High oil consumption

[mtndave]

Our '03 XC70 (125K) seems to be burning a lot of oil-1 qt every 750-1000 miles. It has gotten worse steadily in 3 years of ownership. We bought it at 29000 miles, and switched to synthetic oil at time of purchase. Oil/filter changes are done regularly at 7500-10000 miles, and all service work is done per the factory recommended schedule. The flame trap box was replaced last week. This is my wife's car, driven mostly highway mileage, little stop and go city driving.

I am seeing a big puff of bluish smoke on gear shifts under hard acceleration (interstate entrance ramp, heavy traffic, for example), and also after several minutes of idling, with revving the engine quickly.

My Volvo mechanic (independent) suspects possible turbo bearings/seals, and possible internal engine wear, especially rings. He is doing a leak-down test this week to confirm.

This sounds unusual for a Volvo at relatively low mileage. Any other ideas or experience?

Thanks for any help. We expected much longer engine life than this, and are very disappointed.:(

[billr99]

Our '03 XC70 (125K) seems to be burning a lot of oil-1 qt every 750-1000 miles. It has gotten worse steadily in 3 years of ownership. We bought it at 29000 miles, and switched to synthetic oil at time of purchase. Oil/filter changes are done regularly at 7500-10000 miles, and all service work is done per the factory recommended schedule. The flame trap box was replaced last week. This is my wife's car, driven mostly highway mileage, little stop and go city driving.

I am seeing a big puff of bluish smoke on gear shifts under hard acceleration (interstate entrance ramp, heavy traffic, for example), and also after several minutes of idling, with revving the engine quickly.

My Volvo mechanic (independent) suspects possible turbo bearings/seals, and possible internal engine wear, especially rings. He is doing a leak-down test this week to confirm.

This sounds unusual for a Volvo at relatively low mileage. Any other ideas or experience?

Thanks for any help. We expected much longer engine life than this, and are very disappointed.:(
Yes, something isn't right there. The white engines go a long time even with dino oil. I had a '98 V70 that used dino its entire life; I traded the car with nearly 400Kkms on it and it still only went thru less than a quart with 10000km changes. My '96 R, which I drove pretty hard, didn't use hardly any syn oil in 10000km changes even at 250K kms.

I would say that your shop is at least looking at the likely culprits, but some tests should be done to see if the rings/bores are in good shape. Based on my experience with white engines it is too early for damage there, but that is not to say that some mis-use before you bought it did not damaged the engine causing your oil use. If you can rule that out, have no visible major leaks, then turbo seals are the next good answer.

Good luck,

Bill

[BLUEH20]

Does the smoke manifest immediately after a cold star; say after sitting over night?

If it does--check the valve guide oil seals.

[Chilled Man]

? would put my money on the turbo .

2nd valve seals
3rd Pistion rings

but the milage seems really low for the last two .

[mtndave]

Response to BLUEH20:

I get no smoke after a cold start-that's a little bit of good news!
Thanks!

[mtndave]

Now I know the problem-

My mechanic did a compression test and a blow-by (leak-down) test. Two cylinders had 150lb compression, and leak-down rate of less than 15%, within the normal range. Three cylinders had 100 lb compression, and leak down rates of 45%, 50%, and 88%. With the oil filler cap off, he said he could hear the leak.

This engine has had regular, 7500 mile oil changes with Amsoil since I purchased it at 30K. Obviously, it had been abused somehow by the previous owner. A Volvo remanufactured engine, installed, was quoted at $8,800, and installation of a salvage engine was quoted at approx. $4000 by two separate shops.

We just traded the car on a 2005 v70, 2.4l.

Thanks for the help and advice!

[JRL]

Should have tried a Seafoam treatment first.
What would have you had to lose, 10 bucks?
I "fixed" an engine with worse numbers than that with one Seafoam treatment
Two cylinders went from 50 and 100 to over 155 like all the rest.

[Aviator]

Should have tried a Seafoam treatment first.
What would have you had to lose, 10 bucks?
I "fixed" an engine with worse numbers than that with one Seafoam treatment
Two cylinders went from 50 and 100 to over 155 like all the rest.

Uh....there's no such thing as compression in a can there matey!! Compression tests don't lie......the junk on the spark plugs, and the smoke out the ass end is the proof. It's probably a one in a million dud engine.

Dave.

[John@CdnRockies]

MtnDave - Our Mercedes C320 had early signs of oil consumption also (from 40,000 km onwards). Relatively mild compared to you but Mercedes' "standards" shocked us. They claim that normal consumption is at 0.8 litre per 1,000 kms. Kind of works out to a quart of synthetic every 2nd fill-up. These guys insisted that the first oil change could only be done at 17,000 km (12,000 miles) and a year of driving. I'm convinced that had an impact and wonder if something similar happened to your Volvo.

Based on the relative dipstick drop - our '04XC-70 burns a litre every 15,000 km.