High oil level warning

[65PaulGr]

My V90 D4 too has just displayed a message saying 'Oil Level service required'. Referring to the on board manual & checking the system it appears that the oil level is too high. The car had it's 18k mile annual service in March and up until that point had run faultlessly. The car was serviced at a main Volvo franchise and for the last 7,500 miles was again fine. Now at 25,600 miles this light has come on. How can this be? It does not make logical sense.
It is an inconvenience to return to the dealers to resolve but looks like that's the only option. Any advice welcomed, thanks.

[Quacker]

Tell the dealer, at the next service, to not overfill the sump. These cars don’t have a dipstick so they probably inject a set volume of oil which takes the level right to the max indicator. Tell them to fill half a litre less and to check on the car’s electronic gauge.

[Zebster]

Fuel from the active DPF regen cycle is getting into the sump, possibly because the engine is being switched off before the cycle has completed. Plenty of others have suffered this.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Fuel from the active DPF regen cycle is getting into the sump, possibly because the engine is being switched off before the cycle has completed. Plenty of others have suffered this.

Yes, but there are two possible reasons for the warning to occur, both related to excess fuel in the sump oil.

1. An algorithm has been triggered by repeated regen failures to indicate probable gross fuel contamination of the sump oil. There may not be excess fluid in the sump in this case.

2. That the already high oil level after a service has been supplemented by fuel, probably but not necessarily for the reason outlined in point 1 above, to raise the level above the maximum acceptable oil level in the sump.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Quacker

Yes, but there are two possible reasons for the warning to occur, both related to excess fuel in the sump oil.

1. An algorithm has been triggered by repeated regen failures to indicate probable gross fuel contamination of the sump oil. There may not be excess fluid in the sump in this case.

2. That the already high oil level after a service has been supplemented by fuel, probably but not necessarily for the reason outlined in point 1 above, to raise the level above the maximum acceptable oil level in the sump.

Surely also:-
3. The correct volume of oil was loaded at the last oil change but fuel has made its way into the sump and the level is now too high.

The sump level sensor can be easily accessed using VIDA or - as I do - using an ELM327 OBD2 Bluetooth interface in conjunction with a suitable app, such as Torque to give the current sump level in mm. There's a forum thread giving the normal operating range plus the thresholds for high/low alarms.

[65PaulGr]

Thanks for all the comments.

I still don't know why it has occurred now though & why it didn't happen in the first 18,000 miles.

The car is now 16 months old with 25,600 miles in all kinds of traffic conditions (although mainly motorway) all completed by me, so it's not as if it should get clogged up just pottering about around town.

It's just frustrating that I will now have to go out of my way to visit a dealer to resolve when my time is precious enough.

Other than that it's a great car and follows in footsteps of a V40 & XC90 which were both super reliable and better than my immediate last car (F11 5-Series Touring) which had numerous dealer visits, vast expense spent and terrible depreciation.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Surely also:-
3. The correct volume of oil was loaded at the last oil change but fuel has made its way into the sump and the level is now too high.

The sump level sensor can be easily accessed using VIDA or - as I do - using an ELM327 OBD2 Bluetooth interface in conjunction with a suitable app, such as Torque to give the current sump level in mm. There's a forum thread giving the normal operating range plus the thresholds for high/low alarms.

Covered by number 2.0

Oil level should normally be between the low and high [full] mark on the dipstick. Garages commonly fill right to the high [full] mark when changing oil, mainly because they get complaints from rather ignorant customers if they don't. This means that very little fuel will put the level over the full mark on whatever measuring method the car uses, in this case electronic. Filling to half way between the marks usually gives a good half litre ow leeway.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by 65PaulGr

Thanks for all the comments.

I still don't know why it has occurred now though & why it didn't happen in the first 18,000 miles.

The car is now 16 months old with 25,600 miles in all kinds of traffic conditions (although mainly motorway) all completed by me, so it's not as if it should get clogged up just pottering about around town.

It's just frustrating that I will now have to go out of my way to visit a dealer to resolve when my time is precious enough.

Other than that it's a great car and follows in footsteps of a V40 & XC90 which were both super reliable and better than my immediate last car (F11 5-Series Touring) which had numerous dealer visits, vast expense spent and terrible depreciation.

The garage probably just overfilled it marginally. Don't worry about it, but do get half a litre or so excess fluid drained or sucked out, whichever Volvo garages do these days.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by Quacker

Garages commonly fill right to the high [full] mark when changing oil, mainly because they get complaints from rather ignorant customers if they don't.

How on earth can you know this?
Have you had mechanics tell you they pour in too much oil deliberately rather than doing the job correctly because they're scared of what a customer might say?

A competent garage will fill the correct amount then educate the customer as to why if the level is questioned.

Pouring in an incorrect amount of oil to satisfy an ignorant customer's expectations is just plain dumb.

[gaby]

Originally Posted by 65PaulGr

I still don't know why it has occurred now though & why it didn't happen in the first 18,000 miles.

If the level is rising due to the " unsuccessful DPF cleaning syndrom", then it makes sense that this
high level only occurs when the car has been used for a length of time.