Air bubbles on oil dipstick

I was checking the oil dipstick on my wife's '07 Volvo XC-90 3.2 AWD w/ about 45Kmiles and noticed air bubbles in the oil on the dipstick. We bought the car CPO about 6 months/7Kmiles or so ago and the oil hasn't been changed since I bought it. The service reminder light came on a week after I bought the car but the dealer reset the light since they said that they had performed the necessary services (incl. changing oil) when they certified the car.

Is it something I need to worry about or do the air bubbles mean nothing? Also, now that I think about it is it common to change oil as part of the certification process? What's the normal oil change interval for a fairly new Volvo like our XC-90? Thanks all.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you start seeing a milkshake 'highwater' mark on the dipstick, under the oil filler cap or the cooling system cap...visual indicators of oil-water mixing.

I would refer to the manual for the oil change interval, but I'm willing to bet it calls for synthetic every 5000-7500.

oil level is ok? and how long since the car was shut down?

mad_machine wrote: oil level is ok? and how long since the car was shut down?

Oil level is ok and I checked about 5 minutes after the car was shut down. Does it make a difference? Also, there's no trace of milkshake on the dipstick, the oil filler cap or the cooling system cap.

The dealer changed the oil on my '07 XC 90 V8 before my CPO purchase. They lied or misled me about a bunch of other stuff including that it had been in a wreck but they did that service. The oil change should be listed on the CPO checklist they gave you when you bought the car - they did give you a copy, right? My dealer didn't until I called them on the accident when I found out about it. Sorry about the hijack. Oil change interval is 7500 miles - just had it done for the first time since getting mine 6 months ago also.

pigeon wrote: The dealer changed the oil on my '07 XC 90 V8 before my CPO purchase. They lied or misled me about a bunch of other stuff including that it had been in a wreck but they did that service. The oil change should be listed on the CPO checklist they gave you when you bought the car - they did give you a copy, right? My dealer didn't until I called them on the accident when I found out about it. Sorry about the hijack. Oil change interval is 7500 miles - just had it done for the first time since getting mine 6 months ago also.

I did get the Certified Comprehensive Inspection Report for my car and it does say that if maintenance records are unavailable they were supposed to change oil, oil filter, flame trap, plugs, air filter and pollen filter. To be honest with you I am not sure if they did all that.

Anyhow, does the maintenance light come on after you've passed 7500 miles or before? I guess it will come on soon and I can bring it back to the dealer and ask them to check the air bubbles (I got free oil changes for live).

Btw, I like BMW's Inspection reminder on my 330Ci that tells me how many miles I have before the next service. I wish Volvo has the same feature.

When I overfill my motorcycle with oil it will foam on the dipstick but it has a dry sump system so it might be different than the volvo. Good luck!

I seem to recall that the maintenance remainder came on around 7k miles. I also like the miles until next service on my BMW, it was nice and simple on my E46 328i, on the big 7 I can screw around in iDrive and see how long time or miles until things like brake pads and brake fluid changes in addition to oil changes. The Volvo's pretty simple by comparison but at least it has a reminder - I completely spaced on the XC90's change until the reminder came up, and even then I had to check the mileage to see if it was really due. Having a nice simple miles until empty display choice is nice though, since the Wife drives it as her daily and she pretty much only gets gas when its down to the last gallon...

Ask the selling dealer for the actual service records for the prep they did prior to sale. I got mine and it did show the oil change along with replacement of the 3rd brake light, an alignment and some other things.