he just said oh yes we are going to change that, I have been chatting with the technician you saw sunday, and we have decided to change it.

So car went in yesterday, and oil has been changed and a bonnet seal modification fitted to stop auxillary belt getting wet and squeaking.

Guess volvo uk wont call me back as promised, as they couldnt answer my query, I felt it was simple, either change oil, or dont change oil but put in writing that no damage would be sustained and that premiture engine damage would be covered after my warentee runs out. I couldnt see any other option, one or other, and they coudnt offer an satisfactory alternative, just point blank refuse to do anything, so our last 25 minute call just went round and round in circles with them refusing to do anything.

[Tony g6hbq]

As you can see from my 2 previous posts Volvo and Castrol are both singing from the same hymm sheet.
I spent 35 mins getting nowhere,but as you can see they have got my concerns on file.
As said previous






We may as well talk to ourselves!

[BrianH]

I was thinking of purchasing a V70 AWD to tow my new caravan.

Having read the problems with particulate filters, I think is a very serious problem indeed.

My 245GL has 434k miles and covers 5500 miles per litre of 0/30 syntetic oil, running on LPG.

This oil is filtered with a by-pass filtration system which filters down to 1 micron (standard full flow 15 micron).

Anyway...........the message is to get an oil anaysis from ALcontrol Laoratories, Conway, LL32 8AF. Cost me about £12.

Fuel contamination is 6th item reported on. When a petrol relay failed and decided to join the LPG, this was reported as C (concerned) and later <2% where the limit was 1.5%

Look at bobistheoilguy.com. He really knows his oil. You can be sure IF the Americans have these exhaust filters they know the solution by now.


BrianH