Hello all! Over the past 40 years I've owned 12 Volvo's and my father owned 5. I've also had a handful parts cars since I do most of my own work. What can I say, I really like Volvo's which kinda makes me suffer with blind trust in them. Well (2) weeks ago I bought a 2012 XC60 with a 3.2 six and 42,000 miles from a Long Island Volvo Dealer. Due to my blind trust, I never realized or even thought to check for chronic problems since I've had so many Volvo's with so few problems.? Now I find out that these 3.2 engines have oil burning issues. This car is beautiful, but am I headed for trouble? Did I make a costly mistake? Do all of the 3.2 engines wind up being oil burners or just certain years and engine numbers. Does Volvo make good on this problem or do they just make excuses? I only have the standard New York State 60 day used car warranty. The engine is a #94. Is there any way to know what I'm heading into? Any and all input on this will be much appreciated.

 

Is the engine burning oil now or are you just concerned you'll find an issue a few years down the road? For starters you can go to your dealer and inquire about any service bulletins specific to your year/model and ask the service manager for how often they've seen issues. Second option is to consider an extended warranty (some dealers resell packages otherwise you may need to shop) for some piece of mind. Third option is to trust the maintenance and stay on top of it - perhaps even doing more frequent oil changes than the factory recommendation with name brand synthetic oils.

 

Actually I've only put about 400 miles on since I got it so I'm not sure if it burns oil or not. The day after I got the car, I opened the hood just to poke around and pulled the dipstick. It was quart low. The Volvo dealer told me that their service department went through the whole car! Anyway that's when I started looking to see if these engines have oil burning problems. So I guess I'm hoping that I got a good one. I've had so many Volvo's and been very happy with them. I hope this isn't the one that ruins it.

 

Some 94 engines did have issues. But no way to tell the future with yours unfortunately.

 

 

Is your oil dipstick red or yellow?

 

 

Well that means the previous owner didn't complain about oil consumption, so that could be a good sign. There's a bulletin for a new dipstick (red), ECM software and new fill level for 94 engines.