V70: Engine Oil - Low SAPS

[shadycat]

I know, I know, another oil thread, and I do apologise but I don't think this particular question has been answered before:

Has anyone tried using a really low saps oil in their 2.4D or D5? The recommended spec of ACEA A5/B5 is medium SAPS, which obviously isn't great for DPFs and other soot sensitive parts. Using an ACEA C1 or ACEA C4 oil could help with this, just wondering if anyone was running with C1 or C4 oil?

Mines a 2008 2.4D D5244T5 180K Miles, and I am sick of frequent (every 130 miles) DPF regens, even after replacing dpf itself, pipes, sensors and loads of other stuff so happy to go into the experimental stage now.

[GrahamBrown1]

Does your car use any oil? Can’t see any harm in giving it a go but a regen every 130 miles isn’t good. That would suggest you have another issue somewhere. These cars don’t usually suffer dpf problems per se unless there is an underlying fault.

[Simmy]

as gb says it sounds like you have a small problem which is causing your frequent regens look at sensors and look for air leaks it dose not take much to create a rich mixture causing excessive soot build up

[hal9000f]

Originally Posted by shadycat

... even after replacing dpf itself...

As others say...DPF is a collateral victim of something else gone bad and causing too much soot which ends up in the DPF...

My 5 cyl D3 MY 2013 with 160 kmiles does regen every 1000-1200 kms or even 2000 kms in winter... so your regen is way too soon...even if you are driving only in the city... Oil itself just cannot cause so much difference.

I don't have time to rewrite what helped me when my regens started happening at 600-400 kms, so I will just copy what I have answered in another thread - it may perhaps help you...but no guarantees. I had 5 months and 6.000 kms driven flawlessly after doing that:

"Yes, doing the regen on the motorway for 15-16 minutes between 3500-3900 rpms in 3rd gear worked for me. Did it with cruise control on. And when finished, make sure to drive for another 20 minutes fast but normally in 5th or 6th gear at 2000-2200 rpms to cool the engine and let the possible small amount of fuel which may go into oil evaporate (and of course slow in the end before powering off the engine). All that requires planning to catch the start of the regen on the highway. And also MAKE SURE to follow your car coolant and oil TEMPERATURES with diagnostics while doing the regen as described. Did it twice since last November, and the 3rd regen is going to happen in a couple of days. It will be 6.000 kms since November and everything was fine. Soot accumulation was perfect and slow. In winter my car does the active regen exactly at 2.000 kms driven, because the soot does not reach 25,7 g threshold which starts the regen usually. Probably in winter if it's not too cold we get better combustion cause dense air has more oxygen...

Let me repeat - WARNING - do it at your own risk - and DON'T do it without live diagnostics which follows the coolant and oil TEMPERATURES!!!

My coolant temperature barely crossed 90-91 C and oil reached max at 109-110 C.

I did it twice that way and all was perfect for my car in the last 6.000 kms.

Also make sure to use some premium quality diesel fuel. I got Shell V-Power diesel. Did fill it up few times with lower quality diesel and it could have made a contribution to the problem I had before.

I've chosen to try that instead of Forced regen when idling and very pleased about avoiding the engine idling at 4.000 rpms for half an hour...

When 3rd regen comes in a couple of days I will not do it that way, but "normally" in 2000-2500 rpms range, as I believe twice was enough...for now...

Car is now at 260.000 kms and going great.

Please report back if you do it."

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by shadycat

I know, I know, another oil thread, and I do apologise but I don't think this particular question has been answered before:

Has anyone tried using a really low saps oil in their 2.4D or D5? The recommended spec of ACEA A5/B5 is medium SAPS, which obviously isn't great for DPFs and other soot sensitive parts. Using an ACEA C1 or ACEA C4 oil could help with this, just wondering if anyone was running with C1 or C4 oil?

Mines a 2008 2.4D D5244T5 180K Miles, and I am sick of frequent (every 130 miles) DPF regens, even after replacing dpf itself, pipes, sensors and loads of other stuff so happy to go into the experimental stage now.

I'd only use what Volvo suggest personally. Automotive engineers have tested which oils work and which don't. If Volvo say use A5/B5, that's what I'd use and nothing else. Using another type of oil could cause more harm than good.

I suspect you have another underlying issue that's leading to frequent regens. I don't think its related to the use of the proper A5/B5 spec oil that Volvo recommend. At 180,000 miles, it could be the DPF itself that's showing its age or maybe a sensor issue that relates to the DPF. It could also be too many short drives and not enough motorway runs or a bad EGR valve. The list goes on.

