I wrote a pretty lengthy Word document and sent it to Volvo Customer Care with attached pictures of how filthy and muddy my XC90 was when I picked it up from the service department this last time...

And another thing I forgot to mention that's pretty sickening... Something in my gut told me to check the oil the last time I picked it up from the dealership, and I'm glad I did because it was not even half way to the lowest X on the dipstick! Did the Tech ad Volvo really try and screw me by draining oil out of my car? I don't know, but it was pretty low... and this thing has zero fluid leaks. I topped it off but will be changing the oil in a few days anyways.

 

the car should display a message when oil level is low. i doubt the tech would drain oil out of spite, that would be pretty stupid. these cars will burn some oil.

 

Yeah I doubt he touched the oil. It was probably already low. Those engines have some oil consumption issues. Did you check it after the engine was at operating temperature and after letting it sit 15 minutes?

 

You think it would burn that much oil that fast? It was only maybe 2500 miles since the last oil change. And yes I checked it when warm and then after letting it sit for about 15-20 minutes. Then again another 10 minutes later cuz I added about 2 quarts.

 

If it is one with the oil consumption problems then yes, it can burn it pretty fast. The tech isn't going to waste his time partially draining your oil.

 

Not all Techs are that honest!! My 07' XC90 V8 with 80K and it doesn't burn 1 drop of oil between 5K or even at 7K miles. I use M1 full synthetic and I change my oil every 5-7K miles and the oil level at the exacy mark, the color might change a bit, but the velocity of the oil still good.

A few years ago, I took my Saab 9-5 in for a CPS replacement at the Saab dealership. When I came to pick up the car, the Advisor gave me a long laundry list of items that my Saab needed. One of the items were a water pump and it has a small, slow leak. He doesn't know that I am one of the backyard mechanic and that I religiously change my oil on the Saab at every 5K miles due to sludge problem and I do not see a single drop of coolant.. I immediately, talked to the Service Manager and let him know that I am not one of those customers and they shouldn't be selling me work that unnecessary.

Volvo and Saab are not a bad car or bad designed, it's just bad mechanics out there make these cars bad and that's my opinion.

Jay

 

All engines burn at least a small amount of oil.

I can't see even a dishonest tech wasting his time to partially drain your oil. Time is money for us.

 

Unfortunately for me the service manager at this dealership turned out to be just as full of sh*t as the tech.

And here are some pics that I took at the dealership the last time I was there picking it up, when to apparently took it mudding. Again, this is West Texas. I'm surprised he was even able to find mud, but the sticker burrs are everywhere! My wife had the car washed inside and out, and tires shined, a few days prior to this...

 

Now... a few days ago I took the front right tire off and went poking around to see what looked worn out and might need replacing. I took some photos while I was down there of the major bushings/rubber parts. The sway bar end links don't really show any signs of cracking but I was able to twist it with a little bit of effort by just grabbing the middle and moving side-to-side.

Sorry about the last photo. I just realized it was a terrible angle, but oh well. To me the control arm bushings do look pretty feeble. But tell me if anything in particular stands out to you guys...

 

The sway bar links will twist, that is normal. Honestly, just looking at the boots on the tie rod end, ball joints and links doesn't do much except make sure they aren't torn. They can have play with no tears in the boots.

 

Where is the car from if you know. Just curious. But looks like allot of Corosion on the bottom from driving on salt roads from snow. Again I am from California where there are only a few small relatively small populated areas that get much snow. So for me I don't see cars that look like that.

But to me in my limited knowledge, the control arms look like they will need replacement at some point. I think if you where to drive around slowly in a parking lot doing circles, if you hear a metal girding sound that would be a definite sign they are in much need of replacement.

If you do end up replacing the control arms some shops won't tell you because they want the follow up business. But if you want to keep the car you definitely replace the ball joints at the same time. Because if you have to go back and replace the ball joints but not the control arms later on you paying for a bunch of labor on basically a $50 part you are doing anyways.

Having done my own control arms recently. Not in a xc90 but a s60. I am so glad I bought the ball joints to do at the same time. Trying to fit the darn control arm on the ball joint end would have been a nightmare.

Also you have one picture with something that look severely cracked. 5th photo on the second post with all the photo's. I can not tell what that is. But that very well could be your issue. Seeing a part like that that appears to be on the verge of breaking off should definitely be addressed.

 

I noticed the same thing as far as corrosion. According to the AutoCheck the car was in the NY area for the first 3 years of it's lift, then West Texas the rest.

And the last picture I wasn't really sure what I was looking at either. Maybe a motor mount or something... I dunno but it's definitely some sort of large rubber mount. And I thought it was cracked too but I think it's just how it was poorly molded so it has what APPEARS to be tears on the left hand side of it. But I think that's just excess rubber because what's behind it is metal.