'96 Volvo 960 oil disappearance question / advice

Holy cow, $2000 for an 11 year old used engine? You need to find a better junkyard than that.

I would have a leakdown test and compression test performed, that should give a reasonable indication of the condition of things. If it's burning that much oil, there ought to be a lot of soot in the exhaust. Are you sure it isn't leaking underway?

That's a lot of money for an engine that may be in worse conditon than yours. I would inspect the underside of the car for evidence of a leak.

Thanks for the comments. I have used Castrol 10 w/ 30 for the last 80,000 miles but have switched to Penzoil in the last months. There is no oil on the floor of the garage and the underside of the car is mostly clean. I will get a compression guage this week and see what is going on. What pressures should I expect to see?

Even as I have a hard time " not doing something about" an obvious problem, I can see the point about the price of the needed oil isn't bad compared to an engine job. It is even less expensive the way I purchase it -- in gallon jugs.

Thanks, Bill

Another suggestion would be to run the weight oil recommended by the manufacturer. I don't think 10-40 is on the list for the 960.

I checked engine compression today:

All 6 cylinders show 220-230 on the guage. However, with 3 cyclinders, it took about 5 strokes to get the needle that high. Generally, the first stroke got about 85, the next got to about 130, etc. Two cylinders seemed to go to 150 with the first stroke. I will check this again if this is significant.

The plugs are the 3-electrode type and look good although there is some carbon on the ceramic between the 3 electrodes.

Number one plug shows black in the threads. All of the others had clean threads. The deck under the engine cover is clean and dry. The underside of the engine is clean and dry.

The tailpipe is somewhat blackened but not much different than our 1997 straight six (S-80) (really a 960) with same mileage but no oil consumption at all.

Thanks to the experts on advice of what, if anything, to do to reduce or control oil consumption.

Bill

It sounds like a weak oil ring, If you keep your oil changed and keep an eye on your plugs, just drive it. you could step up to a 20/50 weight oil to see if consumption slows down.

Not that I've seen the problem lately but I have seen engines sluge oil in the cam area (just under the valve cover)

Mario

Bill, I'd also check what the price of a replacement car is. As great as the Volvo is, there is also a point where you may be throwing good money away, trying to keep a car going.

I'd check out several other garages in your area that deal with Volvo and get their opinion.

I'm not an expert on self-done compression tests but definitely does not look perfect on three cylinders.

A rebuild on the engine seems to be in order if you can't keep compression. A good mechanic should be able to give you in itemized list of the costs without having to completely disassemble the engine, by doing a compression test again plus a close examination of the visible parts.

Hello, as follow-up, a mechanic told me that this engine has normal compression of about 160 pounds. He says that the 220 pounds on my guage means that there is a lot of deposit at the top of cylinder that is taking up space. I am having trouble with that thinking as it would seem that 25% of the volume at the top of the stroke would have to be "deposits". He also says that the more and faster I burn oil, the more and faster the deposits will grow.

The Volvo service guys are quite a group now. You have to make an appointment for "service consultations", in marble-lined offices and then, depending on the outcome of the consultations, get an appointment for the service work. The problem is that I can't get call backs to set a time for the "consultation".

I have decided to keep a good supply of oil (10w30, as it gets too cold here to crank when using 20-50) and hope for the best.

And save money to buy a different brand of car.

Other comments would be appreciated. Bye, Bill

Did your mechanic run a compression test to confirm your reading?

I've owned Volvo's in the USA since 1984 and never had to make an appointment for a service consultation with a separate appointment for the actual service to be done. And the service writer and manager offices tend to be a bit spartan but clean and comfortable. There's no marble on the floors let alone on the walls and celing. Marble would not be a very good surface in a high traffic area like a dealership.

Indeed I'm not aware of such a practice with another make. Which dealership has service consultations in marble lined offices.

If this is so you should change dealers.

Defintiely time to go looking for the "neighbourhood garage" in your area. I'd recommend Suters in Aurora, but figure that may be a bit of a long drive for you. Basic industrial unit garage -- all the money that customers pay gets sunk into tools, not palatial appointment rooms. The Newmarket Volvo dealership did go through a major upgrade but the Service Department still looks utilitarian in spite of it being part of the show room.

Check the local Yellow Pages or post a general question on who services Volvos in your area.

Find another Volvo driver in your area and ask them where they go for servicing. That's how I found about Suters here in Aurora.

I just saw your post. You may ahve resolved all this by now, and I didn't see the original post with the details of the problem, but I have some experience with a '95 960 290,000 km. I had to remove the head because of a bad head gasket about 50,000 km ago. Since the head was off, I had it tidied up by a machine shop - this included new valve seals. The oil consumption dropped remarkably - from about 1 litre every 1000 km to 1 litre every 5,000 km. Head removal is a tricky, time consuming job, but if you do it yourself, the machine shop costs should be around $200-$300 as long as things like new valve guides or new valves are not required. To have this done by a dealer would cost upwards from $2500.

Ross

bg4a wrote:

I just saw your post. You may ahve resolved all this by now, and I didn't see the original post with the details of the problem, but I have some experience with a '95 960 290,000 km. I had to remove the head because of a bad head gasket about 50,000 km ago. Since the head was off, I had it tidied up by a machine shop - this included new valve seals. The oil consumption dropped remarkably - from about 1 litre every 1000 km to 1 litre every 5,000 km. Head removal is a tricky, time consuming job, but if you do it yourself, the machine shop costs should be around $200-$300 as long as things like new valve guides or new valves are not required. To have this done by a dealer would cost upwards from $2500.

Ross

bg4a wrote: