Oil Consumption

[0303maz]

xc-90 has 20,000 miles on it now. Great vehicle.

Question. I have to put maybe an ounce of oil in the vehicle every 500 miles or so. Is this something I should worry about.

We just got rid of a 1989 240 were no additonal oil was needed between changes.

Probably nothing to worry about (how much exactly, in gallons/litres?).
Plenty of cars will naturally burn a little oil. Even manufacturers may specify you would use e.g 1/4 L per 1000 miles or something like that.

[perussell]

23,000 miles on my D5 XC90 now and apart from the 12000 mile service not a drop of oil required.
If I was burning a litre of oil per 4000 miles, other than perhaps with a new engine, I would be worried............and I work for an oil company so I do check consumption.
At worst I wouldn't expect to add more than a litre between services.

C'mon perussell don't be so pessimistic, you'll start getting people really worried!

It is normal if engines use some oil. Some will use none, some could use up to our more than the amounts I said. I don't know what a 'typical' use is for any volvo engines but some manufacturer's engines will use more than others. Given any individual engine, there are engineering tolerances so with the same car mine may use no oil, yours may use some but it doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem.

Especially in the case of modern engines they will use more. Also this engine in question is a brand new one having only done 20k miles. To reduce oil usage I suggest a fully-synthetic oil which then ought not to break down so readily.

I think if you told the dealer you were worried your car was using 1/4 Litre per 1000 miles then EVERY dealer would say "that's normal, sir" and not just in order to fob you off! Ring volvo if you are worried and ask them directly.

perussell I appreciate your knowledge on oil if you work for an oil company, but I work for a mobile phone company yet it doesn't mean I understand EVERYTHING about mobile phones or how operators or customers may choose to use them and apply the mobile phone technology which I develop.

[timway]

My T4 used 2 litres in the first 10000 miles I owned it. Seems a little bit high but hopefully nothing to worry about... )
None of my other cars used much between services, except my old sierra which started using about a litre per tank of fuel towards the end of its life!!!

[perussell]

Well, I am not going to get into a major discussion here about what's right and wrong for oil consumption but having spent 10 years in an oil company and 11 years before that in a lubricant additives/research company where we tested engines to destruction in the name of lubrication development I will claim some credit for knowing a little bit about oil - I am an engineer after all and have worked very closely with the product development folks.

And as for fully synthetic oil, waste of money unless used in a highly stressed i.e. high temperature at long operating duration engine (think racing cars) - stick to the manufacturer's recommendations, change the oil as frequently as they tell you to (not forgetting the filter) and that should be sufficient. The manufacturer will always specify an oil that has a good safety margin in normal operating conditions.

If you are burning oil it will likely be cheaper to top up with the regular mineral / semi-synthetic oil than change the whole charge to synthetic.

[sheikhr]

hi

i bought a 2004 D5 SE Geartronic XC90 in June. Always serviced at volvo dealers. 40k miles on it but due for next service. When i bought it, i cant remember exactly how much oil was in it but it was near the max mark and certainly didnt ring any alarm bells. A month or so later I hd driven it up to manchester 200 miles or so and checked it on the way back and it had dropped close to the minimum. it took a coupe of litres after that and since then ive been monitoring it. ive driven up and down to manchester a few times and nottingham so probably a couple of throusand miles and it has dropped to mid level again. this feels like too much oil burning but there are no tell tail signs in the exhaust etc? Im hoping its just down to the fact that it is due for a service which i will do in the next week or so. any other suggestions what to check.

thanks

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by perussell

23,000 miles on my D5 XC90 now and apart from the 12000 mile service not a drop of oil required.
If I was burning a litre of oil per 4000 miles, other than perhaps with a new engine, I would be worried............and I work for an oil company so I do check consumption.
At worst I wouldn't expect to add more than a litre between services.

Hi perrussel....Good to see you back.....got fed up with BMW?

My wife's Toyota handbook says that

ALL car engines burn oil, but you may not see the oil level change as it is replaced by small quantities of unburnt fuel. People often see a sudden drop in oil level when motorway driving because the engine oil gets hotter on the motorway and burns off the fuel content in the oil making it appear that oil consumption has increased.

Roy

[RoscoMac]

My old 440 used to go through 1litre every 1000miles - design fault or something (renault engines I guess!).

My s60d5 didnt use any ol between services, but my xc90 d5 does use a wee drop - I presumed it was down to the fact that the engine in the 90 was having to work a bit harder than in a 60 and therefore was using up a small bit of oil.

R

[GSMGuy]

Originally Posted by sheikhr

hi

i bought a 2004 D5 SE Geartronic XC90 in June. Always serviced at volvo dealers. 40k miles on it but due for next service. When i bought it, i cant remember exactly how much oil was in it but it was near the max mark and certainly didnt ring any alarm bells. A month or so later I hd driven it up to manchester 200 miles or so and checked it on the way back and it had dropped close to the minimum. it took a coupe of litres after that and since then ive been monitoring it. ive driven up and down to manchester a few times and nottingham so probably a couple of throusand miles and it has dropped to mid level again. this feels like too much oil burning but there are no tell tail signs in the exhaust etc? Im hoping its just down to the fact that it is due for a service which i will do in the next week or so. any other suggestions what to check.

thanks

A couple of L from min to max is way too much...

My D5 uses about half a L between changes, about 8000 miles, as I change every six months since using 100% Bio....

Mike