Bought some oil today!

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 20 Apr 2022, 22:24

When I bought my 850 in January, I ran the rather clean looking existing oil for a bit. When I finally changed it, I used a Mahle filter with Shell Rotella T6 5w-40. I've put several thousand miles on the car since I bought it, and given that I've had a fuel mixture issue, I figured I'd change the oil again when I get the issue figured out.

I don't have the issue quite figured out as I've been waiting for better weather, which is slowly starting now. I'll continue to cover that in the dedicated thread, located here: viewtopic.php?t=99771

I noticed that Menard's didn't seem to be renewing their stock of Rotella. A Google search tells me that there is a shortage because Shell has shut down Rotella production due to a supply issue with the additives. I can still find 15w-40 but, the less available to begin with, 5w40 is what I need.

I'm not sure if I'll continue to run Rotella any way because I've read that it can start to aerate at higher revs... my NA 2.4L may not qualify for "higher revs", as it's not a turbo, nor is it a crotchrocket. Still, I wonder since diesels tend to top out at lower rpms than gas engines. I'm probably being paranoid there.

What I did buy, as I wandered down the oil aisle at Meijer's is Valvoline Premium Blue Extreme 5w40. I was surprised they even carried it. It's gas an diesel rated, full synthetic, and for reasons I can't recall is supposed to be pretty good.

I find it odd that per the owners manual Volvo seems to say that 10w30 or 5w40 are the year round oils to run, and not 5w30.

Post by **scot850** » 21 Apr 2022, 01:43

Me too. I used to think they showed 10W-30 for winter and 5W-30 for summer. My V70R is the first I saw that said 5W-40.

Neil

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 21 Apr 2022, 06:47

scot850 wrote: 21 Apr 2022, 01:43 Me too. I used to think they showed 10W-30 for winter and 5W-30 for summer. My V70R is the first I saw that said 5W-40.

Neil

I was looking at the temperature range chart. I think 10w30 was factory-fill/recommended since it's highlighted. They only have 5w30 being "good" till 68F, but 10w30 being "good" to 104F, which is not how oil weights are supposed to work. They also show the 5w40 being good to 104F, and 15w40 going off the chart. The Winter weight isn't supposed to change the overall weight of the oil, that's the whole point of it..... 5 or 10 when cold, and 30 when hot.

I was really surprised that 5w30 is not the recommended oil. I figured I'd be running the same as what my GM vehicles run.... GM is pretty conservative with oil, they don't get all crazy with the really light weight oils that some of the other manufacturers do unless they're going that way with the much newer vehicles.

Post by **misha** » 21 Apr 2022, 08:33

10w40 would be more appropriate for these n/a high mileage cars...5w40 too.

5 or 10w30 is too thin...it should only be used in extreme cold climate.

But...again...it's your car and you decide what viscosity oil you will use in your car.

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 21 Apr 2022, 09:56

misha wrote: 21 Apr 2022, 08:33 10w40 would be more appropriate for these n/a high mileage cars...5w40 too.

My car is under 100K miles.

5 or 10w30 is too thin...it should only be used in extreme cold climate.

Wasn't 10w30 the factory fill? Neither is considered thin in North America, in fact they would be thicker oils compared to what a lot of newer cars run, like 0w20.

A 40 weight oil hasn't been widely used here (prescribed by automakers) except in diesels for a long time.

Post by **misha** » 21 Apr 2022, 12:46

Higher mileage-higher viscosity oil.

Thinner oils in modern auto-industry are used to cut fuel consumption...but....oil consumption is increased and considered normal for 1l/1000km.

Back in the day....1l/1000km was the upper limit before engine rebuilt.

Engines are not any different than 20-30 years ago.
Engine management is what is different and emissions.

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 21 Apr 2022, 13:46

misha wrote: 21 Apr 2022, 12:46 Higher mileage-higher viscosity oil.

I disagree. Oil pressure is just the resistance to flow. The engine has to work harder to push it through the system. If oil pressure is low, due to clearances, increasing pressure by using a thicker and harder to push oil isn't going to restore lubrication.

quietlymknnoise67 · Post by **quietlymknnoise67** » 21 Apr 2022, 15:08

My '03 C70 w/154,000 miles and the '06 S80 w/168,00 miles run on Mobil 1 0/40w just fine. I call BS on oil with higher weighs.

454cid · Post by **454cid** » 21 Apr 2022, 15:45

quietlymknnoise67 wrote: 21 Apr 2022, 15:08 My '03 C70 w/154,000 miles and the '06 S80 w/168,00 miles run on Mobil 1 0/40w just fine. I call BS on oil with higher weighs.

I don't have the guts to run a vehicle on the 0w oil when it's not speced from the automaker. I don't think those oils even existed when my vehicles were designed. A 0w30 or 40 probably wouldn't be so bad, but I wouldn't want to do a 0w20 like my brother in law did when he had my Saturn. Spec is 5w30 for that car..... it burns oil. I mean all Saturn 1.9L engines burn oil, but I doubt the under weight oil helped.

Your cars are still low miles

Post by **Clemens** » 22 Apr 2022, 14:42

As in every oil discussion there are alot of of opinions - just like with different religions. And just as with religion, there is only one correct choice for oil viscosity. But I'm not going to reveal the secret ...

Seriously, though, in Europe x-30 oils were basically nonexistent till the new millenium, we usually had x-40 oils. The US used x-30 oils lile a decade earlier, at least.

Nevertheless, while 0W-x oils don't necessarily cause problems, they might. I worked for a major oil company decades ago, and we had customers report quite some problems when switching to 0W-40 with older cars.