[eilp]

Bought a volvo v40 - had apparently just been MOT'd & serviced. Got 15 miles from the garage and the 'low oil level - refill 0.5 litres' appeared. Pulled over, switched off the engine and checked the oil level on the dash, below minimum but still some. Continued on the road to purchase oil & the red exclamation triangle appeared with LOW OIL.
Got 0w-30 oil as specified in the handbook, put in 500ml. Continued on my way, after around 20 miles to 'low oil level - refill 0.5 litres' appeared. then disappeared. then flashed on the screen a few times on/off before I could even 'ok' the message. Left car for two hours, checked oil level now sitting halfway at 'ok' and no more 'low oil' notifications. Question is... was the car not serviced as advised, is there a fault with the sensor or have they not reset the oil sensor when servicing and now I could have too much oil? Waiting for the car dealership (AC) to open but wondered if anyone else has had this experience

 

[jifen]

Filling at oil service is a game of skill. Early doors there were often posts like this until the dealers experience built and they knew exactly how much to put in.

I don’t honestly think you have an issue, just a strong probability inexperienced (with ref to Volvo) garage?

What engine? As my D4 is 0-20 not 30 and oil mist meet the states volvo spec as it allows for the addition of diesel during DPF purge.

 

[eilp]

Filling at oil service is a game of skill. Early doors there were often posts like this until the dealers experience built and they knew exactly how much to put in.

I don’t honestly think you have an issue, just a strong probability inexperienced (with ref to Volvo) garage?

What engine? As my D4 is 0-20 not 30 and oil mist meet the states volvo spec as it allows for the addition of diesel during DPF purge.

Thanks for your reply.
After reading a few posts on here it would seem that is the case, it was just a standard arnold Clark garage, not Volvo specific. It’s a D3, handbook specified 0W-30 Castrol oil. Will be requesting they drain the fuel, refill
& reset. Not even had the car 24 hours so I’m unimpressed with the garage to say the least.

 

[hullu]

Use Volvo spec 0w -30 check they use A5 B5 and not any old fully synth 0w-30 they happen to have in stock.

Handbook says don't fill to max which allows for any regen fuel finding its way into the sump.

I had the same problem, the garage tried to fob me off saying it must be a faulty sensor reading. It's a pain with no proper dip stick to check.
They ended up draining and measuring what they had put in, I watched as they did it. They hadn't put enough in.

 

[RS3100]

Although the oil level sensor in the sump reports the oil level in real time, for reasons known only to the designer of the somewhat ridiculous system, the level display in the instrument cluster is averaged over three consecutive drive cycles and a level warning occurs if a deviation in the oil level is noticed by the DIM during the last three drive cycles.

When a Volvo dealer replaces the oil, they measure oil level in real time directly from the sump sensor. The level they aim for is a calculated value obtained from Vida by comparison of the reported oil level and the actual oil temperature at the time of the reading. They then use a facility in the Vida diagnostic software to reset the oil level algorithm to prevent spurious readings or warnings from being generated on the cluster until the DIM has established new readings.

The documentation in Vida also explains that "the system [in the car] 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”.

So, if the oil has been changed by a non-Volvo workshop who are unfamiliar with the requirements for resetting the oil level indication or lacking the software to do so, any warning that appears on the instrument display a short distance from the garage may well be spurious. Adding oil at that point could lead to overfilling if the amount of oil refilled by the garage was correct.

The only way to determine whether the oil level is now correct is either to measure it directly from the sump sensor reading with suitable diagnostic equipment, or completely drain and refill the system with a known quantity of oil, ignoring any subsequent warning messages until you have had chance to drive 30km and park on level ground for at least 5 minutes with the engine switched off.

Can't help but think that physical dipsticks were much easier and more reliable!