So I have a 2000 Volvo S80 with the N/A 2.9 I6

Car has 131K miles on it, and the previous owner had EVERY factor service interval done on time at the dealership.

At 129K miles the Electronic Throttle Module failed and was covered under a class action lawsuit warranty extension.

They replaced that and the car runs like a dream. NO weird noises, and NO oil leaks. The underside of the car is SPOTLESS.

Monday night I come home from work and park the car. Wake up the next day to goto work and the car won't start. Now these damn cars are so advanced and computer controlled its nearly impossible to diagnose these things as a "backyard mechanic"

Keep in mind that the car cranks over "normally" At normal speed and makes perfect compression (doesn't sound like there's plugs missing from the cylinders)

I have the car towed to the stealership (Volvo of Cary) and tell them what's going on and they say they may night get to it that afternoon but will call me.

Fast forward to that evening and the service advisor or whatever says the car cranked and ran fine, so they're going to diagnose tomorrow any fault codes.

Wednesday they couldn't get it to run and couldn't find out why. They said it had fuel pressure but will call if anything changes.

This morning (Thursday) they call me to tell me that I had "low compression." He reads off the compression numbers and its like 60, 45, 40, 55, 90, 75

WHAT THE ****

I drive to the dealership and ask him WTF? He tells me that the oil was dry (no oil in the car) and that it has internal damage.

I pay for the one hour diagnostic and towing fee. Get my key and go to try and start it.

My ****ing chest drops to the floor. When it cranks it sounds like 3 or 4 of the plugs are gone. No compression in atleast 3 cylinders. Engine sounds like it had been run with no oil for ATLEAST 10 minutes. You can tell the bearings are screwed.

So I go back in and demand to talk to whoever in that building layed a finger on my car. Some old guy comes out and the service manager come out.

Basically their stories weren't adding up. First they said that they knew it had no oil and cranked it anyways. Then they said that they knew it had oil and tried to start it but it wouldn't start. Then I told them that Chris (the service advisor) TOLD ME that he started the car tuesday and it ran fine. They again tried to change their story.

The paper they gave me states that the car has NO visible oil leaks AND it even states that on Tuesday the car ran fine.

Now first of all here's the problem with this whole ****ing situation:

I would have never had the car towed to the damn dealership if it had a compression issue. I'm not ****ing stupid I know what a compression problem sounds like especially as poor as this engine sounds now. I had it towed so they could computer diagnose it.

I would have noticed a oil pressure indicator considering this car has 2!!! And warns of any oil pressure malfunctions and oil level.

THE CAR F*CKING STARTED JUST FINE TUESDAY NIGHT. How the hell did 7 quarts of oil (yes 7!) f*cking disappear from my car over night WITH NO VISIBLE LEAKS and cause catostrophic engine failure.

What


The


HELL


What's my course of action here? Get a lawyer? State attorney general? Volvo corporate? I just don't know what to do here.

Sorry for the language guys... just a wee little pissed off about this situation.

 

Wow who wouldn't be pissed!

I really don't know what to tell you. Any chance the towing did something to cause the oil to leak out? Like you said something just does not add up here. Did you buy the car from this dealership? Is this the same dealership that serviced the car for the previous owner? If both are yes, I would try and contact a Volvo factory rep and tell them the story. I wouldn't start out going to a lawyer, but you might want to if you get no satisfaction on your own.

My daughter has a 99 S80 T6 and they did all kinds of work on her car at little or no expense. She was always real sweet to them even though the car started out as a peice of crap. They fixed everything and for the past three years it has been great. Sometimes she would take the service area a big batch of chocalate chip cookies and they would just tear up the bill. Her husband would just crack up. I would go in and they would call me Judy's Dad. At the time she did work for a rival BMW dealership, and maybe that played a role in them treating her right.

My point is they can get away with doing a good bit at no charge on the S80 cause the cars were known to have many problems. I am not suggesting chocolate chip cookies, but being real nice and reasonable can sometimes get better results than being pissed off. Even though you can still be really pissed off.

Good luck man.

 

I would calm down, ask them what they can do to help, if you see no results there, contact Volvo of North America. If you see no results there, get an attorney.

 

Ok, first of all..... You have a reason to be angry! Sounds expensive, but remember the nicer you are while on their property, the more willing they might be to help.. Otherwise you will be a jerk and will blow you off! So 1st of all, when was the last time you got the oil changed and where was it done.... When was the last time you visually checked you oil.......I would sit and chat with the service manager and ONLY the service manager. The more people involved in this the more stories seem to change. If that doesn't work, then insist in speaking with the dealer officer (General Manager) and explain the situation. Seems odd that 7 quarts of oil disapear..

 

Good points from everyone. You need to start putting together a chronology of last oil change, last oil check, take pictures of the driveway or garage where car sits to show no oil on pavement. In other words build as tight a case as possible that the oil leak/loss came after the car was taken to the dealership. Should that be the case, then present that information, leaving a copy with the Owner & General Manager of the dealership. Try to get anything they promise in writing. Should you not get satisfaction at this level then you can take it to Volvo North America. Only when you have exhausted these avenues do you need to get a lawyer involved. By having all the previous information in written form you will be able to give copies to the lawyer. Hopefully it will not come to this.

One BIG thing. Are you absolutely certain, and able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the car had oil in it when it went to the dealership? If you can't prove that it might weaken your case.

Sorry to hear about your problem.

 

Well I spoke with Volvo N America and they were NO help. All she did was call the service manager and took his word and then said "there is nothing we can do have a nice day" and hung up.

I called the service manager and spoke very calmly and he said he'll have his supervisor (gm?) call me.