Starting to get into this whole service-your-own-Volvo thing. Have
bought an oil filter from German&Swedish and now need some
recommendations as to what grade of oil would be best.
I am running a 1992 940T estate that currently has 145k miles on the
clock. I know nothing about grades and whether an oil is synthetic or
not, so all advice gratefully received.
Any tips about the job itself would also be welcome, though I'm
assuming that unscrewing the current filter and draining out the old
oil from wherever the plug is under the engine will be straight forward
enough.
Thanks - Tim
Not being an expert, I have been deciding on oils as follows:
When buying oil, there are specifications on the bottles, barrels etc. There are
several institutions with standards. I have always looked at the API (American
Petroleum Institute) specifications. You can read on the packages API Sx/Cx
where x stands for another letter starting with A up to ? Sx is for gasoline
engines, Cx is for diesel engines. The higher the second letter, the better the
oil. I do not know what are the highest specs at the moment, but in my case I
buy a diesel engine lubricant with spec API CI-4
http://api-ep.api.org/filelibrary/Guidechart2002.pdf gives a short intro to the
specs
You might find more info about lubricants on the website.
Viscosity is another point to look at when buying, for my 745 turbodiesel Volvo
I use a 5-40 synthetic API CI-4 oil in central Europe with a temp range from
about +30 down to -20 celsius. This should be thin enough to secure turbo
lubrication early at low temps and thick enough during motorway driving in the
summer probably in most areas of the world except arctic and desert areas with
temp extremes. You can find a table of viscosity classes and temp ranges at
http://betriebsstoffe.ch/analytik/lube/spezifikationen/sae_klassen.htm.
Without any responsibility for consequences:
Another point which I have been doing is using diesel engine lubricants for
gasoline engines in the past. Usually the oils have the API Sx specification
also on their labels, eg API SJ/CF, so if SJ is good enough for your gasoline
engine, the diesel engine lubricant fulfilling the specs will do also. Lately my
impression is that producers of diesel lubricants leave away the Sx spec on the
products so the people with a gasoline engine won´t find out that the oil fits
perfectly for their engine, too. The reason I suspect is that usually the diesel
lubricants are cheaper than the gasoline engine lubricants.
There are also other spec systems for engine lubricants: ACEA, MAN, etc but I
think one still can do well by sticking to the API specs.
The booklet coming with your car should indicate which API specs the engine
needs.
Viktor
