I just bought my teenage son a 2001 S60 with 144K miles on it for his first car. This is actually my first Volvo -- I'm a VW/Audi guy. The car seems to be in great shape and the engine is running fine -- no rattles, knocking, or anything. Well today we were looking under the hood and I went to show him where you pour oil into the engine. When I removed the oil cap there was dark brown oil sludge under the cap. The oil on the dip stick looks good and clean when we checked it, but the sludge under the cap isn't leaving me with a good feeling. Anybody else experienced this or have any recommendations? Thanks.

 

these white 5 cyl engines are prone to sludge build up if the owner follows the volvo rec oil change interval of 7500 miles with regular oil.

Use 1/2 can of seafoam and change the oil within the next couple hundred miles and repeat again with the other 1/2 can.

Oil change interval of 6000 miles with synthetic or 3000 miles with regular oil works fine.