Depends on how much you’re willing to spend for an 8+ year old car. New pistons/rings will probably run $5k. If it needs a new engine, that will be $10k+. Unfortunately they will become money pits very quickly.

 

I am capable to do it myself, but lack special tools to hold the camshafts and some others. If they can be obtained cheap, i can try. Outsourcing the job i can do 2k at most cause i love the car, but they are all over the place for 15-17k for this year and no takers. Maybe ill just keep adding the oil and do engine flushes in between. Just concerned it might damage seals, looks like the engine flush is just diluting the oil with acetone or something

 

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Maybe a low mileage engine replacement ?

 

On a 4 cylinder oil burner it's the cylinder walls that will eventually get wrecked. I would re-ring it as cheaply as possible and see how long the engine lasts. You might have good luck if you use the upgraded 2017+ piston rings. Also, your oil change interval needs to be shortened to the old-fashioned 5,000mi regiment.

 

The PDF is for piston/ring replacement directions. This is not an easy repair.
There is a really good chance that an exhaust valve edged will burn off due to burning oil making it glow red hot and breaking the edge off. Now you have no compression in that cylinder and added repairs. The rod cap ends are not marked. Do not mix them up or install in reverse direction. I forgot the correct term. After the rod holes are machined, the connecting rod is still one piece. They put the rod in liquid nitrogen. Put the big hole end in a special press and snap the lower half off. The exposed cast iron ends from the 2 halves have a better holding capacity that the old school machined jaw tooth ends. Plus, it saves a machine step. Reversing the cap ends does happen. It does not take long for the reverse end cap to develop a serious rod knock, cause crank and/or engine lock-up damage, you need a motor. On page 38 or 57 in pdf pages, mark the lifter buckets. Do not mix them up. The lifters are solid lifters. Each one could be a different height for that valve, valve adjustment.
Install a new timing belt kit. PDF page 67, cam collar with holes, face up. This is for cam oiling. The 2 lower ears keep the collar from spinning. If installed wrong, ears break off, collar spins and no cam oiling inside the collar.
Replace the front engine seal plastic piece, the front crank seal will leak oil.

 

I am capable to do it myself, but lack special tools to hold the camshafts and some others. If they can be obtained cheap, i can try. Outsourcing the job i can do 2k at most cause i love the car, but they are all over the place for 15-17k for this year and no takers. Maybe ill just keep adding the oil and do engine flus

Thanks a lot,ill go thru it. Agreed not an easy taks

 

Looks like many things can go wrong. If you can do it yourself and you have the time, I would trust that over some shop. There have been stories posted on here about engines not working properly after ring replacement, probably because some minor detail was not followed from the TJ.

 

Ill probably do few more BG ERP engine flushes, first one seem to help a bit. If volvo wont pick up a tab, ill be out 600, for that i can do quite a few oil changes. For about 60 a pop, 10 changes every 5k twice a year..assuming it will not blow up - another 5 years instead of trying my luck, which is not very good ill try with volvo corporate again, unless they will pick test - will probably skip it and report later with more results after the next flush.
First change i overfilled a bit i think, nothing happened for the first 600 miles. Once i noticed it dropped, i reset the trip meter, now at about 700 indicator dropped for tad less than 1/4, that would be about 200-250ml? In this case id have a quart for 2.5k miles. Still bad, for the time i owned it, didnt loose any at all.
Just an observation, old oil, after about 5k(didnt drive it much) was really black. Dealer always changed it...

 

If you like and would drive the car then $600 to find out if Volvo would pay the cost of a piston/ring job seems like a good choice. Otherwise drive it until the oil consumption is significant and then sell. Don’t spend all the time and money on a home repair.

 

What oil have you been using? If an oil flush seemed to help, then you may be able to further reduce consumption by using a 'high mileage' oil designed free up stuck rings. Or even Valvoline's 'Restore & Protect" might be worth a try before going to an engine rebuild. Though I am very curious to see someone pull apart an engine with ~75k miles to see how much gunk is built up on the valves.

 

The best option in this case is to do a Berrymans B12 piston soak. Easy to do and may free up the rings to stop the oil consumption problem. This is the preferred method for the Audi guys who have stuck piston rings and has helped out numerous people. Very easy to do on the XC90 unlike the V6 audi. Valvoline R&P won’t do much good for the rings if it’s caked real bad.

 

I myself am a B12 evangelist. I believe a can cost me $12 and the results were amazing.

 

I am using liqui moly tec v 0w-20. I might do piston soak next, i heard it gets good results. Will drive for another few K's and see.
Oh, and its a good idea to make a compression test as well. Any tips on how to do it, anything special?

 

Ick. Swap that old oil out for an API SP rated synthetic. A 'High Mileage' oil like Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage might help with oil consumption. Castrol Edge High mileage if you want to lean towards Volvo's brand allegiance.

For someone claiming they might do an engine rebuild themselves....I assumed you might have experience doing compression tests. I applaud your confidence.

 

I used castrol edge high mileage once, but read it is not compliant (on this forum somewhere). Thats why i got tec v? Does it really matter?

