'96 Volvo 960 oil disappearance question / advice

We have a 1996 Volvo 960 with about 130,000 miles, most of those miles are
ours. Also, we've taken good care of the car with oil change every 4,000
miles, etc. About 8,000 miles ago, it starting losing oil very seriously.
No blue smoke or drips on the garage floor but am going through a quart of
10W40 ervery 450 miles these days. Local mechanic says there are oil seals
around the piston that are shot. Engine overhaul estimate is $4-5,000. At
the mechanic's advice, I "flushed" the engine with a CRC product. This has
made no difference.

It is a very nice car yet and don't know what to do. I found an engine in
a junk yard with 62,000 miles. They want $2,000 and I found a mechanic who
would change it out for $1,300.

May I have some suggestions of what is wrong and what to do?

Thanks, Bill

 

Holy cow, $2000 for an 11 year old used engine? You need to find a better
junkyard than that.

I would have a leakdown test and compression test performed, that should
give a reasonable indication of the condition of things. If it's burning
that much oil, there ought to be a lot of soot in the exhaust. Are you sure
it isn't leaking underway?

 

That's a lot of money for an engine that may be in worse conditon than
yours. I would inspect the underside of the car for evidence of a
leak.

 

What about the quality of the oil is it cheap mineral oil ?How about using a
good oil like Mobil one or such a quality oil .Some of the oils out there
are rubbish . Does your mechanic use the cheapest oil available to maximize
profit .Maybe a good run will free up the engine then a good oil change .By
the way using oil with no smoke no drips suggests why spend $3500 when you
only need a quart every 450 miles .

 

Thanks for the comments.
I have used Castrol 10 w/ 30 for the last 80,000 miles but have switched to
Penzoil in the last months. There is no oil on the floor of the garage and
the underside of the car is mostly clean. I will get a compression guage
this week and see what is going on. What pressures should I expect to see?

Even as I have a hard time " not doing something about" an obvious problem,
I can see the point about the price of the needed oil isn't bad compared to
an engine job. It is even less expensive the way I purchase it -- in gallon
jugs.

Thanks, Bill

 

Another suggestion would be to run the weight oil recommended by the
manufacturer. I don't think 10-40 is on the list for the 960.

 

11-7-2007 (I recognize that 10W40 is not on the list. I was just trying to
put a thicker oil in, hoping oil loss would lesson. I am back on 10W30 for
the winter)

I checked engine compression today:

All 6 cylinders show 220-230 on the guage. However, with 3 cyclinders, it
took about 5 strokes to get the needle that high. Generally, the first
stroke got about 85, the next got to about 130, etc. Two cylinders seemed to
go to 150 with the first stroke. I will check this again if this is
significant.

The plugs are the 3-electrode type and look good although there is some
carbon on the ceramic between the 3 electrodes.

Number one plug shows black in the threads. All of the others had clean
threads. The deck under the engine cover is clean and dry. The underside
of the engine is clean and dry.

The tailpipe is somewhat blackened but not much different than our 1997
straight six (S-80) (really a 960) with same mileage but no oil consumption
at all.

Thanks to the experts on advice of what, if anything, to do to reduce or
control oil consumption.

Bill

 

It sounds like a weak oil ring, If you keep your oil changed and keep
an eye on your plugs, just drive it. you could step up to a 20/50
weight oil to see if consumption slows down.

Not that I've seen the problem lately but I have seen engines sluge
oil in the cam area (just under the valve cover)

Mario

 

Bill, I'd also check what the price of a replacement car is. As great
as the Volvo is, there is also a point where you may be throwing good
money away, trying to keep a car going.

I'd check out several other garages in your area that deal with Volvo
and get their opinion.

I'm not an expert on self-done compression tests but definitely does
not look perfect on three cylinders.

A rebuild on the engine seems to be in order if you can't keep
compression. A good mechanic should be able to give you in itemized
list of the costs without having to completely disassemble the engine,
by doing a compression test again plus a close examination of the
visible parts.

 

Hello, as follow-up, a mechanic told me that this engine has normal
compression of about 160 pounds. He says that the 220 pounds on my guage
means that there is a lot of deposit at the top of cylinder that is taking
up space. I am having trouble with that thinking as it would seem that 25%
of the volume at the top of the stroke would have to be "deposits". He also
says that the more and faster I burn oil, the more and faster the deposits
will grow.

The Volvo service guys are quite a group now. You have to make an
appointment for "service consultations", in marble-lined offices and then,
depending on the outcome of the consultations, get an appointment for the
service work. The problem is that I can't get call backs to set a time for
the "consultation".

I have decided to keep a good supply of oil (10w30, as it gets too cold here
to crank when using 20-50) and hope for the best.

And save money to buy a different brand of car.

Other comments would be appreciated.
Bye, Bill

 

Did your mechanic run a compression test to confirm your reading?

I've owned Volvo's in the USA since 1984 and never had to make an
appointment for a service consultation with a separate appointment for
the actual service to be done. And the service writer and manager
offices tend to be a bit spartan but clean and comfortable. There's
no marble on the floors let alone on the walls and celing. Marble
would not be a very good surface in a high traffic area like a
dealership.

Indeed I'm not aware of such a practice with another make. Which
dealership has service consultations in marble lined offices.

If this is so you should change dealers.

 

Defintiely time to go looking for the "neighbourhood garage" in your
area. I'd recommend Suters in Aurora, but figure that may be a bit of
a long drive for you. Basic industrial unit garage -- all the money
that customers pay gets sunk into tools, not palatial appointment
rooms. The Newmarket Volvo dealership did go through a major upgrade
but the Service Department still looks utilitarian in spite of it
being part of the show room.

Check the local Yellow Pages or post a general question on who
services Volvos in your area.

Find another Volvo driver in your area and ask them where they go for
servicing. That's how I found about Suters here in Aurora.

 

I just saw your post. You may ahve resolved all this by now, and I
didn't see the original post with the details of the problem, but I have
some experience with a '95 960 290,000 km. I had to remove the head
because of a bad head gasket about 50,000 km ago. Since the head was
off, I had it tidied up by a machine shop - this included new valve
seals. The oil consumption dropped remarkably - from about 1 litre
every 1000 km to 1 litre every 5,000 km. Head removal is a tricky, time
consuming job, but if you do it yourself, the machine shop costs should
be around $200-$300 as long as things like new valve guides or new
valves are not required. To have this done by a dealer would cost
upwards from $2500.

Ross

 

I just saw your post. You may ahve resolved all this by now, and I
didn't see the original post with the details of the problem, but I have
some experience with a '95 960 290,000 km. I had to remove the head
because of a bad head gasket about 50,000 km ago. Since the head was
off, I had it tidied up by a machine shop - this included new valve
seals. The oil consumption dropped remarkably - from about 1 litre
every 1000 km to 1 litre every 5,000 km. Head removal is a tricky, time
consuming job, but if you do it yourself, the machine shop costs should
be around $200-$300 as long as things like new valve guides or new
valves are not required. To have this done by a dealer would cost
upwards from $2500.

Ross