@tridongo I’ve been having this same issue with my 2015 Volvo xc60. I’ve brought it to the dealership multiple times and they told me they didn’t know what to do. Gave me 3 quarts of oil and sent me on my way. I’m beyond frustrated as I can only go a few weeks now before needing to put a quart of oil in.
If you have the info for the class action suit, I would be happy to have it.
Thank you!
@MikaS80 I have the form here from the lawyer. It is “RE: Owners and lessees of 2010-2016 Volvo vehicles with Excessive Oil Consumption …” & says call them at 888-757-5366.
I called its not high pressure or anything they basically said start a paper trail with Volvo, gave me the number for Volvo NA to ask for help, and that person at Volvo actually seemed interested in helping out, started an oil consumption test, which we just did last week at the Volvo dealership. Then I think you call back if you’re not satisfied with the help Volvo is giving.
Good luck!
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5 year old car burning oil? Sounds like you got a lemon. I guess I should avoid Volvo vehicles. My 18 year old accord loses less oil than that.
Hi - Are you still having issues with your Volvo? We purchased a 2015 volvo xc60 about a year ago and have had the same problem continuously. It’s so hard when you can’t physically check the oil levels on your own. I’d love to hear any updates from you.
Hello Jennifer-75. Yes, this continues to be an issue for us. I have resigned myself to checking the oil weekly using that frustrating electronic gauge. When it shows a quart low, I simply add a quart of oil. I’ve stopped calculating how quickly it burns the oil since that just becomes a source of frustration. I wait until the oil goes on sale at Costco and keep oil around to refill.
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There are a number of reasons why an engine may burn oil.
Overheating at some point.
Worn out due to high miles.
Running the engine oil level chronically low.
Extended oil changes.
Possible wrong type of motor oil.
Now the question of why some car makers will cover ring issues under a Campaign up to a point.
This is not necessarily admitting guilt to a manufacturing problem. They know that it can be cheaper to do this rather than get hauled into court and placed in front of a judge and jury; none of whom know a thing about engines but who are prepared to stick it to the big guy for sticking it to the little guy.
Your car is burning oil? Here’s a judgement for 40 million dollars…
It’s no different than the guy in FL who died of lung cancer from smoking. Docs had told him for many decades to quit and he would not. When he died the lawsuit happened and Big Tobacco was ordered to pay his estate a 150 million dollars. Utterly asinine.
As for premature engine failures, many modern engines can certainly suffer from oil consumption problems at low mileages. It’s been my experience from the ones I’ve torn into (both warranty and customer pay) that in almost all cases the oil control (or wiper) rings are stuck on one or more pistons.
If the wiper rings can’t breathe it’s going to use oil.
… and you listed 5 reasons why it might happen above…
yet, even with “proper” maintenance, some make/models demonstrate substantial oil consumption, which can not be attributed to the owner’s misuse or neglect, so the guess of the design or manufacturing problem is quite reasonably popping up
manufacturers adopted the “extended warranty campaign” tactic to avoid going full-blown “recall campaign”, but I think it smells way too much of pushing the root cause under the rug
some of them, like Hyundai or Subaru were forced to do so via litigation, some were voluntarily making repairs, but owner is usually the party loosing the most
If it’s a manufacturing defect then that problem should affect every car; not just a few. I’m just saying that I’ve torn into many engines with claimed oil consumption issues and almost all had stuck oil control rings to one degree or the other.
The oil rings will stick due to coked (meaning burnt) engine oil which can be caused for various reasons. Even one bad overheating episode can remove the “temper” from the rings and cause oil usage. Temper meaning the spring action of the rings has gone away and they are now wet noodles so to speak.
It’s been claimed on this forum more than once that Subarus are oil burners. Not IMO. I’m basing my opinion strictly on personal experience; nothing more. None of the 3 Subarus I owned were oil users.
There is one thing that puzzles me though. There are countless numbers of cars running around out there that are burning oil and which is said to be normal consumption. With the emphasis on clean air why should car makers be allowed to say this is normal and why should the Feds allow them to get away with it?
Even though I run all of my cars to a minimum of 250k miles with most going 300k and up I have never owned one that burned oil at the rates claimed to be normal. I change the oil in my Lincoln roughly every 3500 miles and at almost 300k miles I still do not need to add any between changes.
If I owned a car that required a quart every 1000 miles, or less, that car is getting fixed or it’s getting gone.
I used to have 5 subies in the past, 2 from new.
The ones from new, I made an extremely careful break-in period, driving for 1000 miles limiting the load and RPMs, to give them a chance to mate rings to the cylinder walls as gentle as it gets.
One was “almost non-burner”, it used half a quart on 5000 miles oil change interval, another one still used more than a quart, until I transitioned to low Noack type of oil and it fell under 1 quart and I could sleep better.
The rest of them burned 1.5-2 quarts for the same interval, but I’ve purchased them well used and would not make a fuss about it.
Switching to Nissan 2.5 liter 4-cylinder => almost zero oil burn on the new car and until 100K, same on the well used one my daughter bought.
My 170K miles Pathfinder with 4.0 liter V6 => zero burn after I replaced valve oil seals as a part of other things I was redoing on this car, using 3000 miles oil change interval.
2005 Prius with 128K miles I have => under half a quart on the 5000 miles change interval.
Tell me it has nothing to do with a brand and engine manufacturing 
I do not consider Subaru’s “usual” oil consumption to be a big deal as I tend to raise my car hood at least once in 1000 miles, but indeed for many folks it makes for a great deal of potential problems, so Subaru’s oil level warning sensor is likely a good addition, but I would rather have them to address the design issue and have consumption on-par with Nissan and Toyota.
As for the piston rings, coking and loosing temper.
I’m subscribed to the YouTube channel of the guy who owns engine rebuild shop and he regularly publishes “autopsy” videos for quite a range of makes/models as he works on another dead piece.
As he digs into the guts, he always inspects the condition on the piston/rings/walls for obvious signs of coking, scuffs, etc…
Some of the engines, especially late-models, he specifically draws attention to much smaller oil removal channels/holes and narrower oil wiping rings, which make these especially prone to coking.
It’s well understood that the narrower ring is, the less friction it will generate and more MPG manufacturer will be able to claim.
The trouble is: it also greatly reduces engine tolerance to the longer oil change intervals (once again, manufacturers push for these) and to oil quality.
Combined together, if prior engine generation (with wider rings and passages) could handle moderate abuse and survive, newer generations have less of that “spare capacity”.
So, I can partially agree that owner’ maintenance habits are high on suspect list when high oil consumption is the problem, but manufacturers share the blame for the lesser forgiving design and pushing for longer oil change intervals and aggravating that less forgiving design potential issue
This is my humble opinion on this topic
I’m curious which one that is.
I don’t think anyone would mind you calling it out by name.
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I’m not sure it will get much use in US as it is in Russia and they have no English translation 
My second language comes quite handy.
So it remains a Russian secret. 
if you insist, here is quite an interesting sample 
auto-translated captions are OK-ish actually, interesting stuff happens minute 7 and later
they disassemble VW’ 1.4 turbo engine, one of the most popular ones in Russia apparently and this is “usual” repair for them as they get such engines in their shop a lot and they observe one of two “usual” failures - either high oil consumption or (like on this video) - the piston disintegration after oil deposits raise compression to the point of detonation and eventual failure. their “usual” fix is to install the forged pistons with slightly reduced compression ratio, so that problem never reoccurs. sometimes cylinder walls get damaged and their install cast-iron sleeve, but on this particular engine it was not a single scuff present, even with pieces of piston and ring chewed and spitted down to oil pan
I have had a similar experience w/ my 2015 volvo xc 60.
I started the noticing the problem at 85,000 miles.
It is using 4 quarts every 2800 miles.
no signs of oil on the garage or driveway.
First they made me bring it back 3 times to document the problem.
said they would help if it was documented.
crazy as it sounds I listen.
now they want to replace the ring and pistons and gave me a quote for over $5000.
The dealer says it happens all the time on this model. They said they had 2 cars in the garage w/ the same problem.
They said they are not why it happens and can"t guarantee the job will correct the problem
I think there should be a recall of this vehicle for the known problem.
sounds like a scam.
They create the problem and then charge to fix it.
Any ideas?
thanks
You can buy a lot of oil for $5000.
As long as the check engine light (money light) stays off drive on and keep a qt or two in the trunk.
Don’t let it get more than a qt low, or the problem will increase more rapidly.
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what is the risks of doing damage to the engine?
Does changing oil types matter?
It seems your Volvo calls for 0w30 synthetic oil.
It might use less oil if you step up to slightly thicker 0w40 or 5w40.
If it were me, when the temp doesn’t go much below freezing, I would even try cheaper 15w40 conventional oil since it goes through so much.
Oil consumption won’t damage the engine if you keep the level up.
It will eventually damage the cat converter and oxygen sensors.
But you might get a lot more miles out of it before that happens.
If you DIY, none of this is a problem. If I owned a vehicle with this type of problem, which was destroying oxygen sensors and catalytic converters, I’d do the following: replace the O2 sensors when noticeable performance degradation occurs, or if it sets a code and it’s time for emissions testing. I’d buy a new cat to install temporarily for emissions testing purposes, save the old cat and hollow it out. When it’s time for emissions testing, I’d install the new cat, otherwise I’d take it off, keep it in the box, and install the old hollowed-out one.
when will I know the O2 sensor and / or the cat converter will need to be replaced ? will there be a sensor light indicating this or what signs should I look for?
thanks
jus
When the Check Engine Light starts glowing, have the stored OBD codes read.