Oil level too high - sold the car!

[techwatcher]

Originally Posted by neilgorin

V60 2019 D4 Manual here.

The only way I can tell when it's doing it's regen is that the average MPG drops noticably.

There should be a dipstick, temperature gauge and a light showing that the regen is happening. They can always hide the latter two behind their never ending touch screen menus if they so wish if they offend the "average buyer" so much now.

I can also tell because Start/Stop is unavailable when it's regen-ing (that how it is on my XC60 anyway).

Dipstick and temperature gauge are well-trodden ground. They've gone and won't be returning.

I've said before that Volvo COULD provide regen info but very probably won't. The "average buyer" isn't offended, just not interested, which means there's little overall demand, which means Volvo won't spend the money to implement the feature.

[lat002]

Tend to agree that it’ll do no good chasing Volvo for further instrumentation. For those owners who are concerned about the DPF regeneration and oil overfilling surely the only option remaining is an ELM327 and phone app or OBD 2 car scanner. When the engine oil overfills and Volvo start changing to change it, it will prove to be value for money.
By monitoring the DPF, Regens can be managed, allowing diesel owners doing less than 20k miles per year to continue to use their cars without major problems. It doesn’t have to be a big chore as you become accustomed to when the soot levels are building up so only need to do readings now and again until getting close to 100% soot levels until the regen has completed.

[GreenBrick]

Originally Posted by larchdale

Hello all,

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this is worth reading.

I'm aware others (many of you!) have had a similar problem, and various solutions have presented themselves. This is my experience with a 2018 Volvo V90 D4 Inscription.

Twice during the lockdown, I had the car warn me that the oil level was overfilled. On each occasion, a trip to the dealer (Squire Furneaux Guildford) was arranged by Volvo Assistance. I was only offered an early appointment at the dealer if it was arranged by the VA technician - personal requests meant waiting weeks.

The result on each occasion was an oil change under warranty, though the oil was refilled to the correct level and my suggestion - and that of the VA technician - that it should be slightly underfilled was ignored.

In May 2021, the vehicle came out of the manufacturer's warranty and I purchased a Volvo extended warranty. It also had a service and its first MOT, with a request that the DPF/oil overfill problem be looked into, as I was taking the car to France. I was assured the problem would be resolved by some fast motorway/open road driving. Needless to say, after 2,500 miles of driving on such roads and three days before our scheduled return to the UK I saw the warning again.

I rang the UK dealer and was firmly told not to drive the car, but to call Volvo Assistance and have the vehicle taken to the nearest main dealer in Agen, two hours' drive away. Six hours after the first call, a flatbed 4-wheel lift breakdown truck arrived at our house. We were advised that the driver would take the car to Bergerac, thereafter it would be transported to the dealer in Agen. The process of getting the car to the main dealer was expected to take 4-5 days! There was no courtesy car available, so we were advised to hire one to get us home to the UK. We sent him away, having explained our position and politely declined his assistance. We were asked to sign a disclaimer preventing us from calling Volvo Assistance again during this trip.

The following day, a friendly local Peugeot dealer with some mechanics trained by Mercedes and BMW agreed to drain the oil, measure it and return the correct amount to the car, allowing us to travel without the warning. We were immediately offered a courtesy car and the charge for that service was 35 euros. He told us the problem was common amongst the prestige marques and that his mechanics had dealt with Volvos before that had similar problems. When we asked what we could do to avoid the problem in future, he suggested we buy a Peugeot!

When we returned to the UK, the car went to the dealer ASAP. This time, they wanted £350 to check the DPF and change the oil since the car was no longer under warranty and the extended warranty didn't cover such work. Unhappy with this, and looking at that charge plus others totalling nearly £1,500 for other work (only a clonking O/S drop link was covered by warranty), I asked if any of it would guarantee freedom from the problem if I took it away again to France. The answer was a firm "no".

I asked for a trade-in price as it stood against a similar car with a petrol engine. By this time I'd worked out that any difference in MPG between diesel and petrol would likely be covered by the reduction in hassle and costs associated with repeated breakdowns abroad. The salesman got back to me with a price to change to the only car he could find (V90 T5 Cross Country) of £23k.

I took the car away and traded it in against a fully loaded Peugeot 508SW Hybrid (21 reg, 1,400 miles, price to change £11k), and they gave me £3k more for the trade-in than Volvo had offered. The dealers in both France and the UK are plentiful and supportive. My outgoings associated with the car have plummeted.

Lessons learned:

1) Prestige marques aren't all they're cracked up to be - especially diesels - and depend on decent dealers being available

2) Volvo Assistance in Europe was woefully bad. RAC Europe Assistance was so much better the last time we had to use them (different car)

3) Note that disentangling oneself from extended warranties and service plans is difficult. I sold the car in mid-September and have yet to receive a refund for the balance of the warranty. Both the service plan and warranty charge significant administration fees on cancellation and, perhaps unsurprisingly, are much less interested in helping you leave than winning your custom in the first place.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Happy motoring to you all!