 

From what I've found the VCC RBS0-2AE was first mentioned sometime in 2014 and there is no indication that there have been updates to the spec since. Their spec may have been superior than most in 2014, but there have been substantial improvements in oil specs in the last 10yrs. Improvements specifically oriented towards these lower viscosity oils used modern engines and mitigating LSPI. None of the oils made for the Volvo spec meet the latest specs. Assuming these Volvo engines don't actually require Volvo consecrated oil to run and the engines have similar oil demands to other GDI engines with forced induction, I think it's a safe assumption that the latest synthetic API SP rated oils are superior to the Volvo oils.

 

The problem with just adding oil is most of the time it does lead to engine failure pretty early on with burnt valves or cylinder wall scoring. So I would not consider that an actual option for more than just an unloading period. But you probably don't lose any more with a blown motor than you do paying to fix it and trying to sell.... so selling before it blows is probably the most economic option.

 

Don't waste your time with pistons and rings. I was about to pull my block and tear it down to do that upgrade but I had a Swedish import mechanic tell me not to bother. He said It'll be good for 20-30k and likely develop the problem again. Even with the upgraded pistons and rings. Poke around here and you'll see a few posts from people who have gone through the trouble and have had the issue pop up again.

What I'm currently doing:

10W-40 instead of 5W-30. Only synthetic.
Once or twice a week run the car a little hard in manual mode. Tach it up to 6500-7k in 1st and second. (This helps burn off carbon deposits in the oil rings).
Stay on top of oil changes. Change more frequently than the manual calls for.
Mine will start burning a quart every 1k miles right around the 3K post change mark. If I do all the above steps I can usually get to 4500k before it starts burning.

My s60 started burning this way at 65k miles. Ive now got 100k on her and she purs like a kitten. I've taken a look at the pistons and bore walls with my portable video scope. No scoring from what I can see. I'm about to do my timing belt water pump, cam seals and oil pump seal. Probably clean out the PCV breather while I'm at it.

It's not just Volvo that has this issue. Many newer cars do: Audi, Subaru, Toyota, BMW. My 2018 Forester had a new short block installed under warranty for burning 1.2 quarts every 700 miles. The new short block was good for 10k and it started burning again. It's the damn EPA regs. They try to make things more efficient in carbon emissions, and end up causing more harm. Thinner oils, tighter oil rings.


Best of luck.

 

Don't waste your time with pistons and rings. I was about to pull my block and tear it down to do that upgrade but I had a Swedish import mechanic tell me not to bother. He said It'll be good for 20-30k and likely develop the problem again. Even with the upgraded pistons and rings. Poke around here and you'll see a few posts from people who have gone through the trouble and have had the issue pop up again.

What I'm currently doing:

10W-40 instead of 5W-30. Only synthetic.
Once or twice a week run the car a little hard in manual mode. Tach it up to 6500-7k in 1st and second. (This helps burn off carbon deposits in the oil rings).
Stay on top of oil changes. Change more frequently than the manual calls for.
Mine will start burning a quart every 1k miles right around the 3K post change mark. If I do all the above steps I can usually get to 4500k before it starts burning.

My s60 started burning this way at 65k miles. Ive now got 100k on her and she purs like a kitten. I've taken a look at the pistons and bore walls with my portable video scope. No scoring from what I can see. I'm about to do my timing belt water pump, cam seals and oil pump seal. Probably clean out the PCV breather while I'm at it.

It's not just Volvo that has this issue. Many newer cars do: Audi, Subaru, Toyota, BMW. My 2018 Forester had a new short block installed under warranty for burning 1.2 quarts every 700 miles. The new short block was good for 10k and it started burning again. It's the damn EPA regs. They try to make things more efficient in carbon emissions, and end up causing more harm. Thinner oils, tighter oil rings.


Best of luck.

That doesn't make any sense. Most engines don't have oil burning issues. Even when new engine iterations come out (like your subaru) and get recalls for oil burning, most of those engines don't burn oil. Why would you assume a rebuilt or new engine would quickly start burning oil just because the previous engine did?

Also, there is a difference between an engine that starts burning oil within the first 25k miles and an engine that starts burning oil after 75k miles. The former is due to a flaw in a component that isn't going to be fixed by any sort of cleaning and the latter is possibly due to carbon making the rings stick that could very possibly be fixed with cleaning.

Switching to 10w-40 might be an ok solution if the engine is burning oil due to a flawed component like insufficient ring tension or improper ring seating. If the oil burning is due to clogged up rings, then switching to 10w-40 is likely going to just be a short term bandaid as the rings get worse and worse. 10w-40 is 40-60% thicker than 5w-30. 80-120% thicker than 0w-20. I would be curious to see what your oil pressure is running at.

The 'Italian Tune-up' is a good recommendation. Getting things hot to loosen up deposits that may have started to build up. Usually combined with some sort of fuel injection cleaner.

 

Good to the last stroke.
My buddy sent me these pics of a car that they got in a few months ago.

 

Good to the last stroke.
My buddy sent me these pics of a car that they got in a few months ago.

