2012 S60 T6 AWD - Sitting around for 10 months

hajdenpaskaden · Post by **hajdenpaskaden** » 15 Feb 2018, 05:38

Hi!

I wanted to know some thoughts on a 2012 S60 T6 AWD with 83k miles that has been regularly maintained but been sitting around for 10 months. Generally speaking any car sitting for that long without being driven would be a concern. Should i be more or less concerned here. Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Alex

Post by **mrbrian200** » 15 Feb 2018, 09:02

On a 5-6 year old car the main concern would be how dirty the engine oil was when they parked it. If the oil wasn't fairly fresh suspended particulates will tend to settle to the bottom of the pan over that amount of time. Then stir up all at once potentially plugging the sump screen or filter. Immediately venturing off on a long drive, say you live more than 25 miles from where it's being sold or think about performing a motor flush right before embarking on a 100+ mile drive home is asking for trouble. Preferably the car can be relegated to short trips, 20 miles or less for the first few hundred miles with an accelerated oil/filter change schedule, 2 or 3 times, in the first couple thousand miles.

And whatever they say the reason was for parking it for 10 months, unless it was because they left for active military duty, don't trust a word of it. At 6 years the car is still worth a decent chunk of money and something like a major transmission problem can devalue it by thousands, and people will lie. As opposed to a 15-20 year old car that might be worth $1500 in good running condition but disclosing a major problem only set them back $500 or so. Make your own assessment.

Post by **Rattnalle** » 15 Feb 2018, 09:17

It'll need a new battery unless it's been kept after. Sure they might have charged it for selling the car but it will have been flat at some point. And I agree with changing the oil straight away if it's of unknown kind and condition. Other than that ten. Months by itself doesn't really mean anything. Why it's been sitting though as pointed out above.

Post by **June** » 15 Feb 2018, 09:26

Pay the Checkout fee at the nearest Volvo dealership if in doubt. June

hajdenpaskaden · Post by **hajdenpaskaden** » 16 Feb 2018, 08:18

Thanks for your comments. What should be included in my pre-purchase inspection? Your feedback is much appreciated.

Post by **oragex** » 16 Feb 2018, 10:13

The PCV installed on 2012 and up Volvo cars (and also on other brands including Audi, Bmw, etc)) was badly designed allowing sudden and very high oil consumption from as early as 30000 to 80000 miles. If the car is fixed rapidly - the PCV box needs replaced with a new design - the engine will be fine. But if the car is driven for a while while consuming oil, the engine will need to be opened and the pistons will need replaced because the rings will be damaged. Almost all models were affected by this, a very wide spread issue on all cars, it doesn't depend on the maintenance, the original PCV part was installed on all cars and had a fault.

Look first by all means to see if the PCV and possibly pistons have been replaced, if not - do not touch. Most owners will sell the car when it starts taking oil and it's out of the warranty. Several thousand dollars repair.