Originally Posted by hal9000f

As others say...DPF is a collateral victim of something else gone bad and causing too much soot which ends up in the DPF...

My 5 cyl D3 MY 2013 with 160 kmiles does regen every 1000-1200 kms or even 2000 kms in winter... so your regen is way too soon...even if you are driving only in the city... Oil itself just cannot cause so much difference.

I don't have time to rewrite what helped me when my regens started happening at 600-400 kms, so I will just copy what I have answered in another thread - it may perhaps help you...but no guarantees. I had 5 months and 6.000 kms driven flawlessly after doing that:

"Yes, doing the regen on the motorway for 15-16 minutes between 3500-3900 rpms in 3rd gear worked for me. Did it with cruise control on. And when finished, make sure to drive for another 20 minutes fast but normally in 5th or 6th gear at 2000-2200 rpms to cool the engine and let the possible small amount of fuel which may go into oil evaporate (and of course slow in the end before powering off the engine). All that requires planning to catch the start of the regen on the highway. And also MAKE SURE to follow your car coolant and oil TEMPERATURES with diagnostics while doing the regen as described. Did it twice since last November, and the 3rd regen is going to happen in a couple of days. It will be 6.000 kms since November and everything was fine. Soot accumulation was perfect and slow. In winter my car does the active regen exactly at 2.000 kms driven, because the soot does not reach 25,7 g threshold which starts the regen usually. Probably in winter if it's not too cold we get better combustion cause dense air has more oxygen...

Let me repeat - WARNING - do it at your own risk - and DON'T do it without live diagnostics which follows the coolant and oil TEMPERATURES!!!

My coolant temperature barely crossed 90-91 C and oil reached max at 109-110 C.

I did it twice that way and all was perfect for my car in the last 6.000 kms.

Also make sure to use some premium quality diesel fuel. I got Shell V-Power diesel. Did fill it up few times with lower quality diesel and it could have made a contribution to the problem I had before.

I've chosen to try that instead of Forced regen when idling and very pleased about avoiding the engine idling at 4.000 rpms for half an hour...

When 3rd regen comes in a couple of days I will not do it that way, but "normally" in 2000-2500 rpms range, as I believe twice was enough...for now...

Car is now at 260.000 kms and going great.

Please report back if you do it."

You don't need to drive down a motorway in 3rd gear. Sorry, but that's just silly.

Drive the car as normal at 50mph+ and the car will regenerate itself. It needs to be a long enough journey, at least 20 minutes. There's certainly no need to be driving down the motorway in 3rd gear.

[hal9000f]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

You don't need to drive down a motorway in 3rd gear. Sorry, but that's just silly.

Drive the car as normal at 50mph+ and the car will regenerate itself. It needs to be a long enough journey, at least 20 minutes. There's certainly no need to be driving down the motorway in 3rd gear.

I would agree that it's silly and unnecessary to drive down a motorway in 3rd gear at 3500-3900 rpms during a regen WHEN everything is functioning properly and as designed.

I know all about 20 minutes and driving requiremets for a regen and I was following most of the regens with CarScanner from the beginning of my ownership.

But, I had a problem. For the whole 1st year and 6200 miles of my V70 ownership everything was fine. But, then the regens started to happen much sooner and much more frequent instead of starting every 620-750 miles or 1200 miles in winter. All that with exactly the same driving style (2 x 18 miles commute 85% on the motorway every day). Regens started to happen at 250 miles (even on a long 200+ miles motorway trip) and the fuel consumption was very high with the engine cold. All that described here:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=335709

Changing the O2 sensor did not help and going back to premium Shell V-Power diesel also did not help. No DTCs except a false alert fot O2. All was checked and I was told to do a forced regen.

After realizing how brutal a forced regen is on my model (30 minutes idling at 4000 rpms), I have decided to try to perform a regen in 3rd gear as described.

So, the FACT is that since I've done it on 1 st Nov 2023, some 3200 miles ago, everything works flawlessly. Let me repeat - I had problems for 3 and a half months and about 2100 miles, but after doing the silly thing JUST ONCE everything is OK for the last 5 and a half months and 3200 miles. Some kind of coincidence? What?

Forced regen for my engine model seems much more ridiculous and unpleasant than driving a car on the motorway in 3rd at 3900 rpms at 70 mph while doing the regen.

Last regen I did normally cruising at 2000-2500 rpms in 5th gear. But I believe that a good blast is useful and beneficial from time to time...