Hello ... newb here.
Got a used 2000 XC70 T5 from the original owner. Low miles.
Upon inspection by a local garage and not related to others
below, there was some indication of oil around the block but
the mechanic didn't think it was an issue of great alarm.
BAD JUDGEMENT. We should've had him drop the pan.
Maintenance: Indications previous owner took good care of it;
at some point their daughter used it at school. Vehicle had been
garaged at least one autumn. No details or if fluids were removed.
Copious notes in Maintenance Schedule but did not provide actual
invoices. Another mistake on our part.
We bought it. For most of a year there was no problem.
Then, one day the car didn't want to start and after a few minutes
the Engine Light came on. No one drove it until it went to the garage.
The lead mechanic said she was sludged pretty bad and the compression
was a measly 13%. How it got that far is beyond us. Well, truth told, though
we checked the oil regularly, we were about to get it changed when things
went south. Normal levels then, only a few thousand miles racked.
Telling us the situation could be grave, we nonetheless took a chance and
spent a small fortune unclogging "Sludger". The garage got compression
levels to 78%, was purring again, and we took it home on the advice to
return at 500mi for one more oil change.
We got the oil changed as planned, started back home, and It Happened.
Weird sounds from the engine, by the time I got there "Sludger" was starting
to smoke. It got worse. The lead mechanic determined that it was possible
the turbo got smoked.
My guess? The change of oil from regular to synthetic with all those detergents
working on the deposits blew a few seals on the engine. So it sits on the curb
and we removed it from our insurance plan.
Coda: The Second Opinion. So a second garage took a brief look into it and
found that,
1) The First Garage overfilled the oil by two or three quarts on the final change, and;
2) Oil simply disappears from the crankcase.
Somehow "Sludger" went through some five quarts of oil in only five miles back
to the house.
Naturally the First Garage has to answer for the overfilling, not to mention that
it could have screwed up elsewhere. Conspicuous in its absence on the bill
is the PCV system. If that's clogged, this whole thing is a non-starter.
Anybody go through this?
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