V50 Engine 2.0D : 2.0D rising oil levels - PROBLEM+SOLUTION FOUND

[Schweedy]

Hi all

I bought our 10-plate V50 2.0D Powershift in a hurry last October as our old car died unexpectedly.

It had done 81k miles - I got it pretty cheap and with a great history, but have had a few issues along the way. This forum has been a great source of enlightenment so thanks to everyone who takes time to share their knowledge and experience. I'm sharing my recent experience in the hope it helps other owners.

The most persistent issue was what I understand to be rare on this particular engine/gearbox - the Engine System Service Required error triggered by, I believe, rising oil levels. Over the course of 8 months I've had to drain off perhaps 4 litres of oil across 3 different oil changes (we've done 20k in that time). The car has never run badly, but whenever the warning has popped up, lo and behold, the oil level was always above the Max level. I drained pre-emptively but evidently not enough to keep it in check. All the while I was obviously trying to get to the bottom of it as oil diluted with diesel, whilst not catastrophic, is not optimal.

One specialist suggested a leaky injector and discounted the idea this could be caused by a fuel pump issue. But there weren't any of the other symptoms that a faulty injector would cause and getting them all tested was a reasonable expense. Someone else subsequently suggested that it wouldn't actually be possible for a leaky injector on this engine to cause that problem but I don't know if that's actually true?

The EGR valve was also replaced and a forced regen undertaken - this didn't help.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I read these two super-helpful posts about the experiences of @chrisdc and the rising oil levels on his 2.0D.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=246648

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=184517


I printed out these posts and discussed with my garage. Luckily for me my mechanic was able to recommend a local diesel specialist. Having spoken to him, he said he rebuilds loads of these fuel pumps on the various Fords, Volvos and other places it's installed. So off it went to him and he found that main shaft was very worn and that the seals were also damaged/worn. It was rebuilt at a cost of £300 and, following a oil/filter + fuel filter change, so far so good.

I'll post here if anything changes, but hopefully this helps other 2.0D owners who are struggling to pin down ESSR faults without knowing about the apparently-rare rising oil levels caused by worn fuel pumps.

Lastly, a very big THANK YOU to @chrisdc for sharing your story on here - I doubt I'd ever have got to the bottom of this without hearing about your experiences.

All the best
S

[Schweedy]

Sadly my announcement was premature.

Whilst this definitely needed to be done, it turns out it wasn't the root cause of the problems.

Of late, I started to get lots of Soot Filter Full messages and the car seemed to regenerating all the time, almost every journey - as evidenced by the fan running overtime when coming to a standstill.

So, either:
1. DPF was getting clogged VERY quickly due to some other problem OR
2. The DPF sensor was reporting it as clogged and triggering regen after regen

The DPF senor is easily accessed (for any that don't know - it's attached to the side of the battery box) so I unclipped the wires, detached the hoses and took a look at it. The pipes were quite gummed up with oily deposits so I gave them a quick clean as best I could and reattached.

I'd also noticed the car had become quite smoky and there was an odd hesitation at constant throttle opening when going uphill.

It was whilst cleaning the DPF sensor that I noticed a slight split in the pipe from the intercooler into the intake...and then another one...and then another one.

Having temporarily patched up the pipe and cleaned the DPF sensor/pipes, it's like having a different car. It's too early to say whether these combination of problems are responsible for the rising oil levels but the car is driving better than it ever has and has also stopped smoking.

My inexpert logic is that if there have been hidden splits in the intercooler pipework for some time, the car is losing boost and over-fuelling as a result. This would clog the DPF and also clog up the DPF sensor pipework if it got really bad. The car thinks it needs to regen all the time, causing the oil levels to rise accordingly.

After over a year of head scratching I'm quietly hopeful this might be at least a step forward!

I'd welcome any thoughts you experts have on this! Does this sound plausible?

Thanks in advance.

S

[Lancee]

Good work. Lots of crossed fingers out here !

Keep us informed.

[Teddy1975]

Do you have a tester so you can see what the reported DPF pressure is?
Even with an advanced tester like Vida, it's a lot of guesswork.
What's the mileage like on your car? And for a non-brit, what year is a 10-plate?

