How much engine oil for a 06 XC70 engine? Topic is solved

[scot850]

I have never done an oil change on the P2. In all the time we have owned it, it has been serviced at Volvo. Now having a hoist in the garage and Volvo dealers locally charging $200/hr CDN, it is hard to justify taking it to them for an oil change.

It also gave me a good reason to give the car a once over while up in the air.

To the point. I had oily hands so did not want to pull the user manual out of the car, but as I have a load of spares, I pulled one for a S60/S60R at the top of the pile. Same or similar engine. It stated with a new filter, you need 5.5 liters of oil if I recall correctly. I discovered the recent jugs of Castrol Edge bought at Costco seemed a little light and discovered they have reduced the content from 5 liters to 4.4 liters.

So I fill the whole jug. Then add about another 1 liter. Got my son to start and run the engine and then let it sit to check the oil. The oil was just below minimum?? What?? The handbook says approx. 1.5 liters from Min to Max mark?

So I add another 1 liter and still it registers about 3/4 of the mark to full. I ended up adding nearly the whole 2.5 liters of oil left in the part jug (so about 6.8 liters) and it is still reading low of full??

Tomorrow I will start the car and run it but also turn it around as the garage has a slight slope to the back of the car and recheck.

I looked up on line for the level and it says anything from 5.5 liters with filter to 6.7 liters??

I found another handbook from an 04 XC70 and it has this to say:

04 XC user manual on oil level

I don't believe our car has an oil cooler other than the square box on the back of the oil pan. If that had drained down then is the oi level 6.7 liters in total? Don't all P2 cars in North America have oil coolers or is that only on turbo engines?

Is nothing simple??

The good news is other than some rusty suspension components courtesy of our city council spray liquid salt/de-icer for the last 6 years, everything I replaced about 6 years ago in the suspension and painted has all corroded incredibly in that time.

Then there is the loose connector on the replaced rear muffler (again!!) and a sheared small bush on the lower torque rod. Not too bad for a 18 year old car!!

Neil.

[jonesg]

and in the morning you might discover it has half a gallon of excess oil, it can take hours to drain down to the pan.

Downside to having a lift is you get to see all the rust and crap not normally seen under the car.

[Krons]

What engine?

All my 2.4/2.5L 5 cylinders have taken 6 quarts with an oil and filter change.

[scot850]

2.5T 5 cylinder in the 06 XC70. Tomorrow, I will swap the wheels over for the summers and then get the car out of the garage and back it in and see if it reads different. The dipstick is the most useless piece of junk ever. It will only fit in a certain position and in 2 spots 180 degrees out from each point. One side comes out with nothing showing and the other with oil. Dip it 3 times and 3 different results. Never had this issue before with any car in 50 years!

Oh, and I left the engine sitting for 5-10 minutes after running before checking level. What I am wondering is if the car should have the 6.7 liters. Still not sure if they mean the rectangular oil cooler unit as the 'oil cooler' in the user guide, or something else?:

https://www.ipdusa.com/products/6646/En ... nKKL07IgtA

If it is overfull, I can try out my new oil sucker and see if I can pull the excess out of the dipstick tube!

Neil.

[MoVolvos]

If it is overfull, I can try out my new oil sucker and see if I can pull the excess out of the dipstick tube!

Neil.

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Best to warm engine before extracting. Lost count of the number of oil changes using the 8L Manual Extractor but do remember the time and effort needed for cold oil.
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Not sure if you can access the link to the manual?

https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/manuals/ ... model/XC70
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[scot850]

Thanks for the info. However, if you saw my copy of the user manual it says oil level is 5.8 liters or 6.7 with the oil cooler.

So today I checked the oil again. The car is slightly nose up due to the floor sloping to the front doors. The dipstick was marginally easier to work with today for some reason. I managed to rotate it so it was almost flat side to side looking from the front of the car, and the markings on the rear face toward the rear of the car. It came out (after wiping first and re-dipping) with the oil only maybe 3mm over the top. Less over than the dealer used to fill it.

Once I had swapped the summer tires on, I put the car back on the ground and got my son to swap the car around so the nose was pointing downward to the front of the garage. After about 30 mins I dipped the oil again and it was still only about 4mm over. So I am estimating I added 4.4 liter jug + approx. 2.4 - 2.5 liters of oil. There was about 2.5 liters left in the 2nd jug.

So total oil added was 6.8 liters (still lower than the dealer typically gives the car back with) as there is a small amount left in the 2nd jug. Based on the amount Volvo advises between the Min and Max I would say that the Max is at 6.7 liters which would gel with the oil quantity including the oil cooler.

Neil.

[Blacklab467]

I think mine takes pretty much exactly 5.6 litres including filter all the many times I've changed it myself, I'm not sure what the problem is with your dipstick is though, mine will only make the curve in two positions also. I'm not real fussy if I get it a little overfilled a bit although my car burns about a litre and a half between oil changes so a little extra doesn't hurt.

[MoVolvos]

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When you allow it to sit overnight the oil is cold so will not be drawn on the side of the tube as easily when pulling the dipstick. I also try to check when the car has not been driven. Even on the first pull the level should be accurate after sitting overnight.

After an oil change the oil is fresh and slick besides a little temperature added as you need to circulate and saturate the filter. Being clear it's not as easy to read also.
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[scot850]

First time in 50+ years of working on cars I have ever had this issue. I a now confident that this car must have the oil cooler option as it seems weird that the amount that it takes to get to the top mark looks like 6.7liters. Who knew??

Now back to cleaning the winter rims and put them away.

Thanks for your help!

Neil.

[dikidera]

I can chime in with what happens when you exceed the total oil capacity by 2x. I unfortunately had done that newbie error once before.

Oil starts to blow out every orifice it can, it may be the valve seals, in which case oil will enter the combustion chambers and also through exhaust valve seals, unburnt oil will clog or kill the catalytic converters. Crank seals could go since there is now more oil pressure pushing on them.

The biggest indicator you have too much oil is a strange noise when you remove the oil dipstick(besides it being over the max). That is the crank sloshing the oil.