1995 850 GLT maintenance

dgreen · Post by **dgreen** » 18 Apr 2005, 13:39

Hi folks. My girly girl sister just bought a '95 850 with 118K miles on it. We know the previous owner and the car was well maintained with documentation of routine maintenance. The car is running very well.

I am new to Volvo's and I will be doing all of the maintenance on this vehicle. Here's a couple of questions I have:

The engine is fairly clean inside, but does show some varnish, about as much as you would expect for 118K. I would like to run a 15W-40 diesel rated oil for a couple of short OCI's (1.5K) to give it a gentle cleaning. Has anyone ever done this on a volvo? Any advice here? The car is located in East Tennessee - morning temps 50 F and afternoons 75-80F right now. Is the 40 too heavy?

I've also read about the OEM Mann oil filters and I've found them on Ebay at what I consider to be a fair price. Someone please explain to me why I should use this filter as opposed to a quality Napa Gold, Wix, Baldwind, or Purolator Pure One filter. Price isn't the issue, it's just easier to buy from the parts store.

Also, any advice as far as regular maintenance goes would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **dosbricks** » 18 Apr 2005, 17:43

The Mann filters (and OEM) have a check valve built into them so the oil does not drain down from the upper engine overnight. On start up, the upper engine receives instant lubrication. The first five or six seconds before oil pressure builds up accounts for most of the wear on the top side of engines without this feature.

Synthetic oil will clean up an engine over time.

White850Turbo · Post by **White850Turbo** » 18 Apr 2005, 17:51

As far as cleaning the engine goes, look into something called Auto-RX (Their site doesn't appear to be working at the moment; you may want to try later). It is NOT your typical snake oil additive. I've used the stuff before and there is a visible difference inside the filler cap and the overall smoothness of the engine. After that, it'd be a good idea to run a full synthetic oil to help keep things cleaned up. I run a 5w-40 weight full synthetic year around here in TX. I think you'd be safe going with something of a similar weight. If I were you, I would run a 5w-30, 10w-30, or 5w-40 oil. Any of those should be safe.

dgreen · Post by **dgreen** » 18 Apr 2005, 18:56

I appreciate the replies. I have looked into Auto RX, and I think it would be worthwhile.

I just hope Auto RX wouldn't clean out a "leak" somewhere and give me another headache to deal with. I just might give it a shot.

Can anyone comment on other lubrication points? I crawled under there yesterday and it looks like I'm going to have to get a right angle adapter for the grease gun for a couple of the zerks.