Hello
Our beloved 1995 850t automatic trans has not lost coolant, but looses/burns lots of oil. 1 liter per 500 miles
It is well below freezing and were on a trip, would not start. Left in garage over night. Ran fine all the way home.
Today will not start
Used 1 liter of oil on the way
All we see is ice on the dip stick, and at the bottom of dip stick
Seems like poor compression, head gasket (i hate to speculate)

Ant thoughts welcomed please

 

One way to check for a blown head gasket is to see if there is oil in the coolant. Check the coolant overflow bottle, or if you want to try to start it, let it run for a couple minutes and see if you get bubbling (as in exhaust gases) in the liquid in the overflow bottle.

 

if it started after warming up in a garage, I'd also suggest dumping some dry gas (ie "Heet") in your next fill up to remove any possible water in the fuel tank. its possible to get condensation on the dip stick if you don't drive long enough distances to boil off or you could have some ring blow by, or as noted a possible head gasket issue. You may want to get a compression check done as well was do a coolant exhaust gas test (kits run about $40) in addition looking for some sludge in the coolant. How does the inside of the oil filler cap/neck look? The other possible culprits for high oil consumption are leaks (pull the timing belt cover and inspect around the block - a failed turbo drain oil line gasket can make quite a mess). Another possibility is the turbo - worn seals can push oil right into the exhaust, which can clog the cat and gum up the O2 sensors as well.

 

Mt6127
Thanks the the logic
Perfect
We could not see where the oil was going, it was not out the tail pipe.
The car was put back in a garage, and it started. Runs fine. Added some methyl and once this tank of fuel is gone, we will add some non detergent oil.
I guess the concern is, the oil leak is major and with no visible signs. It a bad oil leak so I am sad that this car will not be long for the roads. We like it
Guess we will find a newer to us one...

Thanks Volvo fourms

And happy solstice/holidays, best wishes to you

 

oil needs to go somewhere :-) 1) into the exhaust - Its possible the car can burn a quart every 500 miles - you'd want a compression test to see if the rings are ok and look at the plugs for any sign of burning oil. You may also want to pop out the front O2 sensor to see if it has any carbon deposits etc. if the plugs look good but the turbo seals are shot, you would see good plugs and dirty after the turbo. 2) out of the engine - seals can get weepy, particularly if you have a clogged PCV oil trap. Try the "rubber glove" test on the oil fill cap (surgeon's glove will inflate and stay inflated at idle if clogged) inspect seals under the timing belt cover, under the distributor area and back of engine by the turbo. Look for spotting under car. 3) into the coolant. Bad head gasket/cracked head or block will create sludge in the coolant. Any signs in the overflow tank?