Coulda kept driving it! Just keep adding oil and some sea foam! 😂

 

In terms of oil, the best at cleaning will be something with an ester base stock like Redline or Motul 300v. We used to use Redline at my old shop to clean out engines, and sometime it did too good of a job, cleaning out gunk that was helping plug old seals and creating seeps. Only downside to Redline is it isn’t known to be very catalytic-friendly with all the antiwear additives. Motul 300v might be a better choice if trying to use the oil to clean up rings, but honestly don’t know how much of an effect oil would have in general.

 

A different oil wouldn't help much. Using better fuels does help much more. Not all premium fuels are equal and "Top Tier" is just the starting point.

There are additives that could help cleaning things up before an oil change. There are also fuel treatments that can help clean up the injectors which is always a good thing. Unless the engine is in terrible shape and it's probably too late to save it anyway, none of this is going to be a drastic improvement. You can't catch up on preventative maintenance after years of neglect.

 

If it were my car, I'd pay the $600 to have the dealer spend a couple minutes looking at it to determine if they're going to do anything with the car or not. Likely they'll just do an oil change and have you come back in 1000 miles or so for that $600, but if it means they'll put rings in it, that's 100% the way to go. The fact that you did a BG EPR or similar cleaning service might hurt your chances as you might have reduced your oil consumption to an acceptable level.

That being said, we've done BG EPR services in conjunction with an overnight or two piston soak with some GM Top End Cleaner (safer than B12 Chemtool as it has some lubricating properties still) with good results on many of these 4, 5 and 6 cylinder oil burners that Volvo experienced starting in 2011. It doesn't fix it all the way, but it has helped on every car we've done it on. Some cars are just too far and need an engine by the time they come to us after having been dealer serviced with 10k intervals then having the dealer turn them away saying there's no problem before the extended 8yr/100k warranty came out. Those poor souls!

We do 5k intervals and the LiquiMoly Tec V 0w20 on all the Drive-E/VEA 4cyl cars. Start with the piston soak if you don't bother bringing it to the dealer and do a BG EPR every once and a while when you can't make it to 5k miles anymore. It probably has a lot of life left in it considering how recent the problem is for you. It's more commonly a catastrophic issue once it's been going on for 10-20k miles to the point of needing a quart added less than every 800-1000 miles. Driving it hard once it's been running for 10+ minutes to get warmed up is a good cleaner of things as mentioned, too.

ALSO, keep in mind that by the time your car says it's low on oil, it could be a couple quarts low, not just one.

 

Wow that's Crazy - Paying for all Pistons & New Designed Rings and Still Have an Issue - Something So Freaking Wrong there . .

Any One of these Guys of Re-builder's Use After Market Pistons & Rings - that are Offered with Special Coatings ?

Not to Mention - Going .001 Over Size or .0005 Over size on Rings ?

Just asking ? As it sure seems ( Fix should be a Fix ) Not a well it's Good for 20K Now !

Stock Size Pistons with Better then Factory Coatings - Wiseco

CUSTOM PISTONS - ASK PRO'S - FORGET STANDARD STUFF !

 

That's Nice those have Oil Squirter's Nice , but Stroke Position doesn't Look Very Good for Inspection of Cly. Walls ./.

Anyhow there are Additives that will Actually Cause what Happened to that Piston We have all seen Earlier . . Toward 3/4 of Video
About Pre_Ignition caused by Wrong Oil ..

Additives


Then Little Better as it gets into Testing & Analyzing :

Long Term Clean Engine Restoring . .

 

An update, i keep checking the oil level every time i drive, and i drive more now. So when the indicator moved to more then half empty, i added 500ml and that got me back to almost fill, sans maybe another 50-100, have to add some and measure. So lets say 550ml in about 1250 miles. So a quart would be required every 2.5k

 

I would do the frequent 5k oil changes, and also do some cleaning additives such as the BG EPR, or even better, an overnight piston soak with the next oil change in addition to a BG EPR. It can sometimes get better, but what you're describing isn't too bad.

 

Pull Plugs get one of those Cheap Probe Inspection Tools that take Pictures get - Right Down into Cly. get a Look See . . INSIDE . .

HOME DEPOT Your allowed to take it back with in 28 days .. only 3 days Tops ..

 

I have a bore inspector. I have pictures from when I changed plugs last year. I just haven't had the time to get them off my old phone. Once I have the time I will. 😁

 

If Top Cly & Valves Good then Move to Different Oil - First lets see Inside . .

I Moved 15w-30 in Summer on Motor years ago - never had an Issues with Oil getting Sucked past Valve Guides .. any Longer .. 165K

 

Good You may want to Take a Second Look with all Extra Fast _ Full Throttle Wind RPM's to Upper Limits ~ TUNE UP'S Hard Reaming Her Seams . .
You been Given Her - Deep Purple Driving Lessons : LOL Haaa

 

Update, after the piston soak overnight and new plugs, 2.5k miles later oil consumption is gone, knock on wood. If there is still any, it is insignificant, gauge is moving between 2nd and 3rd bar from the right. No oil leakage anywhere either, so im good for now

 

This is great to hear!! You can always rinse & repeat as needed. With 5,000mi oil changes I think you have bought yourself a LOT of time on this engine.