Oil brand, viscosity, type, mileage?

[prwood]

What brand, viscosity, and type of oil do you use in your Volvos, and how many miles do you have on them? Also, any anecdotal or scientific reasons why you use it?

[tryingbe]

AMSOil OE 5-30 synthetic. Over 200,000 miles on the engine.

Here is the scientific reason.

[jbeebo]

@ tryingbe, how much does that oil analysis cost and how often do you get it done?

@ OP, I use whatever oil is on sale, preferring Valvoline or Castrol. I use 10W30 "high mileage" type oils. 2005 S60 non-turbo, 175kmiles. I've found this 2.4L engine does a good job keeping oil temperatures low. 6000-7500 mile oil change intervals seems about right.

I used to use Mobil1, but I once had a car that was sensitive to viscosity; valvetrain would clatter away on Mobil1 so I switched back to conventional oils - problem solved.

[June]

In the 1990s I used Mobile One 10W30 in my Volvos then Volvo switched to Castrol. Keep in mind back then Mobile One was the only game in town in a service department for synthetic oil. Personally I liked the Mobile better than Castrol. Probably because I started using it in my first new car back in 1986. Also my current Volvo engine is not as clean as I would like under the oil cap. She is a 2004 S80 T6 and I have never kept a car this long before so I can't say the engine would be cleaner with Mobile.

Throughout her life it has been Castrol Synthetic 10W30 most of the year and 5w30 during the three months of cooler weather. My engine has a 10W30 requirement if the stable ambient temperature exceeds 86°f according to my owners manual. I change it every 3k and my car has 143k now. My engine is quiet and the oil level stays on the full line on the dipstick always. I check it at every fill up. June

[93SCMax]

Mobil 1 5w30 full synthetic, every 7,500 miles. Been changing the oil and filter myself since the car was new. Currently @ 145k. Does not burn or leak a drop of oil.

Absolutely no sludge build-up and has not failed the "glove" test yet.

[tryingbe]

@ tryingbe, how much does that oil analysis cost and how often do you get it done?

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

Not often.

[Roger_850T]

I put in Castrol that I buy cheap at Wal-Mart, and change it every 3,333 miles. I put in Chevron oil for years, until Costco stopped carrying it.

1. I have seen a lot of engines build up a lot of sludge with a 7500 mile oil change interval. I seem to do well changing it more often.

2. 3,333 miles is easy to remember - I can get in the car (or my wife's car) and immediately know how close it is to being due - I just change it when the last four odometer digits are 3333, 6666, and 0000.

On my 850, I had to replace all the oil seals in the first year after I got it (~90,000 miles). I do not know what the PO put in. Since then, with the regular diet of non-synthetic, seals have been fine. Now I'm almost at 300k.

Change it early, change it often.

Roger

[mrbrian200]

Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5w30 (full syn), 105k miles. Amsoil signature got too pricey. Independent testing showed this QSUD around equal to slightly better for less than half the price..$23/5qt jug at Meijer, Wal Mart sells it for about that same price. Amsoil, which I've used for 15-20 years across 3 different vehicles hiked up around $60 for a 4qt jug. Six quarts and a filter for the Volvo was getting up around $100 and I had to call it/look at other brands. Tappet noise much quieter with QS + more responsive/better econ on short trips before fully warmed up.

[Cookie-the-Swede]

'03 S60 2.5T AWD w/167K
Castrol 'Edge' high mileage Full Synthetic 5W30 (year round). I live in the Colorado mountains. *It never really gets above 86 degrees.
I change it myself every 4,000-5,000 miles.

[prwood]

In case anyone's interested, here are the counts so far:

Castrol - 4
AMSOil - 1
Valvoline - 1
Mobil 1 - 1
Quaker State - 1

5w30 - 5
10w30 - 2

Synthetic - 5
Conventional - 1