I recently bought a 2008 Volvo V70 after having owned 2 previous V70's. One being a 1998 model and my previous one 2005. I've had trouble free driving on both cars for years with high mileage (the 2005 model had 365,000 km on the clock) So it seemed a no brainer to change to the slightly newer models of the V70's and bought a 2008 model/ petrol/ manual gearbox. . All I can say is what a disappointment. As well as the general lack of power and electronic issues I tried putting the car through the MOT (Emission/ smog test) and it failed miserably on excessive smoke from the exhaust. Blue smoke on high revs which indicates burning oil. I only noticed this a few weeks after purchasing the car. Mechanic mentioned it may be cat converter however the car seems consistent when idle and doesn't seem to be losing power when accelerating. But when you rev the car high when stopped blue smoke bellows from the exhaust. The mileage is small considering at 115k miles on the clock (184 km) half of what I had on my other 2005 V70. Could it really be a piston / internal problem at such low mileage? Any ideas? There also seems to be a small leak with the power steering fluid. Could that somehow be connected? Sorry I'm not a mechanic Maybe I'm being too idealistic based on what I got out of my previous V70s. I barely have put 1000km on the clock and already red flags.

 

5 or 6 cyl? Some of the 5 cylinder cars have piston ring (and oil burning) problems that Volvo has fixed under warranty. Although I thought the major problems were in later years.

 

It's actually a 4 cylinder engine as far as I know for this model. To be honest the engine seems too small for the weight of the car. Hence the lack of power compared to the previous 5 cylinder engine. The driving and changing gears all seem smooth and engine starts no prob first push of the button. But that blue smoke when revving high is worrying. It took a liter of oil after approx 1000km driving. I'm thinking piston rings too which for me is time to look for another car. Shame as previous Volvo's I had were solid and very reliable.

 

It might be the valve stem seals failing

 

I do not know about the four cylinders but the five cylinder engines in the V70 have PCV systems that can clog pretty easily and the excess pressure that can’t get released through the PCV system,…comes out somewhere. And smoking is one symptom. Does smoke or vapor come out of the dip stick hole when you pull it with the engine running?
Also,…one test is to put a plastic baggie over the oil filler with the cap off and see if it sucks the bag down, or blows it up/out with it running.

 

My 2008 V70 is a 6 cylinder ,gas. automatic sold in USA. I don't now about your 4 cylinder. If it is a four, I agree it is too small for this heavy car no matter what others say.. According to my Volvo dealer service rep the PCV oil catch thing should be replaced at 100 thousand miles. Mine went at 140 while I was on a trip. Luckily I was near a Volvo dealer and got it fixed on a Friday after noon. Good luck with yours. I love mine but there is a lot of expensive maintenance if you keep them a long time.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply and info. I ended up selling the car partly as scrap for 400 euro. Lost a lot of cash but would have cost even more to take the head off the engine. If I ever have this issue again I'll take your advice with regards to checking dip stick and oil filter. In the meantime found a 2005 V50 so far so good

 

Thanks for your reply. Since changed to an older V50 so far so good. Had to sell the 2008 V70, losing a lot of cash and cut my losses. Live and learn I guess. Older Volvo's the way to go for now.