Oil level reset

The process is in Vida. I can't recall exactly where without starting it up, which means rebooting into a different OS, but all the tool effectively does is to program the ECM with a temporary "false" oil level reading to prevent the system detecting a changed oil level and giving a false alert until the ECM has had time to obtain the correct oil level itself.

So it doesn't "reset" the oil level as such, just prevents the ECM from detecting it for a short period of time. As I read it, the ECM will establish the new value after the car has been driven at least 30km and then parked on level ground for at least 5 minutes with the engine switched off.

As long as you know that you have put the correct volume of oil into the car, then you are safe to ignore any spurious warning messages until a suitable journey has allowed the ECM to obtain the new value - provided you are certain of the amount of oil refilled and that there are no leaks causing the level to drop ;-)

I have changed my oil several times now, have never bothered with the Vida reset and haven't experienced any warning messages, although I took a reading of the oil level from the ECM when the car was new, and I always refill it with 5 litres of oil, run it briefly to fill the filter, then slowly top it up whilst reading the level until it matches the initial level reading. On my petrol 2 litre VEA engine, that equates to 5.3 litres of oil and a level reading of 39.5 - 41.5 mm from the ECM.

I wouldn't worry about the different level reading on your car, as I believe the diesel engines have a lower stated oil capacity (5.2 litres) whereas the total capacity on mine is stated as 5.9 litres, so I probably run about half a litre below maximum, allowing for the fact that a small amount of oil always remains in the engine when drained. But then I've never filled to absolute maximum on the dipstick on any of my cars, always preferring to keep the level slightly below - even more important on modern diesels.

Vida also states that a modified oil level sensor was fitted from 2014MY, which takes more frequent readings, so I wonder if the spurious oil warning messages after servicing are more frequent on earlier cars?

Page 373 of the manual details the oil capacity of all models. D4 is shown as 5.9 litres.
Page 332 details the oil measuring procedure, but you need to read the note on page 331 first. Basically you need to drive 30 kms after changing the oil to get an accurate reading.
YouTube vid on it here Couldn't find owt on resetting the oil so it could be part of the service reset. YouTube vid here

@Kirbs that is the procedure to reset the service reminder message that appears on the DIM a month before the next service is due. The oil level "reset" is a dealer function carried out through Vida. It requires the use of Vida or a separate VC2000 tool. Vida states that "the tool enters the correct oil level into the control module, i.e. the level expected after an oil service. This value is valid until the control module has been able to take a reading itself." So as I said, it's only purpose is to introduce a false reading to prevent spurious messages caused by the ECM detecting a changed oil level, until the ECM has obtained a new static value.

Although the oil level sensor continuously reads the sump oil level in near real time, the system is designed such that the ECM averages readings over engine operating cycles and journeys, and (again from Vida) "If the control module detects a deviating oil level during three operating cycles in a row, a warning message appears about the oil level in the combination instrument panel."

And, "The system cannot directly detect changes when the oil is filled or drained. The car must have been driven approximately 30km and have been stationary for 5 minutes with the engine switched off and on level ground before the oil level indication is correct”.

According to the handbooks I have, pre 2018MY, 5.9 litres is the capacity stated for VEA petrol engines. The capacity for VEA diesel engines is given as 5.2 litres. On the first oil change I did myself, I measured the volume of oil that was drained, including the contents of the filter. It was 5.4 litres (on a petrol engine with a stated maximum capacity of 5.9 litres). I already had the sump level in millimetres from when the car was new, obtained from the ECM with diagnostic equipment, and I knew that hadn't changed over the intervening 12 months as I take regular readings. So as I said, I refill carefully until the sump level reading, after running the engine to refill the new oil fliter, is at an identical value (+/- a couple of mm) and I have never had an issue with spurious or any other oil level warning messages on the DIM following a service.

It is good practice on a modern diesel engine not to fill to capacity, as the volume in the sump can actually increase during use, due to dilution with fuel during DPF regeneration cycles. Without a safety margin to accommodate the volume increase, there is a risk of diesel overrun in extreme circumstances, which can be an engine destroying event!

Just a quick update. On my v4p (vea engines) there was no option to do a reset in the software. I just had to drive it

I have Car Scanner on my phone and with an ELM327 diagnostic connector I can read the oil level in real time. When I bought the car (T2 with 2.0L VEA engine) had just been serviced and oil level read 49.5mm. When I did an oil change recently it had dropped to 48.9mm. I filled back to 50.0mm. The oil level indicator in the dash is happy.

Information here on what Vida does on oil level calibration procedure is not accurate, despite the facts that here are listed.

Few years back, I also had a v70 d4 2014/2015. For the longest time in ages, I decided to NOT change oil by myself when it was the first time to do this procedure after purchasing that car, since it was quite a upgrade from my previous car and was quite expensive- so why not some luxury even though it’s expensive.

Though I did not do it at Volvo’s dealer; shop that did it claimed that they have a Volvo specialist, former very experienced Volvo technician and they cover Volvo service just as well as authentic Volvo dealer would..

