High Oil Consumption Linked to EGR Cooler and Valve Issues?

[AlienInThisWorld]

I've had a V70 for five years and 102,000 of its 122,000 miles and up until 2021 it provided reliable running in exchange for full Volvo dealer servicing.

From about 50,000 miles it started to consume oil at an increasing rate and now requires around a litre per thousand miles. That is far too much. There is no evidence of any leak in, around or under the car.

At 114,000 miles the EGR cooler became blocked with soot and needed replacing. An eye watering sum of money.
At 122,000 miles the EGR cooler problem returned.
In both cases symptoms included the Engine Check warning illuminating, rough idle, and a heavy 'thrumming' engine tone when running under power.

Excessive soot build up suggests dirty combustion - oil?

If oil is entering the combustion process or the exhaust gas train then how?

Some possibilities are: turbocharger bearing inlet side, inlet valve guides, piston rings, exhaust valve guides, turbocharger bearing exhaust side.

There are hundreds of people with high oil consumption, EGR Cooler and EGR Valve issues posting on here and probably thousands with the same issues who aren't posting.

I believe there may be a link between high oil consumption and the EGR system issues and that simply replacing the EGR cooler without addressing the cause is going to result in multiple, expensive and unnecessary EGR cooler replacements.

Does anybody have experience of successful resolutions to these issues?

[5cilinder]

You got it backwards.... the egr cooler isnt the cause, its the effect/symptom of oil vapor /burned oil mixed with soot to block your egr cooler those egr coolers are near to impossible to replace .
Remap your engine and let them write away the egr, even without excessive oil consumption its caking the rest of the inlet route.
the cause of the excessive oil consumption needs to be ruled one by one.
The first easy one is checking fuel corrections in vida if fuel corrections are excessive on the plus side it can be to compensate bad compression in stead of a bad injector...
Causes of bad compression can be piston rings or valve stems/seats wich can be ruled out or confirmed with a squirt of oil during a compression test, if the compression increases after some oil in the cilinder its due to bad piston rings
Turbo can be checked on axial and radial play/ excessive oil in the intercooler or just a noisy turbo.

[AlienInThisWorld]

@5cilinder:
Thanks for the input.
Obviously the EGR cooler is the effect and burning oil is the cause but the 'fix' Volvo offer is a service exchange EGR cooler without identifying the cause, hence the rapid recurrence of the problem.
What are your views on using Eco+, Normal, or 'S' as driving styles?

[5cilinder]

Originally Posted by AlienInThisWorld

@5cilinder:

What are your views on using Eco+, Normal, or 'S' as driving styles?

In relation to what? Fun? fuel consumption? oil consumption? internal pollution?

Originally Posted by AlienInThisWorld

@5cilinder:
Thanks for the input.
Obviously the EGR cooler is the effect and burning oil is the cause but the 'fix' Volvo offer is a service exchange EGR cooler without identifying the cause, hence the rapid recurrence of the problem.

If your smart enough to conclude that the dealer only fixes their wallets
Why bringing your out of warranty car there?
They are expensive ,always the "official (expensive)protocols"
Its an horrible bureaucratic "authority that is praised by the volvo cult also on this forum (not all but many) and not to be questioned
Try to fix it yourself ,there are many sources and hobbyist with instruction clips on youtube to help you.
If you cant or want do it yourself...seek out an independent garage without the marble floors and suits (where you pay for) and good credentials

[Sotosound]

I can say that from a driving perspective in my D4 Geartronic, ECO+ is very dull and boring and a waste of the D4's power and eight-speed gearbox.

Sport is great for windy roads and if you really want to get on. It can be a bit noisy at times, however, and when holding the car on the brakes the engine revs a bit since drive isn't automatically disengaged as it is in Normal and ECO+.

I tend to use Normal mostly as it's less dull than ECO+ and less noisy that Sport.

I can also say that Volvo in Maidenhead replaced my EGR cooler a year ago for free courtesy of Volvo goodwill, and my car's a 2014 64-reg that had over 130K miles on it at that time.

[5cilinder]

Ah its the d4 ....then i know your cause of oil consumption its the loose piston rings that coke up with carbon... to save the planet

[AlienInThisWorld]

Volvo Sheffield said Volvo UK refused any goodwill on my D4. "Computer sez no."
Should have kept my 5cyl D3. The engine was running sweet as a nut at 150k miles. It also had a number plate that somehow confounded ANPR cameras.

[AlienInThisWorld]

Fun is different, it's not an 'R' Design, but in my time I've done ten ton, 0 - 600 in 40 seconds and 8g, so internal pollution of piston rings chiefly. How do the different driving modes affect the quality of and cleanliness of combustion?
And is there a recommended oil flush or treatment that can de-gunk oil control rings or is it time to give up and call it a day with this car?

[Familyman 90]

Originally Posted by 5cilinder

In relation to what? Fun? fuel consumption? oil consumption? internal pollution?



If your smart enough to conclude that the dealer only fixes their wallets
Why bringing your out of warranty car there?
They are expensive ,always the "official (expensive)protocols"
Its an horrible bureaucratic "authority that is praised by the volvo cult also on this forum (not all but many) and not to be questioned
Try to fix it yourself ,there are many sources and hobbyist with instruction clips on youtube to help you.
If you cant or want do it yourself...seek out an independent garage without the marble floors and suits (where you pay for) and good credentials

Thats a bitmof a sweeping statement. Not all are that way.

Ive found a dealer that has proven superb across the life of 3 x XC90's, and seen them past a combined 500+ k miles without a single breakdown beyond bulbs. 2 year guarantee on all work, which is double or quadruple that which most indies will give, and all parts have a lifetime warranty.

They've faltered occasionally, no one is perfect, but have always entered into sensbile discussions and provided an effective and timely resolution. Twice I've been given a free service worth 300 quid by way of an apolofy for a minor issue.

Conversely, there are plenty of threads on this forum about people who've taken their steeds to an independent, paid hand over fist, and then ended up having to take it to a dealer to resolve the problem anyway.

My nearest 'reputable' independent, often lauded on this forum, is 40 miles away, and I've since found out that they farm a lot of work out to local specialists anyway, so where is the incentive to jump ship to them?

A sheet garage is a sheet garage regardless of what it says over the door.

The OP needs to find a good garage that will identify and repair the fault, not merely keep addressing the symptoms. The nature of their business structure is utterly irrelevant if they are good at what they do, and im sure the OP won't care what overalls they wear or how shiny the floor in their ateium provided they can do the job.

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by Familyman 90

My nearest 'reputable' independent, often lauded on this forum, is 40 miles away, and I've since found out that they farm a lot of work out to local specialists anyway, so where is the incentive to jump ship to them?

Where's '40 miles away'.