Hmmmm - yours is an odd car. At a guess I'd say you have a late-registered series 1 car (as these stopped being made in 2004), but I'm not sure they were still doing a non-turbo 1.8 petrol engine at that time.

You might have the Mitsubishi GDI 1.8 engine, which was known for problems as it had a unique fuel injection system.

Can you identify which model you have from this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_S40 ?

Position 1 - 3: World Manufacturer Identifier

YV1 = cars

Position 4: Vehicle Code

M = Volvo S40, V50, C30, C70 2013- V40

Position 5: [1999-Present] Vehicle Platform

S = S40 FWD, S60 FWD, S80 FWD

Position 6- 7: Engine Code

21 = B4184S11 V50/S40 1.8

Vin Engine

21 B19A

Position 8: Body Style/Emissions Code

[1992-Present] Emission Control Equipment

4 = Engine Codes 71

Position 9: Gearbox

2

Position 10: Year Mode Code

5 = 2005

Position 11: Plant of Assembly Code

2 = [Belgium] Ghent Plant VCG 22

Position 12-17: Chassis Code

102870

ENGINE NUMBER 15746

I'm not an expert but burning 3l oil per 500mls = knackered engine in my view. By far the most common cause of such knackeredness is piston ring wear/fracture. Valve guides, the other portals of oil entry into the combustion chamber, are far less susceptible to wear and failure by comparison. Either way, it's probably scrap value now, so run it on the cheapest 20-50 till it drops - or fails its emissions test!

Tcpaulh, just looked here for any clues
www.check-mot.service.gov.uk

and before you bought it,
it had an "engine light on" as an advisory 3rd oct 2015

...I wonder what hapened for the light to go out, since then?

• Test date3 October 2015
• Expiry date2 October 2016
• Test ResultPass
• Odometer reading101,541 miles
• MOT test number9923 9735 4250
• Advisory notice item(s)
  engine management light on

Cheers
Liam

It's just passed it's MOT a few days back... clean as a whistle.

Looks like when it works, it works 100%

• Test date18 October 2016
• Expiry date17 October 2017
• Test ResultPass
• Odometer reading107,774 miles

Cheers
Liam

Edited by liammcl on 20/10/2016 at 21:11

ps John F,
just to clarify ...and I know you know this.

It isn't my car, it's tcpaulh's

I just looked up the mot history
from the registration number tcpaulh supplied.

This post, is just to prevent further people from getting confused,
incase the are catching the tail end of this thread.

All the best
Liam