So they changed my oil. And made necessary service(MIL) resets and calibrations. 2-3 months later, my car said that oil service is required. Further studies explained that oil level is too high. There was a question in the air if diesel is getting to mix with oil. Finally I contacted the same shop again and they walked through the procedure they did for my car. I got a free oil change due to that they used wrong oil for my car; actually oil was correct for same car in US (later on received Intel from Volvo dealer), they did not use Vida; they had Bosch system that ”is as comprehensive” - not true again- as in few months I again experienced the same issue.

At that time, I had acquired myself a DiCe and Vida and Volvo official dealer who sold that car to me was very helpful and provided me a walk-through on the procedure to calibrate sensor- as I found page for it but did not know that there is a illustration picture of control unit that you should click to open a view where you receive live data and can perform calibration.

He also stated that actually Bosch tool does exactly what is said to happen on oil level calibration on previous posts in this thread- this is why I got that error message after a period of time.

otherwise oil they changed me was performed properly, dealer’s instructions were that oil capacity is 5.2 litres, after draining system and replacing of the oil filter, you pour in exactly 5.1 litres since it is impossible to get all oil drained.

and after 10-15 minutes, you calibrate sensor with Vida. I did not change oil at that moment to my car, instead I calibrated sensor with Vida as instructed by dealer. Problem was solved.

Was it like this just for that model/year of Volvo, no clue- I performed calibration after each oil change on a yearly basis after that and had no problems. Now I have had a 2016/2017 (manufactured 2016) xc60, my Vida installation on virtual computer no longer works because of host system updating (usb bypass to virtual computer failures; advice: vmware does this best on Mac) and on my last oil change, I only did MIL reset without Vida and have had no issue. But since I do not have a dipstick, I sometimes come to think if my car has incorrect intel.

This is a bit off-topic for this thread but bare with me...

Vida set up is heavy. I mean, you need either a computer which you should not use to anything else except Vida; because of fragile and vulnerable system - or a computer that runs Vida inside a virtual computer. Preferably this computer should be a laptop, as a desktop would be a rather difficult to carry to outside along with power cord extensions etc...

If you have a dedicated laptop, and strickly use it for Vida as I recommended; it needs a service, periodical charging to avoid battery's dead. It's also not a brightest idea to keep it charging constantly for a full year until next oil change..
Drained battery can lead to battery's dead, dead battery on some cases results as power over-draw causing RTC battery draining (realtime clock) - on RTC failure, system looses it's time, and many kinds of issues might appear even during boot since date is on the '80's.. And when system finally is up, more issues comes, Vida fails to start as previous Vida usage date is in future, also all ssl certificates start having issues due to wrong date - even wi-fi connection's authentication has problems (ever wondered why your router is intrested in today's date..)

And if you have a virtual version, virtual computer does not need that much attention, but host system does; battery most likely is no longer a issue as you most likely use that computer quite often, if not for Vida, then for something else - but host system and software updates might cause interference between usb bypassing to virtual computer, like what happened in my case, and well- whole lot of a new problems not listed here.

This is the software side. Then to hardware side;
Vida set up is heavy. You need (a charged laptop) computer along with Volvo's DiCE, both are quite small items, in case of laptop, they can be fitted to a briefcase- but still, place where I do my oil changes (on a front yard), I do not keep computers or computer equipment (rain for e.g. might not do very good..) - or even if I would use a garage, it would probably be a quite messy place, maybe not bring my pretty MacBook to be covered in oil staines and such, to there..

DiCe was also expensive, so I keep it safe in a box; instead of letting it be where ever, I think I am quite unlucky person and if I do not fight for everything I have, it seems to break or disappear one way or another, so extra caution for everything I want to have or if not, I could just say goodbye instantly-

Also when you bring your laptop along with DiCE to car and hook it up, well, driver's seat isn't very optimal or ergonomically designed for using laptop, so once again: Vida set up is heavy..

Vida also is slow. When you Win7 32bit finally is up and running- VIDA starts and then you cross your fingers for that green dot and "Vida is running" status.. Then to logon, fingers crossed still.. Yes, I got in.. Then vehicle identification or select from preset list if previously used and DiCE communication begins, still fingers crossed, yup, it worked out, finally, now I can start to do what ever I was planning..

These are cons. Also some report that it's difficult for beginner, but I think most superior tools usually are...
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They sell all kinds of OBD scanners these days, there are minimal versions that you even use with your phone. My preference would be a dedicated device. So called hand scanner.

They come in different price ranges and advertise a large feature set. If protocol used by your car is supported by scanner (most of them today support or known protocols) - even with cheapest device's you have possibility to access freeze frame data, which IMHO is overrated, and reset common check engine light issues and service reminder(MIL). With 20-30eur device.

Better devices have support for more systems. Steering wheel sensor, electric parking brake, airbags and so on. These come with a price tag, although devices are also much nicer in this price range, they might have a much more intuitive user interface and a modern touch screen, even though a really good device could work just as good with few buttons..

These systems are considered as light. That's a pro.
There's no way that they EVER would be as comprehensive as VIDA. That's a con.

