Oil level too high - sold the car!

[lat002]

Originally Posted by SnineT

I'm of the opinion that Volvo has own goal'd itself removing both the dipstick and the temp gauge in higher than Momentum specs, I guess they're working on their typical owner never pulls the bonnet release during their ownership and has the recovery on speed dial even for a puncture,

As for dpf monitoring I fail to see why there isn't any on any car basically, if you knew for sure your can was 50% full you'd take preventative measures in advance to clear it, as it stands you rely on a pre set program to automatically do it in a way that isn't healthy for the car anyway, the best regen is one where the exhaust temp can burn it off without extra squirt being required, extra squirt aka active regen shouldn't be how it happens, if it was me I would have a message come up when a regen is needed to state if you don't clean me now you're not getting any tea and don't even think about the other thing on your mind M'laddie, I'd call it the Err Indoors warning.

I agree wholeheartedly. Attached is a screen shot of what I can get from my ELM 327 and Car Scanner app on my phone. Note that the soot % built right up to 100% before the car initiated regen. Once started (I was on a clear motorway) if completed in under 10 minutes. The engine speed was less that 2000 RPM and speed around 60 MPH. From the app I can choose to show other parameters (although Volvo restrict what data is available via the ELM 327). I really don't think it would be difficult to give this information to owners. After all the way to do it is already available at every Volvo dealership with their diagnostics.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by lat002

I agree wholeheartedly. Attached is a screen shot of what I can get from my ELM 327 and Car Scanner app on my phone. Note that the soot % built right up to 100% before the car initiated regen. Once started (I was on a clear motorway) if completed in under 10 minutes. The engine speed was less that 2000 RPM and speed around 60 MPH. From the app I can choose to show other parameters (although Volvo restrict what data is available via the ELM 327). I really don't think it would be difficult to give this information to owners. After all the way to do it is already available at every Volvo dealership with their diagnostics.

You can intercept it before it goes into a regen, next time you get to 80% try my method and monitor it, 50 mph or lower, low gear, motorway, inside lane, late at night is best and hold it to 2500-3000 rpm for ten mins and report back if the soot level dropped, I've no real way of confirming my method works but I never blocked my Insignia one in 9 years of ownership, my mate however blocked his on a brand new one after 3 weeks.

[lat002]

Originally Posted by SnineT

You can intercept it before it goes into a regen, next time you get to 80% try my method and monitor it, 50 mph or lower, low gear, motorway, inside lane, late at night is best and hold it to 2500-3000 rpm for ten mins and report back if the soot level dropped, I've no real way of confirming my method works but I never blocked my Insignia one in 9 years of ownership, my mate however blocked his on a brand new one after 3 weeks.

I've been monitoring my soot levels when I think they're getting above 80%, since the oil overfilled and Volvo oil change (under warranty) last year. In all that time the car has never initiated a regeneration until the soot level has got to 100%. This is different to what others on this forum have reported for their cars on older threads. I'm guessing that Volvo have decided in their wisdom this is all that is needed and altered the ECM program to suit. I also find it difficult due to congestion on the roads where I live to hold the engine speed steady, which is difficult anyway with my auto gearbox. The system now seems to allow regeneration to continue at even low or fluctuating engine speeds.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by lat002

I've been monitoring my soot levels when I think they're getting above 80%, since the oil overfilled and Volvo oil change (under warranty) last year. In all that time the car has never initiated a regeneration until the soot level has got to 100%. This is different to what others on this forum have reported for their cars on older threads. I'm guessing that Volvo have decided in their wisdom this is all that is needed and altered the ECM program to suit. I also find it difficult due to congestion on the roads where I live to hold the engine speed steady, which is difficult anyway with my auto gearbox. The system now seems to allow regeneration to continue at even low or fluctuating engine speeds.

That's an interesting thought that they may have set just one parameter for it, however when I said about making it regen I didn't mean it would do it through the programming, my way avoids over fuelling and relies on simply turning the ash can into an incinerator using exhaust heat alone, however there is one major difference to the Insignia she didn't have adblue so maybe things have to align fully now i.e the adblue will shut off as the over fuelling active regen happens in case the adblue stops the can getting hot enough if it's hitting the can with liquid spray,

I've not had mine long and nearly returned it for a couple of reasons one being I was out on the motorway and when I got home the bonnet and wings were really hot, the car took hours to cool right down, so I monitored it the next day and every thing went back to normal and the wings etc remained relatively cool, I'm almost certain it did a regen the day before but in other cars the regen is always noticeable due to the car getting lumpy and the idle rev's increasing by 200 rpm, I didn't feel or hear the car doing that but the constant 70 mph might have masked that, as she's not got hot since I really do think it did a regen so I'll have to watch for it in future as parking on the wrong surface can result in a fire due to the amount of heat the dpf kicks out,

If you should get to do another test let me know if the low gear higher rev method does make any difference to the soot levels now you're aware of the method I use which by the look of things just got it's P45.

[lat002]

Hi SnineT,
In reply to your last post, another parameter that I'm able to monitor is "DPF regen" which only has 3 values either 0=off, 1=passive, 2=active. I have sometimes seen this showing 1 or 2 at soot levels of less than 100% however the soot level never appears to drop at the time and the value returns to 0 quite quickly. To initiate a regen the DPF regen value is on '2' for about 3 minutes (obviously the heating up period), before the soot level starts to drop from 100%. The 'passive' setting is supposed to cause the ongoing regen that you are describing that you achieve in your car.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by lat002

Hi SnineT,
In reply to your last post, another parameter that I'm able to monitor is "DPF regen" which only has 3 values either 0=off, 1=passive, 2=active. I have sometimes seen this showing 1 or 2 at soot levels of less than 100% however the soot level never appears to drop at the time and the value returns to 0 quite quickly. To initiate a regen the DPF regen value is on '2' for about 3 minutes (obviously the heating up period), before the soot level starts to drop from 100%. The 'passive' setting is supposed to cause the ongoing regen that you are describing that you achieve in your car.

What I wanted you to try was this,

When you hit 80% simply try to clean it by the higher revs method and see if the can does actually burn off without any computer or fuel assistance, it might be programmed to avoid that method but it would be nice to know and save me a lot of placebo if it will only re-gen under instruction from the ECU.

Cheers.

[lat002]

Originally Posted by SnineT

What I wanted you to try was this,

When you hit 80% simply try to clean it by the higher revs method and see if the can does actually burn off without any computer or fuel assistance, it might be programmed to avoid that method but it would be nice to know and save me a lot of placebo if it will only re-gen under instruction from the ECU.

Cheers.

I did try that when I first started using the ELM327 based on what other users had posted were supposed to be the required parameters for regen to happen. It was so frustrating when nothing happening even though I thought it should, even shouting at the car didn’t work 😂. That’s how eventually I came to believe that the key parameter is the 100% soot level on my car. I accept that clearly there will be other things such at coolant temperature, etc. and that other Volvo models maybe are different. It would be good if someone else with more knowledge could confirm this. What car model and age do you have?

[SnineT]

Mines a 2018 S90 D4 with adblue which I now think is the reason my method may not be able to be performed anymore.

Just noticed, yours is a petrol car? that will be a gpf rather than a dpf and although similar in function they differ quite a lot in how they actually function, I don't think the gpf gets the same hammering a dpf does and it's a different kinda soot assuming yours is petrol, I didn't think there are any UK MY2020 S/V 60's that are diesel, or is yours the older model before the latest version?

[lat002]

Hi SnineT, I’m the same engine as you, car details in my ‘signature’. 4 wheel drive as it’s Cross Country so heavier than the standard V60

[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.