Volvo service advice

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Wed 19 Jun 2002 14:47
Volvo service advice - JonShread
I have a 2001 Volvo V70 2.4 SE (170bhp) Auto, which I purchased from a main dealer in Feb this year. It had 11,000 miles on the clock and prior to me taking delivery it had been through the Volvo used car check which appears to be pretty comprehensive.

The car had belonged to a Volvo dealer as a demonstrator and had been serviced in late August 2001 having covered 8,000 miles.

I have no issues with the car at all, it is superb and appears to have been well looked after.

My question is this, the car has a service light on the dashboard, this I assume illuminates when the car is due to be serviced. How does this light detect when a service is due?

Regards.

Jon.
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Wed 19 Jun 2002 15:02
Volvo service advice - smokie
Not sure about the Volvo, but others actually work by reading your credit card balances. When you are feeling smug having just finished paying off that large long standing debt, the light is triggered.

Only kidding....just in case anyone thought otherwise!
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Wed 19 Jun 2002 17:12
Volvo service advice - Steve S
Must be in the chip. Number starts recorded maybe? That would give some kind of indication of the type of mileage and treatment the engine gets between services. I've had two successive Volvos has company cars doing mainly motorway driving at 35k plus per annum and the service light has never come on ahead of the interval figure.
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Thu 20 Jun 2002 08:24
Volvo service advice - Adam Going (Tune-Up)
Whilst manufacturers would say that time, mileage, number of cold starts, number of times engine goes over a certain speed, time spent at idle etc., are all computed to bring on the light at an appropriate time, on my V40 the last (and only, so far) time the service light came on it was 6 months TO THE DAY after the 3 month / courtesy / inspection service. I am now aproaching the next 6 month interval, well shy on mileage, and wait with baited breath !

Regards, Adam
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Thu 20 Jun 2002 08:53
Volvo service advice - John S
Adam

The impression I get is that the systems have a maximum time and/or mileage limit and when these are reached the service lights are triggered. However, to cover for 'extreme' use, within that overall limit, I believe there are other parameters monitored (eg cold starts, engine speed etc), and if these exceed certain limits, then they trigger an earlier illumination.

For example, I'm convinced my BMW loses a green light exactly every 2000 miles, but it allegedly records many other operating values than mileage. It gets mainly long runs, so I would expect the maximum service intervals. It certainly doesn't have a time limit between service intervals.

I believe current BMWs use only total fuel use as an analogue of type of service so do have flexible service intervals.
Regards

John S
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