850 Engine Oil

Just a general question. Wondering what everyone's preferences are for the
oil to put in 850s. My '93 has 107K miles and does not seem to be burning
any significant oil. I bought a used '96 that had a new original Volvo
engine (long story there) and only has 10K miles on the powerplant. Both
are non-turbos and run great. I have always changed the oil religiously at
3000 mile intervals and have put Valvoline 10W30 in. I am thinking about
switching to Castrol syntech, but don't know if I should rock the boat. I
always replace the filter with a Volvo one. (I guess this may be another
topic, huh?)

Well, let it rip. Just want to get a feel for what other folks are doing
out there. Thanks in advance for your time.

Cheers,
Randy in Pittsburgh

 

Volvo recommended 15W-40 for summer use in these engines in my manual and
specifically says not to use 10W-40.

Chevron Delo 15W-40 is an excellent oil at a moderate price and is available
in gallon jugs or quarts. Chevron Delo 10W-30 would be a good winter oil
choice. Both are dual rated for both gasoline and diesel engine use and are
some of the best conventional oils available.

If you want to spend the extra money on synthetics, Mobil-1 5W-40 "SUV" oil
is an excellent choice year round.

Lots of oil discussion happens on the forums at:

http://forums.bobistheoilguy.com/

John

 

My Volvo dealer (Fields Volvo, Libertyville, IL) uses Valvoline 10W30
in the summer and Valvoline 5W30 in the winter. Oil changes are
recommended every 3000 miles.

We don't use dino oils, but instead use full synthetic. Fields charges
extra for this, and use Valvoline Synpower 10W30 during the summer, and
5W30 in the winter, so that's what we use too. Recommended intervals are
every 6000 miles.

My observations are that the flame-trap screen which we clean once a
year has remained much cleaner after we switched to full synthetic a
few years ago. There are claims that synthetic improves fuel efficiency,
but I don't know if this is true.

Fields uses genuine Volvo oil filters. We use Mann filters from IPDUSA.

 

My 94 850 turbo is at around 198K now, and I use Castrol GTX 10W40 all
year round (Atlanta), changing it when the service light comes on.
Still running strong, doesn't burn a drop.

To reply, please remove one letter from each side of "@"
Spammers are VERMIN. Please kill them all.

 

Synthetic oil .Doesn't thin out and vaporize so much withstands 7 times the
pressure keeps the motor cooler and doesn't freeze till way below the level
of normal oils limits as well as a higher temp tolerance .Now when it comes
to wear its way ahead .

My 94 850 turbo is at around 198K now, and I use Castrol GTX 10W40 all
year round (Atlanta), changing it when the service light comes on.
Still running strong, doesn't burn a drop.

To reply, please remove one letter from each side of "@"
Spammers are VERMIN. Please kill them all.

 

120k in a 93 850, used a good quality mineral oil, 15w-40 in summer, 10w-30
in winter, changed every 5000miles along with the filter. Was not burning a
drop when we sold it at that mileage, with all the lifters totally silent
from cold start and internals looking shiney and clean through the oil
filler cap.

Now have a 60k mile old '97 S70 which is getting the same treatment.

Tim..

 

Thanks all. I am leaning towards the synthetic oil. I have had excellent
luck with the conventional oil, but especially with the higher mileage '93,
I want something that will hold up over the ravages of time and climate.
Plus, with two kids now commuting to work and college, we are putting miles
on more quickly and it seems that I am always getting on work clothes for
the latest "change." The longer intervals with synthetic oil would be a
welcome break.

Cheers

 

Woops, just had mine changed at a shop today and had them put in 10-40,
since Im moving to the southern california desert next month, I guess I'll
have to have it changed again for 15-40 instead, since it gets darn hot down
there (109f today).

 

Does anyone know what synthetic oil is synthesized from? Is it just
reassembled petroleum molecules, or does it come from a completely
above-ground source?

To reply, please remove one letter from each side of "@"
Spammers are VERMIN. Please kill them all.

