1996 850 Synthetic Oil Or Regular Oil?

turbotim2 · Post by **turbotim2** » 21 Aug 2007, 12:33

It may provide more protection but my father-in-law's 240 turbo just surpassed 350,000 miles with nothing but natural oil. Its driven daily, granted he is not the type to street race with the thing.

calbrit01 · Post by **calbrit01** » 21 Aug 2007, 12:34

On 113K 850 turbo I use mobil 1 high mileage, with a leak sealer as initially seemed to use some oil - fine now. I change at 5K as recommended for normal oil. I don't subscribe to this 3K nonesense in the US, its just a ploy by the oil compaines to sell more oil. If 5K with normal oil is good enough for the severe weather conditions in Sweden, then its good enough for me. When I left the UK some 7 years ago, 10K sevices even for performace cars was not abnormal, with normal oil per manufacturer recommendations. Check ot the tests on mobil 1 on their website 15K services with mobil 1 extended, on Las Vegas Taxis (now thats extreeme !) with little or no sign of wear, pretty impressive.

I do agree with caution when changing though. The cleanup that synthetic does can cause problems when deposits are sealing potential leaks, and the seal conditioners I suspect can cause the seals to leak if they have been in there along time. I have made high mileage tranny problems worse in the past by just changing the fluid.

zenmervolt · Post by **zenmervolt** » 22 Aug 2007, 09:03

turbotim2 wrote:It may provide more protection but my father-in-law's 240 turbo just surpassed 350,000 miles with nothing but natural oil. Its driven daily, granted he is not the type to street race with the thing.

Original, non-rebuilt turbo? If so, he's a highly unusual case. Most turbos that don't have water cooling tend to start having seal or bearing issues by 150,000 miles or so unless the owner is religious about idling the car to let things cool down.

I'm not saying that conventional oil isn't sufficient. It is. Just that I feel that the benefits of synthetic are worth the additional cost in either air-cooled or turbocharged applications.

jbm · Post by **jbm** » 22 Aug 2007, 11:30

The manual says:

"Synthetic oils complying with oil quality requirements are recommended for: Driving in areas of sustained temperature extremes (hot or cold), when towing a trailer over long distances or for a prolonged driving in mountainous areas."

I pull a trailer from time to time, so I use mobil 1 full synthetic and change it at 7500 miles. The manual also says that the interval (for normally aspirated cars) is 5k for around-town and 10k for highway, so I split the difference.

97 850 wagon, normally aspirated, 163,000 miles on the odometer

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 22 Aug 2007, 11:51

Always good to follow the advice from the manual.

In addition, what I've learned about these cars, especially turbo's, is that "over-kill" is not necessarily over-kill and that exceeding the manufacturer's recommendation can often pay off with less maintenance costs or repairs down the road. I'm sure that when these cars come off the line, even the manufacturer was not thinking that someone is going to be driving these in excess of 200 or even 300K miles. Personally, I love my Volvo's so much that I plan to drive them until they literally won't go no more.

Tsquared · Post by **Tsquared** » 22 Aug 2007, 19:10

MadeInJapan wrote:Always good to follow the advice from the manual.

I'm sure that when these cars come off the line, even the manufacturer was not thinking that someone is going to be driving these in excess of 200 or even 300K miles. Personally, I love my Volvo's so much that I plan to drive them until they literally won't go no more.

MIJ, I agree with the advice on the manual but I beg to differ on the rest. These are Volvo's not a Ford or Chevy. A Volvo P1800 has the record for over 1,000,000 miles and it is still going. I work with a girl that has 400K on her 240 that she bought used with 150K on it in the mid 80's and refuses to consider trading it. These cars for the most part are over engineered for durability and safety. We currently have 140,000 miles on our 850 and I would be disapointed in it if it did not go over 200K miles.

Volvo for life is not just an ad compaign it is an obsession...

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 22 Aug 2007, 21:27

I don't disagree with you...I think we're on the same page. Just that most owners don't keep their cars as long as us Volvo enthusiasts. Much of the scheduled maintenance for instance barely goes over 100K in the literature. We make due with what we know and the better we treat our cars, the longer they last....

Yes, Volvo for Life!
(notice my avatar)

turbotim2 · Post by **turbotim2** » 23 Aug 2007, 06:20

A Volvo P1800 has the record for over 1,000,000 miles and it is still going.

There are many Chevrolet taxis in NYC with over 1,000,000 miles. Volvos have a better reputation for safety and longevity but the truth of the matter is you have to fix them all. And I work with many engineers so when anyone says "over-engineered" it makes me cringe. Engineers are notorious for making things way more complicated then they need to be. Thats why GM doesn't use them.

Also, I have had 2 Fords now that have exceeded 400k miles which I consider pretty good.

calbrit01 · Post by **calbrit01** » 23 Aug 2007, 12:52

Engineers are notorious for making things way more complicated then they need to be. Thats why GM doesn't use them.

I am an Engineer, and I and the majority in the business don't design things that are unnecissarily complicated, because if you are a "proper" engineer, you sacrifise reliabilty when you do that. There is a difference between complicatited and over engineered. I would always prefer a component to be over engineered, it just means the materials and build are of a quality designed to wishtand more punishment than maybe inferior components - who doesnt want that? Mercedes, Volvo, Royles-Royce, Jaguar etc etc built their reputation on being "over engineered". Anyway, constraints of budget often mean that you are encoureged to simplfy and use inferior materials to try and cut costs.
Not sure about the reference

Thats why GM doesn't use them.

. GM doesn't use engineers? Maybe if they did their trucks would be up to the quality of the Japenese competition.

Post by **mom** » 23 Aug 2007, 17:37

One thing I can say, your letters are over engineered