Quote:
Originally Posted by volvo 2
Hi there new to the forum .I have a 2003 s40 2.0t and i was wondering what is a good engine oil to use.
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You get what you pay for with both engine oil and filters. There are two basic methods adopted by folks that know something about engine life expectancy when it comes to choosing engine oil. Firstly there is the, "Go cheap and often" school of thinking, where you select a major brand basic conventional oil like Castrol GTX 10/40 and change it every 5K miles, or the "Go expensive and long" school that uses an expensive genuine full synthetic and a 10K mile OCI with an oil like Edge 5/40, Liqui Moly Synthoil High Tech 5/40 or other major brand fully synthetic 5/40 (Mobil, Shell or BP).
The results from averaged out oil analysis studies show very little difference between the major brand oils and the full synthetic school folks only do slightly better in engine life terms.
Which grade of oil you use is more important as a 0W oil is better in winter if the temperature goes below minus 25C, otherwise a 5W is fine in winter. Once you move up into the 10W group, there is a slight increase in cold start wear.
5/30 oil is OK for an engine in good condition that has a low oil consumption and no leaks, but the Volvo dealers and various good oil finder sites will recommend 5/40, partly because the oil consumption will be lower and there is no cause for concern if the oil shears down to a 30 grade by the end of the OCI.
Both the go cheap school and the go long school recommend using a real Volvo filter, although if one is not available the Mann or Bosch ones are also fairly good.
The big engine oil killer for old cars is coolant or fuel contamination, as the anti freeze kills the oil additives and the fuel seriously reduces the oils lubricating property, mostly by dilution. So if your engine is smokey or the head gasket is bad, change the oil frequently if you can't fix the problem.
Never forget a cars useage will directly effect the engine oil, so too much time in traffic or doing short stop starts is bad news, as is a big right boot with a cold engine and if you want to avoid a case of black death (Sludge), don't use ultra cheap supermarket or Internet special oils because they might not have enough detergent or anti wear additives and when you combine their use with a longish OCI or too much time stuck in traffic, they are bad news in the long term.
If you have a diesel V40, there is a very minor case for using a diesel only oil (B4), as the major brand diesel only oils contain higher levels of detergent additives and help to clean any traces of old sludge out. The two that seem good are Liqui Moly Diesel Synthoil 5/40 and Mobil Turbo Diesel 0/40, but any major brand diesel 5/40 will clean out old traces of sludge.
For those of you who are in a more technical reading mood the following is a copy of my second UOA (Used oil analysis):
Basic block: Renault 1.9TD 130hp but detuned by Volvo turbo settings to 115hp for old V40 phase 2 diesels.
Oil: Liqui Moly 5/40 High Tech Synthoil & Volvo filters.
Total KM: 190,000 OCI 10,500km Top up 0.3 ltrs.
Useage: Not much autobahn, no traffic jams, but lots of stop starts and driver abuse.
Lab: Blackstones Comments: Good.
10,5K km(Last oil change)/9.5K km (Previous OC) / Univeral average for 8K km OCI and F9Q2 block (Figures from Blackstones Laguna 1.9D data)
Al 4 / 5 / 7
Cr 1 / 1 / 4
Fe 33/ 24/ 45
Cu 6 / 5 / 5
Pb 3 / 2 / 5
Moly 3 / 3 / 28
K 3 / 5 / 1
Boron 63/ 62/ 82
Si 14/ 11/ 14
Na 3 / 5 / 54
Mg 5 / 8 / 228
Ca 3107/ 2751/ 2481
P 1039/ 942 / 1081
Zn 1245/ 1049/ 1212
Sus: 66.3 Should be: 66-78 Previous: 67.9 (Mid 40 down to almost the top of a 30 grade)
Flashpoint (F): 440 Should be: >410 Previous: 425
No fuel, Antifreeze or water detected, Insolubles: 0.5 /Previous 0.4 (Limit 0.8)
TBN Not measured at last UOA, but was 4.7 with previous (VOA 9.6)
My summary: The oil is still in good condition and would last until 15K km, the bearings, top end and rings are in excellent condition, although there was a very minor increase in Iron content which is a general wear metal and might be corrosion related, but the figure is still good.
One very odd discovery was that Liqui Moly have changed the base stock and additives pack for the better, as all of the main detergent and anti wear additives included in the oil increased and the flash point was higher. This was confirmed by the Blackstones analyst.
The reason the figures are good is that the engine was run in when new correctly and the previous owner lived in a town with no traffic jams and spent most of his time on the autobahn. He used cheap Mobil 10/40, but although that is not an ideal oil choice it is still a fairly good oil.