New S40 owners

  • Thread starter Thread starter ART
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ART

Hi all ,

The new S40 is on the market since less than 1 year.
I'm on the way to order a T5 ( non AWD ) with geartronic transmission.
It's gonna be my first volvo , and I will really appreciate any comment and
recommandation .

Thanks in Advance

ART
 
ART said:
Hi all ,

The new S40 is on the market since less than 1 year.
I'm on the way to order a T5 ( non AWD ) with geartronic transmission.
It's gonna be my first volvo , and I will really appreciate any comment and
recommandation .
Click to expand...


Enjoy the car, don't beat it 'till it's warm, take it easy the last mile or
three, let it idle for 15 seconds or so before you shut it down if you have
been driving hard, use top quality oil, change it ever 3000 miles, don't let
them sell you the paint protection etc or an extended warranty, and buy it
before the end of the year--this is one of the better times to buy--not too
many folks buy cars now, and some dealers will want to move the iron to set
good end of year numbers...
 
3000miles?? Maybe until the first oil change... But after that go with what
the manufacturer recommends, minus maybe 1/4 of that mileage to be on the
safe side... With modern oil and filters even sports cars can go long times
between changes.

Use only synthetic oil in a car with a Turbo, this is the key to not having
turbo problems.
 
Thanks Steven for all your recommandation.
I'm going to order the car this week with 205/55 16' tires.
In terms of comfort , I 've read that 17' wheels are not recommended.
Concerning the audio system , i'm a bit lost.There's a CD 6 in dash wich i
don't
really like , and Volvo doesn't propose a CD changer .
I'll see with my audio retailer wich solution we can find to add a CD
changer.

Best Regards

ART
 
ART said:
Thanks Steven for all your recommandation.
I'm going to order the car this week with 205/55 16' tires.
In terms of comfort , I 've read that 17' wheels are not recommended.
Concerning the audio system , i'm a bit lost.There's a CD 6 in dash wich i
don't
really like , and Volvo doesn't propose a CD changer .
I'll see with my audio retailer wich solution we can find to add a CD
changer.

Best Regards

ART
Click to expand...

Sure--best luck!!
I love the way the center stack looks on the new s40.

Someone else said to use synthetic oil--and that's a fine although expensive
idea.
I suggest Mobil one rather then Castrol because Mobil One is a true
synthetic while they do some hanky-panky with the Castrol synthetic--and I
have used castrol dyno (biological derived) oil almost exclusively since
well before oil came in bottles! (used to come in paper or even tin cans 1
qt or I guess 1 L --one needed a special 'tapper' to punctured the can.)

I think with the precautions I suggested you will be fine with conventional
oil, and while I admit my 3000 mile change interval is very anal, I am a big
procrastinator! If I aim for 3000 Miles I might get it done in 4000 or
4500! Yes stretching the changes out to 5000 miles should be just fine, but
7 or 8000 miles is too long, especially for a turbo.

A big issue with oil changes is how fast you rev the engine--and turbos have
impellers and compressors and bearings that spin real fast, and how long you
drive--if you take a lot of highway trips you might well go for10,000 miles.
I would not do it because the cost of an oil change where I get it is 20
bucks (US), and I watch them to help avoid mistakes, but even 30 or 35 bucks
is not too much if you go for a change every 5000 miles MAX with
conventional oil in a turbo.

Synthetic oil will allow you to be less careful about the precautions like
slow under 3000 RPM warm ups and careful shut down.

I will further admit that my slow and careful turbo warm up and shut down
procedure dates from back in the 1970's when turbos did not have a water
jacket as they do now--what USED TO happen was that the turbo was spinnin'
real fast (100,000 RPM) and ya shut the engine down.

The turbo kept spinnin' and gee with out fresh, relatively cool oil flowing
through it the oil got real hot and turned into coke or some such goo and
boom buy a new turbo time.

Now the water jacket surrounding the turbo bearings will avoid this issue,
and I guess one could just shut down with no precautions like I suggested.

In the end, it's your car, and your money. I reflected on my old skool
suggestions and well, I guess you do not need to idle the motor for a those
15 seconds before shut down to allow the turbo to spin down a bit, but I
would try very consistently to stay out of boast for the last mile or two.
 
Steve n Holly said:
Synthetic oil will allow you to be less careful about the precautions like
slow under 3000 RPM warm ups and careful shut down.
Click to expand...

Quite the contrary. If synthetic oil is better, the turbo will be
coasting much longer before shut down and the removal of lubrication
would be much more harmful. Hence you would have to wait longer after
stopping before shutting down.

If the synthetic oil is not better, then you would have to wait the same
amount of time.

It is only with oils that are worse that you can shut down sooner
because the turbo won't spin as long.
 
Rob Guenther said:
oil change... go with what the manufacturer recommends, minus maybe
1/4 of that mileage to be on the safe side...
Click to expand...

Actually Volvo is quite conservative. On my first 850, I changed oil at
the recommended interval, 10,000 miles, with the ordinary oil the dealer
used and after 180,000 miles, there was no oil consumption. I never had
to add oil over the 180,000 miles I owned the car. No problems either.

On my second 850, I am up to 120,000 miles doing the same thing with no
problems.
 
Stephen Henning said:
Quite the contrary. If synthetic oil is better, the turbo will be
coasting much longer before shut down and the removal of lubrication
would be much more harmful. Hence you would have to wait longer after
stopping before shutting down.

If the synthetic oil is not better, then you would have to wait the same
amount of time.

It is only with oils that are worse that you can shut down sooner
because the turbo won't spin as long.
Click to expand...


