Oil Consumption

[jamie1131]

Hi folks, I'm new here so please go easy!

This is my first Volvo, purchase two months ago.
It is a 2007 XC90 with the 2.4 Diesel engine, manual transmission.

The car is using a lot of oil, 2 litres in 1100 miles. I know this isn't normal but wondered if these cars have any known problems I should check first.

It has high mileage 160,000. There are no other symptoms of than loss of oil. By that I mean its not smoking, there are no drips on the drive, it starts fine and it certainly seems to have plenty of power.
Haven't compression tested it yet or looked inside the inter cooler hoses so it could be a blown turbo seal or bad piston rings but I would've thought I'd see smoke if that was the case?

Also the dipstick seems to be bloody comfusing! It has 8 X's on it. If I dip it with the x's facing the front of the car it's currently showing about half full. If I turn the dipstick around and look at the blank side the level is on the minimum. If I turn the dipstick around and dip it with the x's towards the back of the car the level shows minimum on the X's and about half full on the blank side. Which should I trust? Don't want to over fill it or let it drop below the minimum.
I've had the oil level low message once and I've been watching it like a hawk since.
It has a full, comprehensive service history with thousand spent in the last year or two (on other none engine related stuff!)

[Horton]

This isn't great news. When a D5 starts to use large quantities of oil (that's a lot of oil!) it's usually very bad news. I think you are probably right re piston rings, but it's not smoking because of the DPF and low ash 5w30 oil...

There's a few members on here who have suffered similar issues, and I've had a few like this...

Eventually, the DPF will start to block, and then you'll need to deal with the problem.

[spudd]

Drop the lower engine cover and look for leaks.

[jamie1131]

Could the lower cover really be hiding that much oil? Its lost 4 litres since the start of December and not a drop on the drive!

[Horton]

If it losing that much oil you would know about it!

[spudd]

would still drop it, you be surprised what it holds.

[jamie1131]

I'll have good look at the weekend when I can see the car in the light.
Anything else I should check?

[Whizzer]

Interesting to see someone else has the dip stick dilemma.
If you look at the top of the dipstick (the ring you pull it out with), one side says 'Motor', the other side says 'Engine'.
I always face the 'Engine' side towards the engine - not sure if that holds true but at least you can be consistent when checking.
Don't forget that these engines do not like to be topped right up yand tend to give (I think) Engine Service messages if towards full.
Hope you find where you are losing oil from.

[jamie1131]

Originally Posted by Whizzer

Interesting to see someone else has the dip stick dilemma.
If you look at the top of the dipstick (the ring you pull it out with), one side says 'Motor', the other side says 'Engine'.
I always face the 'Engine' side towards the engine - not sure if that holds true but at least you can be consistent when checking.
Don't forget that these engines do not like to be topped right up yand tend to give (I think) Engine Service messages if towards full.
Hope you find where you are losing oil from.

I'm glad its not just me. I always have the "motor" side facing me and the "engine" side facing the engine. This means that the Xs face me when I pull the dipstick up. However this makes me nervous as it means I am getting a much higher reading on the dipstick than if I spin it round.

I've done nearly nine hundred miles since my last top up and when I checked yesterday the oil level was 3Xs below the upper marker on one side and at the minimum level on the other side. Not exactly confidence inspiring!

[jamie1131]

Another 2 litres in this weekend!