Recommended oil ?

Post by **stephansvolvo** » 15 Jan 2014, 15:47

142,000 what do you guys recommend?

joe_pinehill · Post by **joe_pinehill** » 15 Jan 2014, 17:18

I only use Mobil-1.

Post by **j-dawg** » 15 Jan 2014, 18:54

oil is such a difficult thing to talk about because everyone has his own favorite and swears that anything besides is tantamount to pouring sand in your crankcase. i don't take my engines apart to inspect bearings, but i think there's a lot of talk out there that can make one worry about some details more than it's maybe worth.

i use 5W30 in the winter and 10W40 in the summer, strictly conventional because of high miles. i avoid cheap house-brand oils, but i don't have a preferred brand. i use the volvo-branded filters.

with all this, i don't hear lifters ticking on startup, nothing leaks, and the oil comes out clean and brown every 3000 miles, so i'm happy. if you find a set of consumables that gets you clean oil, no noises, and no leaks, i'd say you're doing it right. keep an eye on oil level and cleanliness, change every 3000, replace the PCV on schedule, and enjoy.

EDIT: well, i will say this. i do believe them when they say that, on turbocharged cars, synthetic is preferable and frequent changes are important. i don't mean to suggest that people should be casual about their oil selection and changes, but first-order things like keeping your oil and PCV fresh, letting the turbo cool off before parking the car, choosing an appropriate oil weight, &c are probably more important than the differences between one popular brand and the next.

Post by **stephansvolvo** » 15 Jan 2014, 19:52

I was kind of feeling the same way jdawg. Although my dad swears by Mobil 1 in his vette, understandably.
Thanks for this. I did change today and use 5-30. I had a buddy do it at his shop cause it was free plus I can go out look under the car while it's on the lift. That's hard to with four jack stands.

Post by **rspi** » 15 Jan 2014, 21:19

In a turbo car, only full synthetic.

Post by **stephansvolvo** » 15 Jan 2014, 21:23

Oh yeah, it was 5-30 synthetic.

Post by **rspi** » 15 Jan 2014, 21:51

Oh, I'm not real stuck on 5,000 mile oil changes. I sent a sample to Blackstone labs and they recommended that I do 8,000 mile changes and possibly go to 10,000 mile changes. At 5,000 miles (sample taken) the oil had about 56% of the additives left in the oil and they claimed that the motor was running cleaner than most others they had ever seen with over 200,000 miles on it.

Post by **rmmagow** » 16 Jan 2014, 12:11

Bought my car with 155,000. Changed oil using 10W30 Synthetic from WalMart. Been changing at 5~7000 mile intervals and using a VOLVO oil filter. I'm at 210,000 now and easy starts at 0 degrees and no burning of oil at daily rocket ship speeds. About 17 bucks a 5 gal jug, plus another 1.5 qts. Brand isn't too important, but synthetic seems to be better for the turbos. Volvo filter (Mann?) is the way to go for the filter though. Oil can still be seen through at change time.

Post by **stephansvolvo** » 16 Jan 2014, 15:23

Robert,

I love your videos! Thank you for all the great info. When I took the car to my buddie sot get the oil changed I was able to see there is some leakage from a few areas. We cleaned up those areas and now I w ill watch them to see if I can pinpoint the main area of leakage. It looked like there was some leakage at the turbo. Is this bad?

joe_pinehill · Post by **joe_pinehill** » 16 Jan 2014, 15:36

since I changed to Mobil-1 in the mid 90s for all my cars, I dont have PCV or Flame trap issues. In my 240's with Amsoil or conventional, the flame trap would constantly clog. I know Amsoil claims very low volatility, all I can say is in my experience Mobil-1 is better ( I even used to sell Amsoil, part of their multi level marketing, a friend asked me to join).