Rising oil levels is a common issue with the PSA engines both the 1.6 and 2.0, which according to the many mechanics I've spoken to about that, can be caused by a lot of things.

[dingov70]

Hello there , I see you have already had the high pressure pump sorted , my next port of call would be a leak off check of the injectors . Ask the garage to perform several times , you may well have an intermittent injector fault . I would also ask for them to perform a live data read of the car being driven on the road . This will generate more realistic readings & should hopefully pinpoint what is going wrong . You state the pressure pipes were filled with rubbish , personally I would bin them & replace with brand new set . Cleaning does not always get everything clean & clear and could lead to spurious readings the ECU cannot interpret correctly . Hope this helps

[Whyman]

Don’t forget to get the oil and filter changed on the gearbox if this hasn’t been done before.

Not doing it can cost £2-3k in repairs.

Many posts on here about this.

[Schweedy]

Hi All

Thanks for the follow-up messages - super-helpful as always.

I have some positive news that will hopefully be useful for others in the same boat...

Since my previous message, I replaced the split intercooler pipe. This definitely helped BUT I was still seeming to get regular regens. The tell-tale symptoms would be smokey running and the cooling fan on overdrive (so very noticeable when stationary).

I then replaced the DPF pressure sensor....lo and behold, it seems the problem is solved - no more persistent regens, the car is running better than it ever has, the average MPG is up and best of all the oil level is stable after two months and 3,000 miles!

So in short, a combination of fuel pump rebuild, new intercooler pipe and new DPF pressure sensor seem to have done the trick. Shame it's taken 18 months and lots of head scratching to get there but anyway, hopefully this will be a shortcut for other owners facing the same problem.

As a related aside, I also used to get all manner of random error messages, often coinciding with the oil level getting particularly high:
- Engine System Service Required
- Park Assist Service Required
- Brake failure Stop Safely

The top one would happen quite regularly, the bottom two less so. However as none have happened in the 3,000 miles since fixing this rising oil issue, I wonder if they're all part of a wider issue with poor error handling with the car's electronics - so one faulty sensor/reading has a wider ripple effect.

NB: The brake failure message would always disappear after switching off and on again (plus all the brakes are new, so quite confident there isn't an actual issue there).

All the best and thanks again to all who contributed thoughts and suggestions along the way.

Cheers
S

[Lancee]

Originally Posted by Schweedy

Hi All

Thanks for the follow-up messages - super-helpful as always.

I have some positive news that will hopefully be useful for others in the same boat...

Since my previous message, I replaced the split intercooler pipe. This definitely helped BUT I was still seeming to get regular regens. The tell-tale symptoms would be smokey running and the cooling fan on overdrive (so very noticeable when stationary).

I then replaced the DPF pressure sensor....lo and behold, it seems the problem is solved - no more persistent regens, the car is running better than it ever has, the average MPG is up and best of all the oil level is stable after two months and 3,000 miles!

So in short, a combination of fuel pump rebuild, new intercooler pipe and new DPF pressure sensor seem to have done the trick. Shame it's taken 18 months and lots of head scratching to get there but anyway, hopefully this will be a shortcut for other owners facing the same problem.

As a related aside, I also used to get all manner of random error messages, often coinciding with the oil level getting particularly high:
- Engine System Service Required
- Park Assist Service Required
- Brake failure Stop Safely

The top one would happen quite regularly, the bottom two less so. However as none have happened in the 3,000 miles since fixing this rising oil issue, I wonder if they're all part of a wider issue with poor error handling with the car's electronics - so one faulty sensor/reading has a wider ripple effect.

NB: The brake failure message would always disappear after switching off and on again (plus all the brakes are new, so quite confident there isn't an actual issue there).

All the best and thanks again to all who contributed thoughts and suggestions along the way.

Cheers
S

This one would likely be down to the "overfilled" oil situation.

p.s. thanks for the update, most appreciated.

[Simmy]

after changing the oil on the 2.0d it important to reset the oil quality sensor and the oil service counter