Also, some of even most expensive device's have a yearly license fee; that's a BIG con. Luckily most of them do not.
Most advertise a life-time updates that would give software new abilities; I wonder if someone who owns such a scanner, actually has updated his device and received a new feature. With new feature I mean actually a new feature for a car diagnostics, such as support for something that it wasn't able to do before but after update, is able to do; for example, suddenly after update you would find out that you can calibrate automatic windows or something like that. Other updates, like "now you can email results" is nice, but the device's purpose in the end game is to be a diagnostic device, so I'd rather see updates on that part instead..
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But I actually don't need such a comprehensive system as I am not running a car repair workshop; actually, my car is still that new, that if anything bigger needs to be serviced, I'd better take it to a workshop, maybe even official local Volvo workshop.

Also VIDA comes with "programming" abilities, but they are not usable for us who are actually not authorised to use such tool at all- or has one of you obtained a real valid license? I doubt that... So some of that comprehensive stuff on VIDA is unavailable to "normal user".
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What then do I want from my obd scanner? Well, list is actually quite short..
- reset and identify issues for warning lights such as check engine (supported by all scanners on the market that support used obd2 protocol)
- release of electrical parking brake (even SOME 50eur devices have this)
- particle filter inspection/re-generation (not a must feature)
- maybe ABS, for detecting malfunction in wheel sensor..
- oil service

other features are a nice add-on, but most of them are unnecessary for common user, for example airbag; it's something that in general, is not replaced in a garage. Also these systems report malfunction in airbag but most likely lack feature of programming it so it's not very useful, malfunction of airbag can be seen on my instrument panel just as well..

That last item on list, oil service - is most important thing, as it might be, that during a year, all service I do for my car is fill in some windscreen washing liquid and do a oil change. Scanner is not needed for windscreen soap.
So in a way, I think that is the most important feature. I could even get 2 devices, another for oil service and second for other stuff, but I really really really am looking for a proper oil service feature. Even if I service my car only once per year, still, this is most commonly performed operation, and that makes such a simple thing most important feature.

Unfortunately; oil service in most, if not all, of these devices cover only service reminder (MIL) reset. For that; I actually don't need a scanner at all, even for this new car, there is a method to do this without connecting anything to OBD, even though I do not remember that procedure atm. - it can be found from YouTube.
Like I told, MIL service reset is available on most of even cheap devices so "Oil service" is overrated feature on most of these devices as today, such feature kind of is a very basic feature and lack of it, would make device instantly a very poor device.

For awhile now, I have been looking for a device that does not JUST do oil service as MIL reset, instead, if vehicle (and in this case, Volvo) supports oil level sensor, does the actual calibration - it's probably not even a very big deal, probably VIDA just communicates with vehicle and vehicle performs the task and does the "most work"..

Because I really would love to replace VIDA with such a nice and small scanner since I do not need most of the features that VIDA offers and I consider it heavy. VIDA is a huge toolbox, but I just need a wrench..

I have also contacted few manufacturers on this but so far I haven't been replied back. My question always is about the same thing, oil level sensor calibration when oil service is performed with device, is it supported or not, as like I previously stated, they advertise their oil service feature as a superior feature, but it only would be superior in case where it would have this (or other necessary feature, for example on a car of other brand) - MIL reset is basic feature and should not be advertised with a big banner.

So-- If anyone has knowledge on such device that performs items on a list + oil service would have this "required" feature, I'd be extremely happy to know what device to buy

Thanks for reading, this was a long road to the end

About oil level... Read your manuals what says for oil quantity in your engine. When drain the old oil, it always remains inside the engine something about 0.2 litres. So, just refill with new oil in a quantity specified in your manual, minus 0.2-0.3 litres and everything will be fine.

Yes, this behaviour is exactly what OTHER tools except VIDA does according to VOLVO SPECIALISTS on local dealer. And which was accurate, as problem was lifter as soon as it was calibrated WITH VIDA, not with Bosch which they used for it, which according to VOLVO's STAFF does exactly what you describe. They told me that with Vida, you click the image of control unit on page describing about oil service and recalibrate it to register new oil level when full. I can confirm it really worked like this. What you describe, is the "cheap way" to do it.

Mileages mentioned do not match with my case, but other information matches with Volvo's definition about non-volvo branded oil service reset systems.

All you are doing is repeating the same message all over again when it is inaccurate and local Volvo (Autosalpa is local Volvo importer/dealer/official service) says otherwise, I also had a experience which tells me that they were correct on Volvo, and that other better but still general diagnostic systems, like Bosch and Autodata (probably most common in Finland) do it like you explained it- but according to Volvo, it's not the case with Vida. As they knew that I had my own dice unit and vida installation, they had no possibility to profit from this at anyway and they solved my problem - just use vida to calibrate it and problem went away. I am terribly sorry, but I will have to follow my own experience and word of professionals, instead of what was said on "other forum", when I have been especially notified from authentic service that it is only the case when used other similar to Vida systems like Bosch or autodata.

Anyway, thanks anyway- apparently there is no system other than Vida available for this action, especially any of those small and light machines I was looking for. Maybe I should harness a old Lenovo for that purpose..