T3 Automatic Excessive Oil Consumption

[playerlive2]

Hello, on January 2020 we received a T3 Automatic XC40. Upon arrival the oil was checked (through the system monitor) an the oil bar was about 75% to full. A few months later (August 2020 and ~15000 km later) the car showed a low oil warning. We went to the dealership where we were informed that the oil consumption for the first Kms shouldn’t be something that we should be worried about and that most probably the car was shipped with a relatively low oil tank (not true). Upon answering some questions such as could that be a fault the technician said that at the moment he doesn’t think so but if that is repeated again we should have a check since that would be abnormal. Almost 11 months later and less than 10k Kms spent the car showed again a low oil warning. We went straight again to the dealership where we were informed that they actually can’t find when the oil was previously added (it’s not in there system) and that there is not issue with that since that consumption sounds normal. Although we mentioned what the technician had initially said they said that since no log was kept from them (letting us know that sometimes a lot of cars visit them every day and that its not possible to sometimes keep log) they pretty much cannot acknowledge any action that they did in the car and that we should still refill the car with oil second time since they can’t think of an issue. My question is does this sound normal to you ? Has that happens before ?

[Greggspies]

Do you know how much oil they put in when they topped it up? If not, you can't say how much oil it's consuming.

[playerlive2]

According to them: most probably 1L.

[Felindre]

Modern cars you should never need to add oil. I haven't in any car I've had in the last 10 years, and no, never had low oil warning or overheating either.

[dr nosh]

How about keeping your own log ?

Date, miles, top up quantity, etc etc.

I would not rely on a dealer to keep that detail.

[ChrisLF]

Modern cars do use some oil but it shouldn't be excessive and of course depends on how many miles you do a year. We do fairly low miles and I don't have to top up the oil between annual services but had to on my wife's previous Mini Cooper S and my previous cars, Audis and VWs, not excessive though and I was doing more miles in those days.

I was always told it was good practice to have the oil level mid-way between min and max but noted that when I picked up the Volvo it was on max. The dealer said this was so it shouldn't need topping up between services.

As said, keep a log so that you will be well armed when talking to the dealer. What does the manual say about oil consumption?

[Greggspies]

I agree, keep a log of consumption. I recall there was a problem with excess oil consumption on some early XC40s. My experience is the last car I had that needed oil topping up between services was a Twin Spark Alfa about 20 years ago. Modern cars shouldn't consume oil.

[Deleted User 3629]

One of the problems with slight oil consumption today can be due to how thin modern oils are - Volvo uses 0w20, which is very thin, Toyota now uses the thinnest at 0w16 - and when this thin some oil could bypass the rings into the combustion chamber - but any excessive usage, say a litre every 2-3k miles maybe suspect and less than a 1000 miles could indicate a problem - the old tell-tail blue smoke exiting the exhaust is not so much seen these days with the heat of the cat.

[MrRilo]

I am coming to Volvo from a SEAT 1.5tsi. I had to top the SEAT up with a litre of oil after 5000 miles and reported this at the first service. I was told that oil consumption during the first few thousand miles was normal in modern small turbocharged engines. I assumed I was being fobbed off however, the oil never moved off the full mark for the following 2 years.

[Deleted User 3629]

The VW group of TSI engines have a unique system of deliberately spraying oil to the underside of the piston during the first 4k miles, this helps to cool the tight-cylinders during this period but as a result burns a little oil. Once this mileage has passed these nozzles stop spraying and oil usage generally stops.