I have a 2006 S40 and the oil seems to be disappearing in my car. I have taken my car to the shop 6 times in the last 4 months becuase when I check the oil before the standard 7500 mile oil change is due, there is no oil even registering on the dip stick. The service dept states there are no leaks, the have replaced the valve cover, and inspected the engine (so they say) but I am not buying that the oil just disappears. There has got to be a problem.....

Any ideas??

 

Have you PCV (Oil trap system or what ever they call it on that car) looked at. It might be cogged or broke. It is under the intake manifold. Here is a write up for an 850, but it should still apply to you http://www.lakesidedp.com/uploadpics/pcv/

 

I have an 06 S40 that I bought with 29k miles on it. It now has 43K and I think it burns too much oil. It burns 1 qt in 1500 to 2000 miles. It does not leak, so it has to be burning it. The tailpipe does have a black oily film in it. I've had it in to the dealer and they claim it is "normal" I dissagree, as I have never had a car with 40k miles on it that burned a drop. I also kinda' feel like they are giving me the run arround. They did change the PVC oil trap under a recall, but it's still the same.
To do some research, I visited the service managers at BMW, Honda & my machanic that has worked on my cars for the past 10 yrs. They all eluded to that cars will burn a qt in 1000 miles. Honda was the most helpfull as he used to work for Volvo. He siad Volvos will burn more than other brands. Had I known that I don't think I would have bought one.
I used to own a 93 BMW 318i, I bought it new and put 260k miles on it. It would start to burn oil as it approached an oil change. When it had 43k miles on it it NEVER burned oil.
Does anyone have any suggestions????? What could be some causes??? I've seen some posts about Seafoam. What is that, would it help & where do I find it? What about synthetic or a heavier weight oil?
I am dumbfounded and kinda' pissed that I bought a car that burns oil. I'm also supprised that the other dealers told me that all cars will burn oil. People that I've talked to about it are surprised too. Have I just been lucky in the past? It makes me wish I had my old BMW back!
Thanks for any input.
Doug

 

Most of the volvos out there are turbo's......And ALL turbo cars will burn of some oil through the turbo unit.....It is normal, and I believe there is nothing one can do about it.

Honda doesn't make a turbo'd car, and I dont believe your 318i was a turbo.....

On a turbo car....use synthetic oils and change it every 5000miles, or every 6months. Conventional oils, every 3000miles or every 6months.

 

Michele -- no matter if its Volvo or not, no car likes to be chronically low on oil. You've got to start adding it as needed or you will have a short lived engine. If nothing else, oil cools the engine but circulating to and from the hot areas. And if you corner fast, you could be starving the engine's moving parts if the oil is so low it all rushes over to one side of the crankcase where its stored and can't be circulated where needed by the oil pump.

Your oil is burning. Either through the turbo, the piston rings or maybe valve guides. Those are the three likely suspects if there are no drips indicating a leak.

I assume your car is still under warranty. Even if not, shame on your dealer. The dealer should be testing with oil to measure consumption. Volvo will have some standard (1 qt per 1000 miles or something like that), and your dealer should perform that test which will require your return visit in 1000 miles to measure the amount lost.
I suspect the dealer is waiting for your warranty to expire and the problem to get worse so its a cash deal for repair. This isn't rocket science to test how much oil is burned in X miles. If you get no satisfaction, call in Volvo (see owner's manual) but don't brag about running it too low for it to register on the dipstick.

 

Volvo S40 2.0 Turbo

Latest MT magazine shows nice
price for Volvo S40 - 2000/01…
about RM40 thousand to 50 thousand something,
I think I would like to buy this used car.

But I need to know…is it kind of drink oil?
Howz - Spare parts? if you compared it with BMW?
Which one is their spare parts is more cheap?

Need your advises…thanks.
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I have a 2008 S40 2.4i. Got it used, low mileage, and now has 115,000 on it. Used about 1 quart of full synthetic 5w30 between oil changes every 5000 miles. No leaks. Switching to synthetic high mileage oil helps somewhat.