Hello all, here's my first big maintenance question for the new car... I'm running amsoil 10W30 and it seems like I need to put in at least a quart every 3000 miles or I'll get the low oil pressure light coming on for a split second during aggressive turns. Granted, I drive the car pretty hard, but it's only got 47,000 miles on it and it is not chipped or modified in any way. Also, there seems to be some residue coming out of the exhaust pipe... I noticed it on my garage door (I drive in, shut the door, and then turn the car off; the turbo timer allows the car to idle for maybe a minute or so more, so no danger of inadvertent suicide ;) ) right where the tailpipe lines up. Any ideas? I've got 3K left on the warranty, should I be having something checked out?

-Jon
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CPT Jonathan T. Belmont-- '99 C70R 46K 'Valdemar'

Jon,

I have noticed something interesting on my car. I use Mobil1, every 7,500 miles since first change. I top off the oil per the dip stick measurement, then after about 3K the dipstick show 4/6 full instead of 6/6. I add no oil at that point all the way to 7,500 miles with no change at all on the dipstck reading. Now, if I top off, it goes down again and stay there.

On the manual states that over filling oil with increase oil consumption.

I don't know what is going on, but this is the situation. I am 1,500 miles away from the next oil change and it has not used a drop after coming down to 4/6 about 3,000 miles ago.

Some ideas?, I sthe dipstick measurement not properly calibrated in my case?

I use the car 99% highway averaging 80 mph @ about 3,300 rpms most of the time.

Rene
S60 N/A manual '01 21K miles

When did you change to synthetic oil? (At how many miles?- Was the car on petroleum oil for how many miles?)

1 qt in 3000 miles is considered normal consumption. I know it seems like a lot, but to Volvo it would be within normal. My 855 uses a qt in roughly about 7-8K...but I don't let it get a qt low then top up.

I guess I have more questions: What does the dipstick indicate when you shut down after you get "the low oil pressure light coming on for a split second during aggressive turns."?

Maybe the oil pump pick-up is going dry by the centripedal forces. I would just make sure that with your kind of driving keep the oil well topped up.

You could have a leak down cylinder pressure test and maybe there is an issue with the internal oil pump o-rings
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www.fidalgo.net/~brook4

your lucky that you are noticing the low oil light come on.
most people dont notice these extremely short low oil light notices.
some low oil lights come on under hard acceleration but most people are too busy accelerating and not watching their gauges.
your rings may not be properly seated if you have been driving this way since day one.i would go on record at the dealers before the warranty is out just in case something crops up later.then you have a record to shove in their face.

I have read that anything more than 1 qt per 1,000 miles is abnormal, otherwise you're ok. Check the archives on this site....I think I saw something there recently....

I use the reformulated Mobil 1 in my '99 T5 and noticed increased oil consumption. I read on one of the sites (swedespeed, I think) that others have experienced this too. I think 1 qt per 3,000 miles is not that bad.

My 98 HPT automatic with 61000 miles put on by me uses no more than .5 qts in 5000 miles. (I know, I should change oil more often). I drive the car hard too. I would say there is somthing amiss...stuck or broken ring? My car is dealer serviced and gets whatever oil they put in it.

Rich G