Preferred service kits, oil brands and intervals
 

Bit of a general diesel based question but just wondered what the general consensus is for service kits and intervals.

I have both an 07 V50 2.0D Sport with 196k and an 05 V70 D5 163 with 186k and neither have a comprehensive history and are fairly recent purchases (as in, within a year) and upon purchase, both were given a once over with a service kit and oil.

I generally buy my parts from my local trade supplier so it's normally Mann filters and either Drivetec or Comma oils and I tend to aim for annual servicing (though DIY I hasten to add) as both cars are doing about 10 to 12k a year.

Just debating doing a bit of pre-winter preventative maintenance and change the filters and oil but also sat debating if I should opt for the Tesco value range, ie Euro Car Parts and Triple QX oil / Crosland filters (About £36 all in) or Halfords stuff (£44 all in with trade card) or run with my trade guy and Comma oil (about £60 all in) for the 2.0D I hasten to add.

So, just wondered what brands you chaps use (or indeed avoid!) and what your schedule is... purely out of interest!

Cheers

Use ECP for the D5.

They do Shell Helix Ultra and also a Mann filter.

Crosland filters are poor quality ecp own brand (they bought an old name that had repute and revived it using cheap crap. Buy good filters whatever oil you use.
For the difference in price youre better off using shell helix ultra oils and mann/mahle filters. At the very least dont scrimp £2-3 on an oil filter, it really isnt worth it!

If you actually look and compare the cheap “OEM quality” filters with the genuine parts you can often see just how crap they are. I did exactly that once with a fuel filter for my 2.0d V50 and I will never use Wix again.... they even have to include a leaflet explaining that it will fit because it looks nothing like the original. I know there are some brands of filters that are comparable but most motor factor own brands are not.

So for my fleet I buy genuine Volvo filters from the dealers selling at trade prices on eBay and I use Comma X-Tech 5w-30 oil. Yes there are better oils but I think that product is the sweet spot of cost vs spec. I would rather use that oil and change every 10k than spend twice as much and run the full interval.

My local dealer in the parts area has a form you can sign up to receive discount on parts. My last oil and filter change was cheaper through volvo than elsewhere. Casteol edge 0w30 was about £23 for 4L.
FYI oil filter stamped Mann, airfilter stamped Mahle, both had volvo on to but I'm sure there made to volvo's spec.

Indeed , they are not the same as the off the shelf MANN stuff they are made to suit volvo's requested specification .volvo do not use off the shelf parts .

You might be surprised, a lot of oe stuff that arent brakes etc dont have the same licencing issues and can be the exact same part as the aftermarket part from that manufacturer. Fikters, bushes/suspension components, engine mounts etc made by mahle/mann/febi/trw etc for oe usually carry both oe and own part numbers whilst non oe just carry own part numbers. The own part numbers and products are identical in every way. Where there is a difference you will only find oe manufacturer number(s) and maybe a different own part number not available in the aftermarket.

I've bought plenty of febi stuff for my renault where the only difference is the absence of the oe branding, the internal febi codes and aftermarket part numbers were identical on both oe and aftermarket, as were the items. The oe febi bottom arms for example were just getting tired after 10years, the identical but non oe febi ones I replaced them with are still good 7 years later... (Which is bloody good for a suspension component driven hard!)

I'm with Clan on this one - a global manufacturer like Volvo would not spend millions on it's own R&D to then let a third party manufacturer have the benefit of selling that technology under it's own brand, and dilute the quality advantage and reassurance that customers using genuine parts through the dealer network (and paying for that privilege) would get.

I get that with some parts the differences may be as near as makes no difference, but with the majority it will be there alright.

When you see manufacturer part numbers on other brands of parts it is usually caveat ed on the box or leaflet with "Manufacturers part numbers provided for compatibility guide only".

I would be less concerned about the FoMoCo parts bin sourced items but time and time again we hear from people on here that have issues with everything including wiper blades, batteries, brakes, bulbs, bearings etc. where they've bought allegedly "OEM Quality" and subsequently done the job at least twice - and that's just the ones beginning with "B".

I'm guilty of this myself - I'm just about to replace a "OEM Quality" wheel bearing on my XC90 that cost £50, needed to be modified to fit and lasted 12k.

In many cases I would rather fit second hand Volvo parts that new, pattern ones.

Yes you have to wary of 'oe quality' and actual oe quality.
Firstline make apparently 'oe quality' stuff that is mostly poop.
Mahle make oe quality stuff that is indeed just that.
When I quoted manuf part numbers, I was referring to their own branded parts which usually also carry the aftermarket part number of the supplier too.

The thing is, lets use filters as an example, it isnt worth the manufacturers time and budget to develop a filter, they ask a trusted specialist such as mahle/mann/ufi to do it for them and then supply the filter or filter and housing. As for licencing, getting patents and legal restrictions etc for something such as a filter isnt usually a concern as it isnt financially viable going through the motions. As long as the filter used is adequate is all they are concerned about, it isnt a performance and thus 'only ours works best' related part such as brake pad formulations which need to work in a unique way specific to the car manufacturer.
For example, the UFI fuel filter housing and filter found on mk5 astras, mk2 vectras, etc, can also be found on other manufacturers cars too. The oe filtrs carry the oe part number and the ufi part number. The ufi filters simply list the various oe numbers on the box. All these oe filters and housings are generic to ufi, not developed specially by the oe manufacturer, just subcontracted to fulfill the requirements.

You will very often find that a part from the car manufacturer with their branding also carries the aftermarket part number of the part manufacturer when that part only needs to be a certain standard not behave in a unique way.

On the D5, the Mann oil filter is identical to the genuine Volvo one and both are stamped with Mann's own part number HU719/8. They just add the Volvo stamp and Volvo part number and Volvo charge you £8 more for the ink. :)
If they were different filters, they'd have a different part number.