Engine: 70 T5: What oil and filter is best?

[MikeS100]

Hi all,

I'm sure this has come up many times before so I apologise for posting it again, but I did a search for 'T5 oil' and it removed 'T5' as it was too short so just searched for 'oil' and brought up hundreds of results! Lol

So, just wondering what oil people use in there T5, specifically circa 2002 ME7 ones? What grade is best for the T5 and any particular make to go for? I've always used Castrol oil before but in the last few months I've heard bad things about Castrol and good things about Shell Helix. Or is it best to just stick with genuine Volvo oil? For the filter I will stick with genuine, but does anyone know the correct part number so I can shop around rather than have to go to my local dealer?

Any thoughts appreciated

[MikeS100]

I guess no one else changes their oil then... lol

I'm going to go with 5w30, not sure which brand yet. The handbook says Volvo recommend semi synthetic but fully synthetic can be used. Is semi better in these engines? Or is it just because fully is more expensive? I don't mind paying the extra for fully if it gives better protection.

Any thoughts

[Thanatos]

mike i use shell helix as its the best stuff in the coupe as for filter yours will be a insert one and i would go direct to volvo main stealers as there not that expensive.

plugs as well go for the volvo ones i find my v70 likes them and nothing else and the coupe runs better on them

[Thanatos]

oil filter insert part number 1275810
there is an o ring as well but no part number

[MikeS100]

Thanks for the reply, and good to see a vote for shell helix. What grade do you use? I was planning on 5w30 but halfords, castrol and shell websites all recommend 10w40.

[Thanatos]

i use 10-40 personally as my milage is 175,000 on the coupe

[MikeS100]

That makes sense. Mine is only on 49,000 at the moment so a different grade my be more suitable, but I'm not really sure. The handbook says 5w30 or 10w40. The engine is really smooth and quiet at the moment so I want to make sure I get the right oil to keep it that way. The problem is I have no idea what is in there!

[Thanatos]

put 10-40 in and after 3k miles drop it and then use 5-30

[MikeS100]

Why, to try both and see which one is the quietest? That's an idea.

The semi synthetic 10w40 is half the price of the fully synthetic 5w30 so that may well be the deciding factor in the end unfortunately I would like to put the fully synthetic in but that will be difficult as it's £40 for 5 litres. Semi synthetic 10w40 is the recommended oil though, and if that's what you're running in yours then I think I will go for that first and see how it goes.

[Antz]

I just run Halfords 10-40 and use their oil filters. I get trade discount there so it makes it quite cheap.