Oil Consumption 2003 XC 70

[Blacklab467]

My 2003 XC 70 with 325,000kms (202,000 miles) needs about a litre of oil to be added every 3000 kms (1860 miles). I'm wondering if this is worthy of investigation or repair? The car runs perfectly and doesn't leak any oil or fluids, and I don't mind adding oil every couple months, I just don't want this consumption to lead to any problems in the future. I was thinking the likely cause of the consumption is valve stem seals, it occasionally blows a puff of smoke on startup. Intercooler piping has the typical oily residue on the inside of the hoses. Should I just leave things alone or start planning a cylinder head refresh? I hope to drive this car for many more years if possible. Thanks for your input.

[scot850]

The only issue with leaking valve stem seals is it can lead to inlet valves getting burnt. For some reason these P2's seem to have a lot of oil in the intercooler pipes. It could be turbo oil seals leaking or possibly oil being pushed through the PCV system and turbo.

I have just done an oil change on the 02 XC70 and I refilled with 5W-40 oil this time to see if it reduces oil burning. Car has 385,000km on it and like yours runs sweetly otherwise. I think the previous owner mentioned it used a liter of oil between services. I'm not convinced of that as he did 10,000km oil changes. I guess we will find out in time.

It may be worth checking the play in the turbo shaft for wear. If it has a lot of movement, it may need a rebuild and new seals.

Neil.

[Blacklab467]

A recent snowfall facilitated the discovery of my oil consumption problem a few days ago. I noticed a small puddle of oil in the fresh snow below about where the oil filter would be so yesterday I pulled the car into the garage to further investigate. Turned out to be an easy fix that just required a new oil filter canister o-ring. I generally have been getting away with only changing this o-ring about every 6 oil changes, turns out this lazy practice finally caught up with me!
I will monitor the oil consumption again which I had feared might be turbo seals or valve stem seals, I suspect the oil consumption will return to zero again now that this leak has been repaired.

[BlackBart]

Solved!

The puff on start up is interesting. Oil seeping down the guides? There’s the test where someone follows you down a hill and you pull off-throttle suddenly, where the cylinder vacuum pulls oil through weak seals and/or worn guides.

[Blacklab467]

I'm sure there's some wear on the valve guide seals but I'm not too worried about it now that I've found the major cause of the oil consumption in the filter o-ring. I'll keep an eye on it and see but without this leak it was only using about 1 litre per 10000 kms so not too bad. I'd like to do that test that you mention and see if it puffs a little smoke on loaded deceleration but it was -19C on the thermometer this morning and all you can see is steam coming out of the exhaust from the cold!

[scot850]

What do you mean? It was properly tropical here today. It was up to around -5C.

Glad you found the main source of the leak. But what I don't get is, when all my filters come with a new seal and drain plug seal, why don't you just use them every time?

Neil.

[abscate]

What do you mean? It was properly tropical here today. It was up to around -5C.

Glad you found the main source of the leak. But what I don't get is, when all my filters come with a new seal and drain plug seal, why don't you just use them every time?

Neil.

Waste not, want not.

You can get a good 50 cents for that oring on eBay….I’ve been guilty of reusing those, too. Now the true false economy of that has been exposed, we learn to do better.

[BlackBart]

Or be like me and use TWO of them, causing another leak.

[scot850]

If only we were all perfect!

The funniest part is that this is a Scot recommending this...................!

Neil.