2004 S60 B5244S6 uniformly low cylinder compression

[vtl]

You'd be surprised to see a variety of recommended oil viscosity in maintenance manuals of European cars sold in countries with less aggressive environment lobby.

Volvo recommends 5w40 when ambient temperature exceeds 86F, which routinely happens even in New England.

[ttrikalin]

I stand corrected

[jimmy57]

The oils available in Europe are not the same variety as in North America. The oils there with more than 20 spread in viscosity have been synthetic for 15 years or maybe more. The chart where the oil viscosity is charted against temp also has a footnote saying synthetic or semi-synthetic oils meeting the above specs, "5W40 ACEA A3/B3/B4"

For the oils available in USA the Volvo NA recommended oils were 5W20 and 5W30. One of the service manager bulletins that detail oils acceptable for use did mention 10W30 for temps consistently over 104F and towing in higher temps. The newer SMB for oils dropped that weight. The newest SMB only deals with the synthetic oils for vehicles 2013 and later in the 10K interval service program.

Your reasoning on thick oil being a band-aid and not stitches for a wound is sound. That doesn't mean that thicker oil is not an OK way to deal with it but my preference would be to use correct oil weight and just add between changes. Winter is headed this way and thick oil, slow driving, and short trips in winter do not mix well with thicker oils.

[ttrikalin]

thanks

be well,
tom in MA