• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Suitable oils for Volvo 240

945ti said:
Doing more than the first line in this post is more picky. If you make it to the second line or use synth or very good oil from nearly say one, you shouldn't ever have any dirty throttle bodies, crankcase vents, crusty rings, or serious wear of any kind.
Click to expand...

you shouldn't have that sh*t anyway if you change your oil regularly.

nothing justifies paying $10/qt for oil in any rwd volvo application.

how many volvo motors have you had apart? how many times have you examined rings on high mileage engines? i mean i do this crap all the time, i'm telling you that nobody needs that fancy oil for these cars.

this is not directed at you personally, more at the whole audience of this thread, especially those who insist on using synthetic.
 
mtd240 said:
This is a definite positive when using <strike>synthetics</strike> <b>much less expensive Delo</b> - my throttle body is spotless (cleaned it 40-50,000 miles ago), breather box is empty, flame trap is clear, and theres not a puddle of fluid at the bottom of the accordian MAF tube.
Click to expand...

fixed.
 
500dollar744ti said:
this is not directed at you personally, more at the whole audience of this thread, especially those who insist on using synthetic.
Click to expand...

I've been shopping for oil this week and my conclusion is that the 'good' oils like Castrol, Valvoline, Mobil 1, Rotella Semi-syn and dino oils are only moderately less than the cheapest synthetic oils, only about $1.50-$2 less, when it comes down to it, the benefits of synthetic are worth the $10 more per oil change.
Unfortunately gone are the days of $10 oil changes, it's closer to $20 so seeing that I can get a gallon of Rotella T6 synthetic for $22 is a no-brainer. You are all fools to pay $10 for a quart of oil if you do.

I've been going back & forth between good dino oils (Rotella, Delo, Castrol) and semi/syn oils (Valvoline Durablend/Maxlife, Rotella, Mobil 1, Penzoil) for the past 7 yrs, 150k miles on my 245, whatever is on sale, now at 338k miles, doesn't burn or leak a drop using any of them.

When I run Dino oils, they all darken about 3k miles and the syn and syn blends don't darken until 4500. I always change the oil by the book at 5k, so along with the added benefits of a cleaner intake which BTW is quite clean still as others said, and have not needed to clean the flame trap and TB in over 50k miles since I decided to stay with full synthetic, is well worth the extra cost, less to no blow-by and i'm sure that if the engine were ever taken down it will tell the tale of a cleaner, lower wear engine.
If I were to change the oil at 3k miles, it may be a different story, but I don't, I drive the car too much, and it's not by the book. I believe just about every oil on the market is just as good as another up to 3k miles or so, and then it would not warrant the extra cost.

Another thing to consider when looking at old vs newer formulation oils is that the newer oils carry additives that IMPROVE the co-efficient of friction against moving parts after ~1500-2000 miles of using the oil, as well as keeping the cold oil viscosity lower, then rasing the viscosity sooner upon warm-up, which helps prevent engine wear at the most critical time, just after the car is turned on and initial oil pressure builds up. These newer oils are the 0w-XX; and 5w-XX designations.
 
500dollar744ti said:
how many volvo motors have you had apart? how many times have you examined rings on high mileage engines? i mean i do this crap all the time, i'm telling you that nobody needs that fancy oil for these cars.
Click to expand...

James specifically is one of the few folks on TB that I always pay attention to for his advice. He's up there with Tom Fritz - very meticulous, lots of attention to detail. Like he said, though, if you move past the first line you're being picky. ;-)
 
I work at Napa and I always use it in my 240. Same as Valvoline, but cheaper. (A lot cheaper in my case) :)
 
adrianpike said:
James specifically is one of the few folks on TB that I always pay attention to for his advice. He's up there with Tom Fritz - very meticulous, lots of attention to detail. Like he said, though, if you move past the first line you're being picky. ;-)
Click to expand...

yeah, i can't know everyone personally.

there is something to be said for using a certain oil in certain vehicles. 1.8t vw for example, you gotta use synthetic and change it often or it'll sludge up. the head temps get very high and the oil can coke up easily.

b21/b23/b230 is not one of those engines that will greatly benefit from a more expensive oil.

there are many newer cars that i would urge people to buy expensive synthetics for and the extra cost will pay off in the long run.

i had a customer that was terrible about changing his oil, it was a '95 940, he would change it every 10 or 15k miles with dino oil. at about 315k miles he got in an accident and totalled the car. i pulled the motor to have as a spare and when i took it apart there weren't any signs of his terrible oil change habits. that's the reality of it, these motors don't really give a **** weather you put 0w-40 royal purple or napa 5w-30.
 
