Should I Change My Oil?

[froggyted]

Thanks to Volvo's inaccurate Online Service Price Indicator i'm having to delay my service, which is going to cost me £1k or more over and above what i'd budgeted. To cut the story short, i suddenly find that i need the two belts changing and other sundries, rather than the basic oil, filter and cabin filter change indicated by the Online Service Price tool. See this thread for details: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=276871

The question is, therefore, with my service now three months overdue, whether i can get away without changing the oil for another three months, viz. will the oil stand up to that extra time without degrading? The service was due in December at 75,710 miles, but i've only done about 70,500, i.e. about 7,300 miles. The vehicle is a 2.0D Powershift, it has been main dealer serviced, so presumably with optimum quality Castrol oil.

[FunkyMelon]

Originally Posted by froggyted

Thanks to Volvo's inaccurate Online Service Price Indicator i'm having to delay my service, which is going to cost me £1k or more over and above what i'd budgeted. To cut the story short, i suddenly find that i need the two belts changing and other sundries, rather than the basic oil, filter and cabin filter change indicated by the Online Service Price tool. See this thread for details: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=276871

The question is, therefore, with my service now three months overdue, whether i can get away without changing the oil for another three months, viz. will the oil stand up to that extra time without degrading? The service was due in December at 75,710 miles, but i've only done about 70,500, i.e. about 7,300 miles. The vehicle is a 2.0D Powershift, it has been main dealer serviced, so presumably with optimum quality Castrol oil.

It's 10 years old now....Why are you still paying rip off Volvo prices?

Get some good oil on Eurocarparts or similar, buy a gen Volvo oil filter and gen Volvo belt kits from Volvo (message ELK performance for the best price) and then take it to your local trust independent/Volvo specialist.

I don't know why people still pay those prices on such old cars that are outside of warranty. Trust me when I say that (with some inside knowledge) most the techs at Volvo these days don't know their head from their ass!

[x DTR x]

With funkymelon with this one, i bought my 2.0l D at 126k with full service history, been servicing it myself ever since. Had the can belt done at 140k and service it every 6k. I get my bits from carparts4less and use Fuchs titan 5w 30 oil. All in it costs less then £50.00 to do it.

[Tannaton]

Firstly I would say yes you could comfortably delay the oil change for 3 months will no ill effects.

The engine in your car as I am sure you are aware is a Ford fettled version of a Peugeot/Citroen unit - hence any Citroen, Ford or Peugeot experienced mechanic should be competent to change the service items (belts, tensioners). Another point to note - unlike their own engines (5 cylinder) Volvo do not make or generally badge the parts they supply for this engine. The last timing belt I changed on of these cars - I bought the genuine Volvo kit of parts and inside the box were Gates parts. It is possible that they were made to a better, Volvo spec.

What I am saying is there there is minimal benefit on getting the dealer to do this rather than a good independent garage. If retaining a full Volvo history is important to you - I would get the belts done at a local garage and then put the car into Volvo for a normal service. That way you know it has been done and you keep the book stamped up.

BTW doing the belts on this engine is a doddle [with the correct tools]...

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by x DTR x

With funkymelon with this one, i bought my 2.0l D at 126k with full service history, been servicing it myself ever since. Had the can belt done at 140k and service it every 6k. I get my bits from carparts4less and use Fuchs titan 5w 30 oil. All in it costs less then £50.00 to do it.

Originally Posted by Tannaton

Firstly I would say yes you could comfortably delay the oil change for 3 months will no ill effects.

This is (slightly) reassuring if the belt is more likely to last to 150k rather than 125k, but what is the actual age of your car? Mine is approaching ten years so, although it's only done just above 70k miles i'm worried that the belt might still be on near the end of its life due to age. Interestingly, the Haynes manual actually suggests changing the belts at 60,000 miles!!

The engine in your car as I am sure you are aware is a Ford fettled version of a Peugeot/Citroen unit - hence any Citroen, Ford or Peugeot experienced mechanic should be competent to change the service items (belts, tensioners). Another point to note - unlike their own engines (5 cylinder) Volvo do not make or generally badge the parts they supply for this engine. The last timing belt I changed on of these cars - I bought the genuine Volvo kit of parts and inside the box were Gates parts. It is possible that they were made to a better, Volvo spec.

What I am saying is there there is minimal benefit on getting the dealer to do this rather than a good independent garage. If retaining a full Volvo history is important to you - I would get the belts done at a local garage and then put the car into Volvo for a normal service. That way you know it has been done and you keep the book stamped up.

BTW doing the belts on this engine is a doddle [with the correct tools]...

Many thanks for your advice. Yes, i was aware of the fact that it's a Citroen/Peugot unit, also fitted in the Focus at the time.

Just one question though: it's reassuring to note that you think the oil will still be ok after 15 months, but the work might be delayed for another three so do you think it would still be ok up to 18 months? There's no way the mileage will have reached 12,500 since the last service by that time. I'm just a bit anxious, since the vehicle has to last me a year or two yet at the least and i've been very scrupulous with maintaining it up to this point in time. I wouldn't want to compromise the life of the engine which, at 70k, should have many years left ahead of it.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by froggyted

Just one question though: it's reassuring to note that you think the oil will still be ok after 15 months, but the work might be delayed for another three so do you think it would still be ok up to 18 months? There's no way the mileage will have reached 12,500 since the last service by that time. I'm just a bit anxious, since the vehicle has to last me a year or two yet at the least and i've been very scrupulous with maintaining it up to this point in time. I wouldn't want to compromise the life of the engine which, at 70k, should have many years left ahead of it.

I think it would be fine, whilst some properties of the oil do deteriorate with age this is very slow and the lubricating properties do not change much. The bigger problem is what the oil comes contaminated with and this is proportional to the mileage completed and from what you have said you will not exceed the recommended interval.

I have a couple of cars that only do 2,000-3,000 miles a year, I tend to change the oil every 3-4 years.

Now I know I am probably going to get berrated for saying this and I am most definitely not recommending it but that engine will run on any old fry crisp and dry. If you did put very dirty or very much the wrong type of oil in, the first problems you are likely to get are with the hydraulic tappets.