Oil leak, head gasket?

[TonyS9]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

If it doesn't matter, Volvo would recommend running the engine on water as a lubricant wouldn't they? Don't forget these engines were designed back in the 60s as the original pushrod/OHV B18/B20 engines and were running 20W50 back then! Tolerances were tightened over the years so they now happily run on 10W40 but go thinner, unless you're in a cold country and you're likely to get oil leaks.

Using 5/30 in the UK, you'll have leaks and knock your ends out - i'm just glad it's not my engine!

From memory the owner manuals shows 10/30 temperature range is fine for UK. And yes I think they probably would run on water for longer than you think.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

From memory the owner manuals shows 10/30 temperature range is fine for UK. And yes I think they probably would run on water for longer than you think.

It doesn't specify the UK, just STEADY AMBIENT TEMPERATURE. You'll have to blur your vision or get your own handbook or squint, one of the three to read it properly, nothing i can do about so my apologies for the blurry image.

Back in February this year we had daytime temperatures of 30C with night time temperatures varying between -5C and 10-12C if memory serves correctly. Not what i'd call a "steady ambient temperature".

The maximum temperature 5W30 will operate at according to that chart and Volvo is 30C but they have a disclaimer in there about temperatures as well. It's at the bottom of that page and is (from my book) :

SAE 15W/40 or SAE20W/40 oils are recommended for use in extreme driving conditions that involve excessive oil consumption and high oil temperatures e.g. mountain driving with frequent decelerations or fast motorway driving. (Note, howeverthe lower temperature limits.)

That's the bit at the bottom of the page above. Before i moved, my old neighbour had an XC70 which he'd owned from new. While having it serviced, he asked the Service Dept what "extreme driving conditions" were defined as.

It was about 12 years ago he told me this so apologies if i'm misquoting him but it was along the lines of more than 5km of town driving, carrying a passenger for 5km or more or a weight of 25kg in the boot for 5km or more - all in a one week period.

I may have the figures slightly out but not far if so and it was all in a single week that ANY of those situations constituted "extreme driving conditions". The reason he was querying it was because he'd found in his handbook something to the effect that if the vehicle was operated under extreme driving conditions the oil should be changed more frequently.

Anyway, back to the point of the thread, if the OP is giving it the beans a fair bit, it would appear that a minimum of 10W40 is in order, if not 20W50.

I know from tests done on another forum, going thinner isn't always better. The test were done on the Honda J30 VTEC 3.0 V6, some people ran fully synth 0W30, 5W30 and others ran semi-synth 10W40. The best fuel economy, engine performance, oil life lack of burning, quietness etc all came from the (recommended) 10W40 semi-synth. Likewise on the C27 (non-VTEC) engines that were tried.

With that in mind and Volvos recommendation that under fast driving, 15W40 or 20W50 would be better, it's fair to say 5W30 is not an ideal oil to use! The oil itself is thinner so is more likely to leak anyway (synthetic oils have smaller molecules) but with the reduced viscosity, it will simply exacerbate matters.

[classicswede]

Even the old B18's will run fine on 5w30 but 10w40 is as low as I would go. For engines using a little oil going 15w40 is not a bad idea.

[TonyS9]

Ok by Uk I should say Scotland and N.Ireland, we've never seen 30C ambient, but there is global warming.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

Ok by Uk I should say Scotland and N.Ireland, we've never seen 30C ambient, but there is global warming.

Obviously we get regional variations, that's not the point i'm making - 5W30 is going to be on its upper limits for the red block most of the time in most parts of the UK, with the possible exception of places north of Birmingham whether they're on the mainland or not.

As for global warming, that's a totally different can of worms!

It's a figment of the imagination of so-called scientists and politicians to try and scare the general public and divert attention from more important things that are REALLY happening.

Look back through history, it's cyclical, we get warmer and we get cooler times.

I'm not talking about Ice Age cooler times but when i was a kid we had colder winters than we (generally) get these days, cooler summers (except maybe 1976) and longer days. I remember particularly October 1981, i'd bought a dynamo lighting set for my bike and had to wait until 930pm before it was dark enough to test it properly.

