buying a 2013 S60 T5 & oil consumption

[Rvolvos]

a Coworker needed a new (used) car and ask for my help. He had found a 2013 S60 T5 AWD with 140 kmiles. I checked the vin number against the Volvo TSB TJ 29871 and was out outside the chassis range mentioned in the bulletin. We checked the car over and appeared to well maintained, 2 owner car, father and daughter. We where able to negotiate the price down due to a large oil leak. This turned out to be the seal of the pcv /oil filter housing to engine block.
After driving the car for about 700 mile it was almost low on oil and I decided to pull the spark plugs and found out that they where completely oil soaked. I checked the cylinder sleeves, pistons and valves with a boroscopic camera and they where completely carboned up and wet from engine oil. The good news was the cylinder sleeves looked okay with the cross hatching still visable.
I was stumped how this could happen but most likely the car was not serviced with the recommended ACEA A5/B5 oil, oil change sticker from a large change store gave away the clue. FYI there a sticker on the radiator core support with the correct oil spec.
With nothing to loose we ordered ATS 505CRF & 505CRO engine cleaning kit. I wish a made some before pictures but I do have the after treatment pictures. After the treatment I replaced the spark plugs (wrong type where installed) & oil change with the correct oil and was pleasantly surprised, No oil on the spark plugs, no wetness on the pistons and large portion of the carbon removed from the pistons and circular grooves of the pistons are mostly visable again. Also the carbon is mostly gone around the piston edges. Oil consumption is now down to about 1 liter per 5000 miles. We are going to do a second treatment before the next oil change to see if it further improves.

The take away from this:
1) Always pull the spark plugs to find out if the car burns oil.
2) Being outside of the range of the service bulletin means nothing if the incorrect oil is used.
3) ATS (or a similar product) may help to free up the low tension piston rings and subsequently reduce oil consumption.

I hope this helps someone with there S60.

[MoVolvos]

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Great info as I have passed up some cheap but excellent looking S60's in that vintage. As long as the hash marks are still on the cylinder walls it looks like there is great chance of saving the engine.
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