D4 oil

[Steff79]

Hi All,

I've recently bought a 2015 V70 with the D4 engine in.

I'm not new to Volvos or the engine having a V60 company car with the same engine in it and being brought up with a line of classics.

However, I probably took less care of the V60 as a company car, and I want the V70 to last a long time!

So, the whole electronic checking of oil level. I have always found it very random as to when it will let me do it and when not. There seem to be a lot of people who say just leave well alone and only top up if a warning message tells you to do that.

On the V60 that does happen now and again since I got up to 100k miles and I do as the message says.

The question is really, how cautious is the message, i.e. I don't want to run the V70 low on oil, so if I wait until the message is damage already being done or have Volvo set it so that it comes on well in advance and if I had a dipstick the oil would still be above the minimum point.

Hoping not to have any issues for a while since the V70 is only on 25k miles but the one time I have managed to get the electronic display to work it did say low. No message to top up of anything and I couldn't get it to display again but just want to make sure I'm not damaging it.

Oh for a dipstick!

thanks
Steff

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Steffan Eldred

Hi All,

I've recently bought a 2015 V70 with the D4 engine in.

I'm not new to Volvos or the engine having a V60 company car with the same engine in it and being brought up with a line of classics.

However, I probably took less care of the V60 as a company car, and I want the V70 to last a long time!

So, the whole electronic checking of oil level. I have always found it very random as to when it will let me do it and when not. There seem to be a lot of people who say just leave well alone and only top up if a warning message tells you to do that.

On the V60 that does happen now and again since I got up to 100k miles and I do as the message says.

The question is really, how cautious is the message, i.e. I don't want to run the V70 low on oil, so if I wait until the message is damage already being done or have Volvo set it so that it comes on well in advance and if I had a dipstick the oil would still be above the minimum point.

Hoping not to have any issues for a while since the V70 is only on 25k miles but the one time I have managed to get the electronic display to work it did say low. No message to top up of anything and I couldn't get it to display again but just want to make sure I'm not damaging it.

Oh for a dipstick!

thanks
Steff

Hopefully it's not using a lot of oil ! Yes the messages are ultra safe the low message will come up whilst the oil is still in the safe part of the "Dipstick" .. The system uses ultrasonics to measure the height of the oil in the sump and is very accurate as long as it is reset by the dealer when they change the oil . You will know about it long before the level gets dangerously low .

[Steff79]

thanks for clarifying. Not using any yet but I do plan to cover a few miles in it.

That's what I wanted to hear. Will still get a litre of oil to leave in the boot, at least that way if I do ever get a message I can top up right away.

Steff

[green van man]

Not sure about your engine but my D5 had a technicians dipstick as well as the electronic gauge. Like you I found the gauge difficult to use and more often than not used the small dipstick wich was not the easiest of operations.
The crunch came when the gauge told me 100% while the dipstick showed oil just above the minimum mark and I was about to tow 450 miles to Scotland.

I invested £63 in the police spec full sized dipstick which took me less than an hour to fit including clearing corroded threads.

If yours is the 5 cylinder engine and you have a technicians dipstick check just above said dipstick for a cast boss on the engine, if that boss has a M7 tapped hole then the police spec dipstick is an easy fit requiring only a 10 mm spanner.

Paul.

[Lincolnite]

Originally Posted by green van man

Not sure about your engine but my D5 had a technicians dipstick as well as the electronic gauge. Like you I found the gauge difficult to use and more often than not used the small dipstick wich was not the easiest of operations.
The crunch came when the gauge told me 100% while the dipstick showed oil just above the minimum mark and I was about to tow 450 miles to Scotland.

I invested £63 in the police spec full sized dipstick which took me less than an hour to fit including clearing corroded threads.

If yours is the 5 cylinder engine and you have a technicians dipstick check just above said dipstick for a cast boss on the engine, if that boss has a M7 tapped hole then the police spec dipstick is an easy fit requiring only a 10 mm spanner.

Paul.

You will need thin arms though as access is fiddly ....

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Clan

...The system uses ultrasonics to measure the height of the oil in the sump and is very accurate as long as it is reset by the dealer when they change the oil ...

That's not 100% reassuring! I really wish my recently-purchased 2015 V60 D4 had a dipstick.

I just bought a litre of Shell Helix Ultra Professional AS-L 0W-20 for emergency use.

[green van man]

Originally Posted by Lincolnite

You will need thin arms though as access is fiddly ....

Ahh yes. I've always had mine so didn't notice but you are correct..

Paul.