I am driving a V70 Volvo and the oil hasn‘t been changed for 6k miles and 9 months. Now the check engine light is on. My car stalled on me once at a stop sign other than that it‘s running great. Could it be that my oil is old?
On cars today, there is a service engine maintenance light, as well as a malfunction indicator check engine light. If you haven't gotten scheduled, regular maintenance on your car and a technician hasn't reset the maintenance light, it would have come on. This is normal. If it is the check engine light, you should have your stored code checked at a dealer or a local parts store. If you haven't changed your oil for 6k miles/9 months, then the chances of the vehicle's OBD2 (on-board diagnostics) system indicating a failure via the check engine light is slim to none. First, unless your drive trips consist mainly of short ones that lead to heavy oil dilution (condensation, unburned fuel) due to low oil temperatures, 6k miles is for many cars, unnecessarily EARLY to change the oil. If you look at your owners manual, it will probably recommend at least 6k miles for normal driving. Oil change companies recommend 3k miles primarily to get business, based on severe (frequent short trip) driving style. If your engine uses oil to actuate solenoids in the oil circuit, and you have heavily diluted oil, the OBD2 system could potentially detect a slow response in the system. The best way to find out is to take your car to a dealer or local auto parts shop to have the stored code checked.
