How to Check Oil Level 2003-12 Volvo XC90

Hey friends, it's Len here at 1A Auto. Today, we're working on our 2004 Volvo XC90. I want to show you something very basic. We're going to be checking the oil level. The way you do that is you come right over the vehicle. After it's been running for a little while, and you shut it down, let it sit for maybe a minute or two, but the engine's going to be nice and warm. We'll come over here. This is our engine oil dipstick. Just grab that, pull it out, take your rag, wipe it off.

We'll take a peek at this real quick. You can see that there's hatch lines right along here. Essentially, the lower part of the hatch lines would be the minimum, and the upper portion would be the maximum. Between the minimum and the maximum is approximately one quart of oil. So if you find yourself all the way down at the bottom of the hatches, or even below it, you'd want to add approximately a quart. You can start with half a quart and then continue on. You definitely do not want to be above the maximum hatch line there.

If you're all the way up here, you could cause yourself some engine problems, runnability issues, catalytic converter problems, all sorts of really bad things could happen. And when your oil pump's going, it could aerate your oil, which will cause major issues down the line. So just keep it below the maximum line and above the minimum line. You're doing all right. So let's check it. Let's put this in here. I like to leave it in for a second, doesn't have to be very long. We'll pull it back out. As you could tell, we're at the minimum line.

At that point, like I said before, I would add approximately half a quart to a full quart to try to get it up to about the maximum line, even just a little bit below it would be great. So we'll put this back in here, just like this. So let's say that we're going to be adding oil. All right, because we just noticed that we're low. We'll come right over to our oil cap, says Volvo recommends Castrol oil. You can use whatever your preference is for oil, it's just a recommendation. But you definitely want to use either 5W-30 or 5W-40 in this engine. That's what's recommended.

So get one of those two. Don't go with like a 0W-20 or a 15W-40 or anything crazy like that. We'll take off our cap by turning it counterclockwise and we'll take a peak. Underneath the cap, you'll notice there's a rubber gasket that goes around. We'll just wipe it off. Take a look at it. If you see dry rot and cracks and all that, you'd want to replace it. This one does look like it's starting to dry rot and crack. So if I had the opportunity, I would replace this, just to make a good seal. I'll set this aside.

Now it would be time to add oil, which would go directly into here. You'll notice inside here there's some little baffles. So when you add oil, the oil might not want to go down very fast. So just add slow. Could you use something as easy as a funnel that'll help you prevent from spilling up along the top. After you add your half a quart to a full quart oil, just go ahead and check, make sure you're at the right level. Put that back in when you know you are. Take your cap, line up your slots with the little prongs on the cap, and then turn it clockwise until it stops. That's nice and tight. Double check your dipstick, make sure it's down, and then down the road you go.

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