However the synthetic oil is much less apt to coke up....
 
Steve n Holly said:
However the synthetic oil is much less apt to coke up....
Click to expand...

I never had an oil coke up. In my garden tractor and other air cooled
engines, the oil tends to get thick and look like crude oil, but it has
never tasted like coke ;) I use "motorcycle oil" in my air cooled
engines and the thickening is minimal. By the way, the motorcycle oil
is not synthetic, it is genuine motor oil.
 
Stephen Henning said:
I never had an oil coke up. In my garden tractor and other air cooled
engines, the oil tends to get thick and look like crude oil, but it has
never tasted like coke ;) I use "motorcycle oil" in my air cooled
engines and the thickening is minimal. By the way, the motorcycle oil
is not synthetic, it is genuine motor oil.
Click to expand...


Coking is really only an issue on turbocharged engines, the turbo shaft gets
very hot and decomposes the oil over time leading to a nasty baked on
sludge. Synthetic is much more resistant to this and as expensive as turbos
are I use it with them. For N/A engines I always run ordinary motor oil,
synthetic is a waste of money for those IMO.

Thickening on a garden tractor engine is largely due to lack of an oil
filter to clean carbon and other byproducts from the oil, it's different
than coking.
 
Stephen Henning said:
I never had an oil coke up. In my garden tractor and other air cooled
engines, the oil tends to get thick and look like crude oil, but it has
never tasted like coke ;) I use "motorcycle oil" in my air cooled
engines and the thickening is minimal. By the way, the motorcycle oil
is not synthetic, it is genuine motor oil.
Click to expand...


Much as I truly do respect the knowledge you have shared with the group I
must respectfully remind you, sir, that events that are not within ones own
experience can still occur!
 
Excatly... our 960 runs perfectly (1993) and consumes not a drop of oil...
changes done at 7000-8000kms (book says 8000km if I recall).

On my VW TDI engine it specs 16000kms between changes, but due to the fact
that it's a diesel and that it's a turbo engine (and how I drive it...) I do
it every 10K Kms.
 
I thought the CD player was a 6-disk in-dash changer, like you said?

What's not to like... it's right in the cabin, no popping the trunk for you!
 
James Sweet said:
Thickening on a garden tractor engine is largely due to lack of an oil
filter to clean carbon and other byproducts from the oil, it's different
than coking.
Click to expand...

It is mostly due to the fact that air cooled engines do not have
thermosats and run hotter than water cooled engines. That is why using
oil for air cooled motorcycles solves the problem. If it was the lack
of an oil filter, then using a different oil wouldn't help.
 
Steve n Holly said:
Much as I truly do respect the knowledge you have shared with the group I
must respectfully remind you, sir, that events that are not within ones own
experience can still occur!
Click to expand...

Speaking of one's personal experience, have you ever used motorcycle
oil. It is much cheaper than synthetic oil.
 
From what I heard you can't add a changer(not even an aftermarket) unless
you do some sort of fm modulation type thing. Some people have tried to add
an IPOD but can only do so with the iTrip.
Also, I don't think the stock stereo can be replaced with an aftermarket
because of the interior setup.

I'm not sure but if you are planning on buying an aftermarket system, I
would look into it.
 
Stephen Henning said:
Speaking of one's personal experience, have you ever used motorcycle
oil. It is much cheaper than synthetic oil.
Click to expand...


No I have not--I share the same car you have--a 850 20 valve no turbo--I
think any old oil is fine considering my change interval. My other car is a
Acura Integra with a 1.8 dhoc, again a very complex car by historical
standards, but just a run of the mill mill as far as lubrication
requirements are concerned--perhaps a bit better then run of the mill in
other respects. :)

If I had a true high performance vehicle I would be sure to try out your
idea!

Does motor cycle oil hold up for as many miles as car oil--I would think
that when designing the trade offs they would say--well it might rev to 9000
but how many miles does someone do on a bike--also the hot soak of a hard
working water cooled engine with the A/C etc on on a 100 degree day then
parking in the sun--is that a significant consideration for lubricant life?
 
zbh said:
From what I heard you can't add a changer(not even an aftermarket) unless
you do some sort of fm modulation type thing. Some people have tried to add
an IPOD but can only do so with the iTrip.
Also, I don't think the stock stereo can be replaced with an aftermarket
because of the interior setup.

I'm not sure but if you are planning on buying an aftermarket system, I
would look into it.
Click to expand...

From my quick look at the crutchfield site I agree, but in a year...who
knows!
 
Steve n Holly said:
Does motor cycle oil hold up for as many miles as car oil--I would think
that when designing the trade offs they would say--well it might rev to 9000
but how many miles does someone do on a bike--also the hot soak of a hard
working water cooled engine with the A/C etc on on a 100 degree day then
parking in the sun--is that a significant consideration for lubricant life?
Click to expand...

My experience with motorcycle oil is only in air cooled engines where
regular motor oil can't take the heat. I haven't checked to see if it
has the necessary additives for todays engines. My point was that
regular motor oil can be designed for hotter engines. However since
regular motor oils hold up in today's water cooled engines, they can't
be getting too hot, even with turbos. Synthetic isn't the only game in
town. Synthetic oils are good, but they may not be worth the extra
expense.
 
Yes unfortunately you can not change the audio system with an aftermarket.
If you get a system failure , it needs to be repaired or replaced by Volvo
and could be not available.
Then you have to wait .......
That's why my idea was to add a CD changer .
Concerning MP3 , didn't give it a try yet.
IPOD + iTrip = not my favourite car audio system , but it works well.

Continuing my search.......
Regards
ART
 
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