These days it's dark at about 530pm in October. Before some Clever Dick mentions sky-glare from the towns street lights, no, not applicable, it was in the middle of the country in a small village with at the most, about 2 dozen street lights at the time, probably more like a dozen being realistic.

In fact, sky glare would be more relevant now as i live almost next door to a huge air base that is usually lit up like a Xmas tree at night so provides plenty of sky glare.

Thing is, the earth rocks on its axis, periodically moving closer and further from the sun - and the moon. I can't remember the exact figures without looking them up but i think at the closest, earth is about 238k miles from the moon and about 244k miles at the furthest.

That's a total variation of 6k miles, partly due to orbits and partly due to the earth rocking on its axis. Still quite a tilt, i'm sure you'll agree.
If it moves in this relation to the moon, it therefore follows that it must also move relatively speaking to the sun, getting closer and further away as it rocks and as the orbit varies. That means we get hotter and colder when we are near or further from the sun respectively.

All of this has been scientifically proven to be fact. Now colleagues of those scientists are trying to tell us it's because we have fridges and cars and eat beef. It's something to do with beef, bulls to be exact but not something we would eat!

The so-called scientists referred to above and the politicians conveniently forget about that. However it's true we have many "waste" gases that we expel in daily life that help to deplete the ozone layer. We emit methane (as a species), more than cows i should think based on the fact there's more humans than cows on the planet. Landfill rubbish also creates methane but that is generally recovered and used to power generators for renewable energy.

If we didn't eat cows as beef, we would be overrun with them, all over the planet and the methane emissions would be out of control.

You maybe begin to see why i don't believe in global warming?

[Ian21401]

I’ve wondered about this for a while. My bog standard B200F has done 220,000 miles. Following Dave’s advice some time ago I now clean the PCV system and IACV at each oil change and I use semi synthetic 10W 40.
However, I have never replaced the oil filler cap, thinking that it was just that “a cap”, but, even given that the PCV etc is being cleaned regularly, eventually an oily film accumulates on the cam cover, apparently emanating from the oil filler cap.
I to have the oily block as described by the OP without any noticeable reduction in oil level. The oil slowly appears over such a long period of time that it is almost imperceptible until one is under the car for some reason and notices the oil on the gearbox. Then look at the offside of the engine block, partly hidden by the exhaust manifold and heater pipe, and there is the oil again.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Ian21401

However, I have never replaced the oil filler cap, thinking that it was just that “a cap”,

Worth double-checking your cap then Ian - it's possible i might be wrong but i'm 99.9% certain my B230Es had "vented" oil filler caps that had a gauze filter in, similar to what Ford did on the Pinto/Cortina/Capri OHC engines - i know my B280E has a vented cap with a hose running to the flame trap and when it was blocked (as the original cap was when i got the car) i had all kinds of "little" leaks of oil.

[360beast]

Never seen 30 degrees in NI!

My poor Christmas tree got burnt to a crisp this summer in 34 degrees. I went to the shops, nipped in for some shopping, when I came out the ambient temp read 44 degrees after being parked in the sun for 10 mins!

[griston64]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Worth double-checking your cap then Ian - it's possible i might be wrong but i'm 99.9% certain my B230Es had "vented" oil filler caps that had a gauze filter in, similar to what Ford did on the Pinto/Cortina/Capri OHC engines - i know my B280E has a vented cap with a hose running to the flame trap and when it was blocked (as the original cap was when i got the car) i had all kinds of "little" leaks of oil.

My 940 has just a cap with a rubber seal

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by griston64

My 940 has just a cap with a rubber seal

I've not checked my 760 Mark but i know my Rover has one on each bank and they have a habit of corroding, hence the fact i haven't even looked at the 760, just used my method above which has served me well for decades now.

I expect the 760 will also have one on each bank and at 32 years old, probably seized and/or corroded beyond reuse.


*** EDIT ***

Please ignore the above, i somehow managed to post in the wrong thread!