Volvo: Oil consumption on V70 AWD 2.5, coolant tank, clouds of smoke

Question
Hi, There are no obvious signs of a leak, no clouds of smoke from exhaust, and to make it clear the dipstick measurements were from max to min. ie about 1.5 litres of oil in 2,500 miles of high speed and urban driving. There are no oil signs in the coolant.
Many thanks.
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-----Question-----
Hi, Have recently bought a V70 AWD with the 2,5litre 20 valve engine. It's done 124k. Delighted with the car but have noticed that it seems to use oil. It's gone from full to empty on the dipstick in about 2500 miles. These have been a mixture of urban and motorway driving. I have had three previous Volvos, a 740, 960 and 850, all with similar mileages and probably only used a couple of pints in all three of them over the last eight years. Is it normal for the 20valve engine to use a little oil and if so how much would be regarded as normal. Many thanks.
CB
-----Answer-----
Clive,
The amount of oil you said you used is very high. Does the engine smoke at anytime? Are there oil spots from leaking oil? Check the coolant tank to see if there is oil mixed in the coolant.

Answer
Clive,
If the engine is using that much oil I would suspect that there is oil being burnt. You may have bad valve guide seals poor compression in a cylinder and a clogged or broken oil ring. A bad turbo. You may ask a shop to run a cylinder leakage and compression test to attempt to narrow it down. If you begin working with a shop you may first want to top up the oil write the mileage down and run for a week or two to verify the amount of comsumption.