I know there have been a lot of oil consumption stories on this forum, but I’d like to add mine, with the added twist of burnt valves. The 2016 (T5 engine) has had the common excess oil consumption problem that Volvo documented in their Technical Journal dated April 16, 2019 (I got a letter from Volvo about the extended warranty). The engine burned 2 exhaust valves at 102k miles. The 2016 was bought from the dealer as a certified pre-owned at 15k miles, 1 year old.
HISTORY
The excessive oil consumption started around January 2021 and 72k. I had been having the oil changed at the Volvo-recommended interval (10k) by either the dealer or a Volvo repair and service shop. At 78k the oil level barely reached the dipstick, way below the fill line.
I took it to the repair shop but they had no explanation for the oil use. I started tracking it and found it was using around a quart per 1,500 miles.
At 89k (December 2021) I took it to the dealer, and this is where my problem with Volvo begins. The service rep also had no explanation for the oil use. Apparently Volvo did not inform their dealer service departments about the oil consumption problem they had known about since April 2019. He told me checking the “lower engine” would cost $1,500 and might not provide any answers. To my surprise, he thought that the oil use was normal for a car with that many miles. In other words, he was not recommending checking the rings as a potential source of the problem. He suggested a much cheaper fuel induction service, which I had done, although I admit I don’t understand how that might help diagnose an oil consumption problem. In any case, it didn’t turn up anything.
At 102k the engine died due to the burnt valves. The dealer recommended a new engine at $26k (their labor rate is $300/hour!), which was hard to swallow, especially since the car had just passed the 100k warranty limit. We contacted Volvo corporate for assistance and submitted our information, but they declined to participate. The tone of the response and lack of any goodwill offer surprised us since we were multiple time return customers. Now that I know there is a class action suit, I think I understand the response – this is how things usually go once the lawyers get involved.
I had the heads rebuilt for a little over $5k, so the car’s back on the road, but of course that didn’t address the oil consumption.
Neither the repair shop or the dealer service department had any idea why the valves burned. The machine shop had lots of ideas, but couldn’t say which of those was the actual cause. I’ve read that carbon deposits on the valves can cause burnt valves – perhaps the oil bypassing the rings into the combustion chamber led to carbon deposits. Or perhaps oil in the combustion chamber resulted in an abnormal mixture that led to burnt valves.
I was using regular (87 octane) fuel. The owner’s manual doesn’t have any octane recommendation, and there is no information in the fuel fill area. When I bought the 2002 turbo, the dealer said 87 octane was fine, and I had no problems with that engine. I’m using 92 octane now.
I’m miffed that when I took the car to the dealer 20 months after Volvo knew there was a problem, the service rep apparently knew nothing about it. Had I been made aware of the problem, it could have been fixed while still under the CPO warranty, and possibly the burnt valves wouldn’t have occurred. Now I am unsure whether I have an engine that is living on borrowed time.
QUESTIONS
I would appreciate any thoughts on these two questions, as well as any other information that might be helpful.
- Are the burnt valves related to oil bypassing the rings? In other words, could I get burnt valves again because the cause of the oil consumption hasn’t been fixed? Burning oil is manageable, burning valves is not.
- Is there another way to approach Volvo to get assistance?