 

Doug - Synthetic oil is bit of a misnomer. AFAIK all "fully synthetic
oils" such as Mobil 1, are actually mixtures of base oils, which are
directly refined from crude oil (no reassembling), to which "high
performance fluids" are added. One high-performance fluid that all
synthetic oils contain is polyalphaolefins -- you can consider these
reassembled petroleum molecules. The identities of the other additives
are proprietary to each manufacturer.

Ultimately most of it is from refined crude oil.

 

I found the article from Car & Driver that I read a few years ago.
Turns out I had remembered most but not all the details correctly.
Not all synthetics have polyalphaolefins. Here's the link to the
article on the Car & Driver site:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=3631&page_number=1

 

Bev,

I am truly impressed with the knowledgebase here. I have one more question.
Is there a problem transitioning from standard oil to synthetic. From the
sounds of all you have written, it appears that there would not be a shock
to the system, e.g. oil seals, etc. Thanks again for all the great
information.

Randy

 

Randy,

I think it would irresponsible for me to give you advice. I can tell
you what I was told when I switched our cars. I was told to switch them
gradually - first change 4 quarts dino, 2 quarts syn, second change
2 quarts dino, 4 quarts syn, third change full syn.

What I did was just switch to full synthetic right away and nothing
happened. On brickboard there are some people with other Volvos (240s,
740s, 760s) who have said that it takes a while to condition the seals
to synthetic.

Others would prefer to have an oil analysis done by a place like
Blackstone Labs (http://www.blackstone-labs.com/) to see if they should
switch to synthetic and then monitor the effects of the switch. I
haven't done anything like that.

The service engineers I know at Fields Volvo tell me that they don't
hesitate recommending a switch to synthetic on any 850, S70 or V70,
_regardless of mileage_ - I was very particular about asking that.

Beverly

 

My wife's "new" 850 also uses Mann filters. I am looking for a Hastings
equivalent. Synthetic oils (so far) every 5000 km (3000 miles). What a vehicle!
Compared to our '84 240 GL.

:
.... snip...

Fields uses genuine Volvo oil filters. We use Mann filters from IPDUSA.

 

Get Royal Purple (about 6$ per quart) from Pepboys , but it is the best you
can get, at least to what I have read on S40 Forums...

 

No wonder your car is going well ,its still running in .We are not talking
about Japanese Korean we are talking Volvos .

 

Switch to synthetic - it is well worth it, and is never too late. But
before you decide on Castrol Syntec, read this article first:

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=3631&page_number=1

Castrol Syntec is not "synthetic" in the true sense of the word.
I used Mobil 1 on my 760, and use Valvoline synthetic now (850/S70).

Mann work well too (are they Volvo OEM?)

 

Depends on whom you ask, apparently, since various authorities have
decided that the "true sense" of "synthetic" apparently isn't related
to "synthesis" (ie building up from smaller parts).

One comparative study of several oils, including these synthetics, is
[1,2]. It suggests that Syntec is still better than most
conventional (Group II base) oils, though not for high-temp /
high-shear performance, where it did surprisingly poorly.

Another article [3] is more negative than the C&D one you cited
regarding Group III oils like Syntec, versus their Group IV ("true"
synthetics) competitors. It's discussing their performance in
motorcycle engines, though I don't see that makes a tremendous
difference.

The various sites I happened to look at all seem to rate Amsoil as
the best product (and some claimed that Amsoil filters were also
superior), for what that's worth.

Disclaimer: I'm not an organic chemist, automotive engineer, or
amateur oil experimenter. I was just curious enough to do a bit of
Internet searching - and I hope we all know how unreliable that can
be.


1. http://www.synthetic-oil-tech.com/d.cgi/1102880/articles/api_comparative_motor_oil_testing.htm

2. http://tinyurl.com/6o2y7

3. http://www.bmworlando.com/pages/services/tech/faq/syn-oil.htm

 

castrol synthetic is like a transvestite ,its says its the real thing its
not it looks like the real thing its not and it cant do what real synthetic
oil can do either !