Low oil after road trip

Vandalfsens · Post by **Vandalfsens** » 12 Jul 2019, 17:23

I’ve had my 2015 V6 T5 for about two months and I’ve been very happy with it. It has 77k.

I commute about 40 miles round-trip each day and the car has performed extremely well since I bought it- averaging 28 mpg.

I had my mechanics check it out before leaving on a road trip the other day and everything was just fine.

Today, we drove about 400 miles with a fully loaded rooftop carrier. We averaged between 65 and 75 miles an hour most of the trip and required air-conditioning for two adults and two dogs.

About 20 miles from my destination the messaging system told me that I was a quart low.

Unusual or relatively unconcerning?

Post by **abscate** » 13 Jul 2019, 04:26

Two months of commuting plus a 400 mile trip are adding up to about 4000 miles. One quart/ liter in 4000 miles is well within the realm of typical oil use, even for a brand new car.

There is significant value variation in oil use, some cars use none, some brands can use one liter every 1500 miles from new. This leads to chest thumping on Fora about what’s “ normal usage”

Post by **Rattnalle** » 13 Jul 2019, 04:57

New cars using a litre per 1500 miles being normal is just poor excuse for sloppy tolerances though.

Good thing ICEs seem to be going away. Then we'll get other things to sorry about than oil consumption

Post by **Rattnalle** » 13 Jul 2019, 04:59

As for the question here. Was it actually filled up or did your mechanic just check that the level was ok? If the latter the actual amount of oil used doesn't really need to have been that much. Just top it off and make a note so you know if it happens again how much has been used. It could just be a coincidence this time.

Vandalfsens · Post by **Vandalfsens** » 13 Jul 2019, 12:45

Thank you all for your comments.

I should add that I checked my purchase agreement and I have put around 2,200 miles on it since purchase.

I put a quart of oil in this morning, a high-grade synthetic that was recommended to me by Napa and meet the specifications of Volvo.

The car is running great and once I put a quart in the gauge showed that it was indeed full.

I will admit to possibly panicking a little bit, I’m sure it’s not unusual for a smaller engine to go through a little bit of oil under a load and sustained highway speeds.

If I have any other meaningful developments I will be sure to share.

Vandalfsens · Post by **Vandalfsens** » 21 Jul 2019, 11:03

The car sat most of the week while we carpooled around Northern Michigan. We drove it back home to Wisconsin yesterday over 7 to 8 hours and the oil level is just fine.

I am tempted to think that perhaps it was under filled last oil change. I will continue to monitor.