Oil brand, viscosity, type, mileage?

[Rattnalle]

No disrespect, but that doesn't look good. My 2001 using only 5w30 Mobil 1 w/149k, is clean as a whistle. You seem to be ingesting dirt or crud thru the oil cap, or your oil isn't very good.

None taken.

I know it isn't pretty but it doesn't worry me either. It's still a part of the engine with pretty much no circulation of oil just a few splashes onto the hot metal, not really an ideal setup for keeping it clean. On previous Volvos with the same in line five but without the splash plate I've also had oil deposits on the lip below the lid while cams and everything have been perfectly clean.

You could argue that this is as Volvo meant it to be since it's been serviced at their dealership a few miles from the Gothenburg factory for its entire life before I bought it. It has gotten slightly cleaner since I started doing oil changes every 10000 rather than 20000 km though.

[abscate]

The bottom ends of these engines are really tough, so few either knock or burn oil, even with the abused puppies we get here. I come from the air cooled VW world where there is no oil filter, just a strainer, alloy blocks, pieces of metal in the oil after 3000 miles, and black black black oil from carb engine blow by.

It is engine , not a neuron, and cleanliness is relative

[93SCMax]

For reference, thought I'd share a picture of my oil fill (under cap). 145k, with Mobil 1 fully synthetic 5w30 every 7,500 miles. Either the 7,500 mile change interval, or the detergents in the oil are helping to keep this pretty clean. As mentioned earlier, passes the glove test and have never had to clean out the PCV system.

[abscate]

Here's mine