V70 D5 - Which engine oil

[Ononnni]

Would be grateful if some can educate me – I have just purchased 2002 Volvo V70 D5 and first thing I want to do is change the oil & filter – I think the “spec“ from the Vovo recommendations very helpfully posted on here should be 5w-30 to ACEA A3/B3/B4
I do a search to see which oils fit this spec & find there’s a lot of others who have wondered the same thing !
The point for me is that I run my cars on “sensible” budget so expensive oils (more than $25/5l) are not my cup of tea.
And where it gets really puzzling is that several websites (Opie, Comma for example) recommend semi-synthetic oils (typically 10w-40) as well as fully synthetic ones - yet a lot of forum input says you should only use fully synthetic.
Doing my homework I see comma do a fully synthetic 5w-30 (X-tech) which is A5/B5 (which I understand is ok instead A3/B3/B4) – this is available at a sensible price and I plan to change it once every 5k – 7k miles (once a year at longest).
So please can anyone explain the differences of opinion and put me out of my misery ?!
Should I use only fully synthetic and if so is the comma worth it given it’s admittedly at the bottom end of the fully synthetics ?
Thanks for any input

[abscate]

5k per year is light use, as long as the car gets completely warmed up on every run. I would probably run a semi synthetic for such light use and change annually but I have been known to pinch a penny or ten.

(Do you have a car that uses oil that you can use the old oil to top off??_

[amblerman]

Your location says you're in Seattle but you've listed out 3 oil brands that I believe are from UK or Europe.

You will have a lot more choices than that in the Seattle area. Just walking into a walmart and you'll find that most of the 5w-30 from Mobil 1, Pennzoil and Castrol meet the specs you need at around $20/5qt jug and even cheaper when there is a rebate going on.

One thing about Semi-synthetic is that you have no idea what % of base stocks you're getting. could be 1% synthetic, 50%, 90% etc. Semi synthetic (along with the word synthetic) is really just a marketing term in the US.

If you want a European brand, I know a lot of Napa or Advanced Auto parts do stock them (usually in a less than obvious spot) but you will pay $$$$.


-A

[oragex]

Is it you who posted the same question on this other forum, but 8 years ago ? https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=138838

[abscate]

Would be grateful if some can educate me – I have just purchased 2002 Volvo V70 D5 and first thing I want to do is change the oil & filter – I think the “spec“ from the Vovo recommendations very helpfully posted on here should be 5w-30 to ACEA A3/B3/B4
I do a search to see which oils fit this spec & find there’s a lot of others who have wondered the same thing !
The point for me is that I run my cars on “sensible” budget so expensive oils (more than £25/5l) are not my cup of tea.
And where it gets really puzzling is that several websites (Opie, Comma for example) recommend semi-synthetic oils (typically 10w-40) as well as fully synthetic ones - yet a lot of forum input says you should only use fully synthetic.
Doing my homework I see comma do a fully synthetic 5w-30 (X-tech) which is A5/B5 (which I understand is ok instead A3/B3/B4) – this is available at a sensible price and I plan to change it once every 5k – 7k miles (once a year at longest).
So please can anyone explain the differences of opinion and put me out of my misery ?!
Should I use only fully synthetic and if so is the comma worth it given it’s admittedly at the bottom end of the fully synthetics ?
Thanks for any input

Jools


>.Lets lock this one so we can deal with the bot..