Best oil weight for S80 3.2 Topic is solved

coded9 · Post by **coded9** » 02 Feb 2018, 06:13

I'm getting ready for my first oil change on this car. I saw that I could still stick with 5w 30, but noticed that 0w30 and 0w40 are also options. Which option would do the best for this engine? Thanks in advance.

Post by **June** » 02 Feb 2018, 07:18

If the previous owner used 5W30 why change? It depends on the climate the car is operated in. 0W?? Is for cold climate starts, like if you lived up north, 5W?? Or 10W?? Is for hotter climate. June

coded9 · Post by **coded9** » 02 Feb 2018, 11:15

Thats the thing. I'm in VA where we in the past month got as low as 12. But in the summer we often hit around the 90 mark. I had been wondering since the limit is 86 for 5w30. I was wondering if I could do any better with the other oil weights in terms of engine protection since I'm running full synthetic anyway.

Post by **Rattnalle** » 02 Feb 2018, 11:37

A 5W40 would cover a wider span but if it's just 90 and not 90 and far above you'll be fine with the 5W30. But sure if you do drive it hard a 40 will give you a bit more protection.

A wider range between winter and normal viscosity also supposedly means more additives to cover the wider span and thus an oil that is slightly less stable. I'm guessing that's why a 0W40 is more expensive than a 5W40 as well.

a 5W* will cover you down to 0 or so. No reason to go to a 0W unless it's that cold often.

Post by **oragex** » 04 Feb 2018, 11:49

As above, from a mechanical point of view 5W-30 is perfectly fine for your temperature, unless you race the engine during the summer - which I'd doubt on a S80 (but hey, you never know:

For a nice start at 10F, the battery is the most important element

Also important is what the previous owner used as oil. If he had only mineral, I'd keep it mineral as well (5W-30), as switching to synthetic will cause important oil consumption for a while plus the filter will clog up quickly.

Basically, most of us switch to synthetic (0W-30, 0W-40, 5W-40, even then 5W30 also comes in synthetic), to extend oil change intervals, extended PCV, and better fire up in very cold weather (0F and below) or very hot summers including some 'racing'.

Post by **Rattnalle** » 04 Feb 2018, 13:26

There's really no reason to stick with inferior (mineral) oil just because someone else did before. But as said it might clean the engine out a bit so an extra short OCI or at least an extra filter change could be a good idea.

coded9 · Post by **coded9** » 05 Feb 2018, 06:55

Nah I don't race, as long as you don't count the occasional rush to school or having an lead foot. I don't know 100% what was previously put into the car as far as oil goes. I just know from the service writer at the dealership that the guy who owned it took it in religiously for service, so I doubt it'd be anything too bad. I've been racking up miles as of late anyway so I might do 5k change, normally I just wait 6 months since I don't rack up that much normally to hit the 7.5k interval anyway.