1996 850 Synthetic Oil Or Regular Oil?

[JRL]

Agree with the above. (Why the heck did you change at 145K)?

It's a crapshoot to start using Synthetic after 50-60K in ANY car.
You don't know the history and it could make things a lot worse regarding oil leaks.
When I bought my 850 R it already had a wisp coming out the RMS so I changed it, cleaned most of the PVC THEN started using Mobil 1
9WITH THE NEW REAR MAIN).
I probably will do a complete breather box change at 75 or 80K (72K now)
if I still own it

[F18]

I agree with Vince's old mechanic. Just change the oil often with the proper API rated dino oil. These 850 Volvos came from the factory with dino oil.

I have run most of my vehicles over the years to over 200K, 300K and over 400K on dino oil with no problems and all were turbo.....so I don't know what the concern is about...

Some of the newer cars have very close bearing tolerences and are synthetic oil spec'd. and the warranty is voided if not used. But for older engine applications where you should be changing oil frequently (2K city, 3 to 4 K highway) modern dino oils are more than adequate........unless you just like draining overpriced synthetic oil into a drain pan often.

[mom]

I probably will do a complete breather box change at 75 or 80K (72K now)
if I still own it

I have 82K on mine, no pressure on the dipstick, I don't understand why you should do a breather box job if you change your oil regularly and have no signs of RMS leak.

[JRL]

I probably will do a complete breather box change at 75 or 80K (72K now)
if I still own it

I have 82K on mine, no pressure on the dipstick, I don't understand why you should do a breather box job if you change your oil regularly and have no signs of RMS leak.

You don't if you know the history of your car and have done proper oil changes.
My car runs a LOT of boost, ergo much more pressure going thru everything and was bought at 61K miles with sketchy service records.
When I test the pressure at the next service and if it's at ZERO, I'll probably leave it alone for a while
I'm also going to drain and fill the transmission at 75K, (I flushed it at 62K) for the same reason, a lot more torque running through it

[zenmervolt]

Agree with the above. (Why the heck did you change at 145K)?

It's a crapshoot to start using Synthetic after 50-60K in ANY car.
You don't know the history and it could make things a lot worse regarding oil leaks.
When I bought my 850 R it already had a wisp coming out the RMS so I changed it, cleaned most of the PVC THEN started using Mobil 1
9WITH THE NEW REAR MAIN).
I probably will do a complete breather box change at 75 or 80K (72K now)
if I still own it

Sorry, but that's an old wive's tale if I've ever heard one.

Synthetic will never cause a leak. It will make existing leaks much more obvious, but it will not cause them.

I've switched several older cars over to synthetic, my 914 at 120,000 miles, my 951 at 145,000 miles, and my current S70 T5 at 113,000 miles. None have started leaking oil after the switch. Of course, that's because none leaked before the switch either.

If you get leaks after putting synthetic in, then you had already damaged your engine anyway. Blaming it on the synthetic is just foolish. It won't eat seals and it won't cause a problem.

There are zero potential downsides to running synthetic (provided, of course, that you choose the correct weight and API grade).

[HareBall]

I changed my 855 to a synthetic blend at 124K miles and have not had any leaks as of yet. It has a little over 127K on it now.

[turbotim2]

I wouldn't waste your money on synthatic oil. It will provide nothing but a deeper hole in your wallet.

[lucast]

Well, quite frankly, I prefer the semi-synthetic oil used in my T-5. Like I said, the engine seems to rev up easier than the NA 850 using dino oil.

might be because of the turbo?

I would use synthetic oil if it's not too expensive.
I'm using Castrol RS 0w40 - probably overkill, but I got it rather cheap on the internet. As far as I know the car was always filled with synthetic, I often wonder how clean the oil looks when I check or change it.

Well, I wouldn't say that the T-5 is more revvy because it's a turbo. The NA 850 IMHO is pretty darn 'revvy' car.

Perhaps I didn't mention this: prior to the Castrol dino oil change, the NA 850 wagon had semi-synthetic oil in it. The difference in feel of the engine between dino and syn is pretty different. The engine with synthetic seems to 'spin' easier? I don't know how best to describe it. The engine with dino felt 'heavier', and, quieter.

This is just my experience of course.

[Free2drive!]

My 850 na loved castrol gtx 10w 40 dino oil, went 3000 mile intervals and would only be down by 1/2 a quart between changes. We parted company at 190,000 miles.

Current car is a 95 10v and it runs on fully synthetic, it only has 85,000 miles and doesn't use any oil. The comment about fs oil cleaning an engine does make sense as mines looks cleaner inside the filler area since I started using fs, previous owner had dealer serviced it at 10k intervals and it seemed a little coked.

BTW Volvo dealers here in UK are sevicing cars with Castrol oil only now, maybe its better suited to Volvo?
Matt

[zenmervolt]

I wouldn't waste your money on synthatic oil. It will provide nothing but a deeper hole in your wallet.

If you have a turbo, it's good protection. Or if you have an air-cooled engine like in my old 914. The 914, on the street, in 70-degree weather (Fahrenheit), will see oil temps above 300 degrees (F). At that temperature, you're at the upper limit for what conventional oil can handle without breaking down. However, you're still well within the limits of synthetic. For turbos, synthetic oil provides a massive reduction in the chances of having the oil "coke" in the turbo's bearings and cause problems. A turbo puts a huge amount of heat into the oil and the vastly superior thermal stability of synthetics is a large benefit.

Now, if you have a non-turbo, water-cooled car, then yes, regular oil is fine.