Iain

I don't consider my 2008 Corsa diesel a premium brand car, and that dilutes its oil at an alarming rate. I am doing oil changes every 3k now, and that is probably pushing the allowable dilution limit... Took a good half litre extra out after less than 1k miles. Humph.

[GreenBrick]

Originally Posted by techwatcher

I can also tell because Start/Stop is unavailable when it's regen-ing (that how it is on my XC60 anyway).

Dipstick and temperature gauge are well-trodden ground. They've gone and won't be returning.

I've said before that Volvo COULD provide regen info but very probably won't. The "average buyer" isn't offended, just not interested, which means there's little overall demand, which means Volvo won't spend the money to implement the feature.

I also wish there were would be some indication of how often this is happening. All the usual signs, like noise, poor mpg, smell, etc are continuously present on my Corsa diesel. Not a refined engine at all. I am guessing that frequent oil changes are cheaper than changing the car. Just how much longer it will last is a bit of a mystery.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by GreenBrick

I don't consider my 2008 Corsa diesel a premium brand car, and that dilutes its oil at an alarming rate. I am doing oil changes every 3k now, and that is probably pushing the allowable dilution limit... Took a good half litre extra out after less than 1k miles. Humph.

Try this, hold her at 2500-3000 rpm in a low gear on a clear motorway every 250 miles, you can do it in town as well as all you really need is to get the exhaust heat into the dpf but the motorway is undisturbed,

This should lessen your active regens and not over fuel so much.

[mr tickle]

Governments made manufacturers put things on Diesel cars to reduce bad emmissions and Soot.

Volvo (and some other manufacturers) made a right Fcuk up of implementing this.
EGR's and inlet manifolds clogging up with oily sludge reducing MPG and failing at great expense to replace.
DPF's clogging up and needing replacing or cleaning, reducing MPG - and in many many cases causing the dreaded oil rise and inflicting misery on far too many people.
Volvo and others have very clearly chosen to Deny this is an issue or it may have taken them down.
I think it's shocking the way the industry have let people down on this issue!

My last D5 had the oil rise issue.
My current XC90 D5 had it. I was removing 1 litre of engine oil per WEEK to keep the levels down!

I know this is an unpopular opinion and I know I will get some criticism, but
I removed my DPF and had the DPR software delete done and at the same time had the EGR activation switched off. I also Had it remapped for more power and efficiency.
Runs great, significantly better MPG and no worry about my engine failing.
20k miles happy motoring.

[SnineT]

VAG also had an absolute mare retrofitting dpf's to their engines as the dpf wasn't close enough to the turbo to generate the heat properly, if you have a look on modern Vx's the can is literally on the front of the engine,

Dpfs are a good thing though, as an owner of many diesels in the past every one of them that didn't have one had the road blocker revenge function?

2 gears down and plant it as you get past, look in the mirror at the cloud and the horrified look on the driver behind face,

I got tugged for it one night, I'd followed a Suzuki Postman Pat effort for 2 miles and the twonk just didn't have the brain cell to just let me past, so blocker revenge mode activated and away we go, half a mile up the road unmarked Q7 and two officers alight, one thought it was hilarious when I explained it the other wouldn't find Billy Connolly or Ricky Gervais funny, got a warning but no ticket,

Without a dpf the cars become Intercity 125's.

[Chudy85]

Originally Posted by SnineT

Try this, hold her at 2500-3000 rpm in a low gear on a clear motorway every 250 miles, you can do it in town as well as all you really need is to get the exhaust heat into the dpf but the motorway is undisturbed,

This should lessen your active regens and not over fuel so much.

In Volvo isn't working. Did work in my Astra J before. I have checked this.
Volvo will not start burning DFP process until DPF soot hit 100%.
Only then will start. Even if you try to hold her at 2500-3000 rpm in a low gear on she will not start to burning, what i have noticed car very slowly add % in DPF soot on high revs. When DPF cleaning process starts car still need the same time and distance to finish this process irrespectively of rpm are kept at 3k or 1.6k .
Last 5 burning I tried to do it differently like you or just go 70mph on motorway and she needs still 16 miles and 15 min to finish cleaning process.
I have always used the same road and process always finished roughly in the same location +/- 1 mile depended of starting point of cleaning.

[lat002]

Thanks Chudy85,
What you describe is very similar to my experience. No matter what I do regen only commences after soot reaches 100%. In my case (V60 Cross Country D4 engine) it completes in about 10 minutes. I’ve read elsewhere on these forums that on the SPA V60’s, the DPF is very close to the engine, leading to quick heat up during regen so it does it effectively and quickly. As you say there’s no benefit in high engine revs and it keeps clearing soot even at 1500 rpm. What instrumentation are you using to monitor what’s happening?

[Chudy85]

Originally Posted by lat002

Thanks Chudy85,
What you describe is very similar to my experience. No matter what I do regen only commences after soot reaches 100%. In my case (V60 Cross Country D4 engine) it completes in about 10 minutes. I’ve read elsewhere on these forums that on the SPA V60’s, the DPF is very close to the engine, leading to quick heat up during regen so it does it effectively and quickly. As you say there’s no benefit in high engine revs and it keeps clearing soot even at 1500 rpm. What instrumentation are you using to monitor what’s happening?

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