Failed Electronic Oil Level Sensor?

[gillypop]

Yes I definitely have an oil leak. I have been under the car where oil is visible and is coming from the bulkhead side of the engine from the top. When I take the engine cover off in the engine bay I can now see small oil deposits on top of the engine which were not there a few months ago and this fits in with my observation of oil needing to be topped up more often.

I wish I could hang on longer until the recall happens but the frequency of top is increasing. I suspect I would not get any money back.

I do not observe any smoke out of the exhaust on tickover or if I accelerate hard.

I wish I had not bought the car and gone with the older d5 instead due to the EGR, cambelt period changing (originally 144k) and this oil leak.

My 2005 V70 is such a better car which has been serviced by me is is still going strong at 323k.

[hodgie2019]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Strange, isn't it, how EGR work results in high oil consumption? I can't understand that link, however mine also began needing top-ups after the EGR cooler and valve were last replaced (never before). I also get an occasional oily smell in the cabin, which I suspect may also be linked.

Use of the e-dipstick requires the engine to have been off for at least two hours... the reading is the average of the previous 30km and - despite the misleading scale - is a basic binary graphical indication that can only show either 'min' or 'max' with the additional words 'OK' or 'LOW' (and possibly 'high' but I've never seen that). It's a bit crap really!

The sump level sensor value (mm) can be obtained using a suitable diagnostic reader. VIDA/DiCE would be the obvious choice, however with help from another forum member I was able to configure the free 'Car Scanner' app to also read the level sensor value (works on an Android device and you also need an ELM327 ODB2 Bluetooth interface, which can be bought from eBay, etc, for less than a fiver). There's a thread on here with details of how to do this and what the level readings should be, I'll dig it out for you if you decide to have a go at doing this. It's a useful diagnostic facility and code reader for a lot of other engine issues.

Bit more info on level meanings in this thread... https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...1&postcount=16

PS - I've assumed you have the 4-cylinder VEA engine. If you have the 5-cylinder D4 engine (for example in an AWD XC60) then my comments do not apply!

I have a thread open regarding my 2012 XC60 2.0L diesel engine failing and a conrod blowing through the block. the garage where I purchased it from are claiming that the engine was starved of oil and it was my fault for not checking the oil level as they are claiming that they only removed 1.5L of oil when inspected. however I did check the oil regularly and I even checked the level before the vehicle was sent for inspection and each time the electronic level indicated all was ok and the level was good.
my question regarding the sensor is that with the car being off the road and not driven since the engine fail would the oil level electronic gauge still read the oil level from before the engine failure? if I understand it correctly then it should even with no oil in the engine due to the engine not been driven 30k.

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by hodgie2019

I have a thread open regarding my 2012 XC60 2.0L diesel engine failing and a conrod blowing through the block. the garage where I purchased it from are claiming that the engine was starved of oil and it was my fault for not checking the oil level as they are claiming that they only removed 1.5L of oil when inspected

Did they tell you how much was on the underside of the car, up the tailgate and lying on the road ? A hole in the block is not going to help hold the correct amount of oil in the bottom end. Unless the car is bone dry underneath I'm not sure how measuring the oil level on a blown block is going to tell them anything about the oil level before it went bang.

[hodgie2019]

Originally Posted by GMcL

Did they tell you how much was on the underside of the car, up the tailgate and lying on the road ? A hole in the block is not going to help hold the correct amount of oil in the bottom end. Unless the car is bone dry underneath I'm not sure how measuring the oil level on a blown block is going to tell them anything about the oil level before it went bang.

No just that there was 1.5 L left.
That is my thoughts exactly. And the car stood off the road for 3 weeks before the inspection so any oil that was in the engine bay would drip onto the ground if it could.

I am just trying to understand how the oil level sensor works. As I said I got the car back still in bits (oil drained) and the sensor gauge showed that the oil level was still indicated as good. so working on the theory for an updated reading the car must be driven to get it and obviously this has not been driven since the bang then that must be a true reflection of the oil level prior to that fateful journey meaning the vehicle had the correct amount of oil or the sensor is faulty and indicating a wrong reading and then I would not know if the oil was low or not.

[Whyman]

Cold be wrong but I am sure I have read here somewhere that the oil reading is the average of the last 20 miles.

If this is correct then the car is saying that the oil level was OK before the engine let go. Therefore the engine let go for some other reason than low oil.

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by hodgie2019

No just that there was 1.5 L left.
That is my thoughts exactly. And the car stood off the road for 3 weeks before the inspection so any oil that was in the engine bay would drip onto the ground if it could.

I had the same issue as you in May this year, the engine on my other car blew up F1 style in the outside lane of the autobahn, full fireworks, blue smoke and dash full of lights.

I had checked the oil on the dipstick before leaving work, it was around 100ml off full. 5 miles later I was on the hard shoulder with a hole in the block where the conrod in cylinder two had gone out through the block wall, the crank and balancer shafts had gone out through the sump. There wasn't 1.5 litres in that sump when it got to the garage though I don't need to worry about undersealing for quite a few years.

[Diogo Santos]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Strange, isn't it, how EGR work results in high oil consumption? I can't understand that link, however mine also began needing top-ups after the EGR cooler and valve were last replaced (never before). I also get an occasional oily smell in the cabin, which I suspect may also be linked.

Use of the e-dipstick requires the engine to have been off for at least two hours... the reading is the average of the previous 30km and - despite the misleading scale - is a basic binary graphical indication that can only show either 'min' or 'max' with the additional words 'OK' or 'LOW' (and possibly 'high' but I've never seen that). It's a bit crap really!

The sump level sensor value (mm) can be obtained using a suitable diagnostic reader. VIDA/DiCE would be the obvious choice, however with help from another forum member I was able to configure the free 'Car Scanner' app to also read the level sensor value (works on an Android device and you also need an ELM327 ODB2 Bluetooth interface, which can be bought from eBay, etc, for less than a fiver). There's a thread on here with details of how to do this and what the level readings should be, I'll dig it out for you if you decide to have a go at doing this. It's a useful diagnostic facility and code reader for a lot of other engine issues.

Bit more info on level meanings in this thread... https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...1&postcount=16

PS - I've assumed you have the 4-cylinder VEA engine. If you have the 5-cylinder D4 engine (for example in an AWD XC60) then my comments do not apply!

Hello Zebster,

I saw that you had issues with oil consumption in your D4 and some oily smell on the cabin.
Did you get the issue solved?
I'm facing the same with my V60 D4 from 2014/12.
Actually with 160.000 km.

Many thanks!

[RDesign4Life]

Does their EGR 'fix' include a software update to make the engine run hotter? That could be one reason for increased oil consumption.

As far as smells in cabin go I had that big style with a 2WD XC60 and it turned out to be a split in the EGR pipe that goes to the exhaust manifold.

[Diogo Santos]

Do somebody get the issue with the oil consumption solved on the 2.0 diesel VEA?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Diogo Santos

Do somebody get the issue with the oil consumption solved on the 2.0 diesel VEA?

volvo did fix it by around June 2016 by fitting modified Pistons . Carbon was building up behind the oil control rings . My personal thoughts are that this caused excessive oil fumes in the crankcase system which got into the cylinders and out through the exhaust valves hence going through the EGR cooler blocking it up after the normal soot particles stuck to the oil deposits. rather than being blown straight through the cooler element.