Suppose the better discussion then would be OCI. I have a friend who spends the big bucks on Amsoil synthetic. But in the end, we end up spending about the same amount of money, since he stretches his OCI's to 10k miles. Regardless of oil, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that (rephrase: not currently interested in spending money to have my oil analyzed. would rather one of you do it and report back :p)

My go to oil is regular rotella. But the other day, I found it to be only $3 less than T6 for some reason (T6 wasn't much cheaper than usual, but the regular rotella was about $6 more than usual). Makes it a bit more tempting to go T6. But the oil pan gasket isn't sealing worth a damn, and I'm pretty much doing an oil change without the drain every 3k.

If the antiwear additives aren't all spent by 6k miles, going the T6 route may not be a bad idea if you don't burn/leak.
 
ziddey said:
(rephrase: not currently interested in spending money to have my oil analyzed. would rather one of you do it and report back :p)
Click to expand...

IMHO that is a total BS and waste of money. If you can tell the oil changed color by looking at it, and having combustion by-products in it, (carbon) doesn't it make sense that these things that cause it to change color (and not get filtered out) will cause engine wear??

And more importantly, even if the analytical test proves that the oil still maintains it's lubticating properties (which these stupid tests do) to God knows how many thousands of miles longer, it still has the embedded carbon particles that can ruin an engine and cannot be removed by filters, but only by changing the oil. It's like saying, "I poured sand into my engine but my really super-bitchin' off-the-charts expensive oil is still working like an oil should after all these miles!!!" Foolish wisdom.

Changing it is the only solution, sooner the better, which means cheaper, good oil changed sooner is the ultimate best way to go.

I had a 144 w/200 hp 8k rpm B20 that I used nothing but Kendall racing oil and changed it every 1500-2000 miles, was still in good shape at 480k miles, beat on it severely, and for that engine it was the best way to go. I did this when the synthetic oil revolution was just beginning in the early 80's and saw the irony in it. My friend who built drag race engines set me straight. I spoke to Irv Gordon and he says the same thing about the oil in his '66 1800, uses dino oil and changes every 3k or when it changes color, that's the only test you need.

These B230's are much more forgiving, though.
 
This thread has been informative and interesting, I bought the napa oil and will use it this time. The car isn't driven much nor is it driven very hard, oil has always been dino oil and always been changed regularly, so I'm on the fence still about switching to synthetic or not next time I get a change, but I will consider it.
 
jerryc said:
um... there were these 'events' now gone, over on 14th St.... hmm... :-P
Click to expand...

965_000_miles-1.jpg


87240highmiler-1.jpg
 
I agree with vvpete about syn oil users going over 3-4000 miles between changes.

I run Castrol Edge full syn oil ,but I change somewhere between 3000-3500 miles and have slipped & run it for 4000 miles once.

For @25/26 buxs for 5 qt jug @ Walmart, it's a good deal IMO. Plus after 4 changes I have 4 qts left over for another oil change.

The filter isn't going to remove combustion contamination, nor alleviate the gasoline dilution of the oil if any.

If one cannot afford full syn oil, a diesel oil like Ertia oil makes in proper viscosity is better than regual gasoline engine oil IMO
 
Last edited:
500dollar744ti said:
yeah, i can't know everyone personally.

there is something to be said for using a certain oil in certain vehicles. 1.8t vw for example, you gotta use synthetic and change it often or it'll sludge up. the head temps get very high and the oil can coke up easily.

b21/b23/b230 is not one of those engines that will greatly benefit from a more expensive oil.

there are many newer cars that i would urge people to buy expensive synthetics for and the extra cost will pay off in the long run.

i had a customer that was terrible about changing his oil, it was a '95 940, he would change it every 10 or 15k miles with dino oil. at about 315k miles he got in an accident and totalled the car. i pulled the motor to have as a spare and when i took it apart there weren't any signs of his terrible oil change habits. that's the reality of it, these motors don't really give a **** weather you put 0w-40 royal purple or napa 5w-30.
Click to expand...

I'd be more concerned about the possible damage done to bores/pistons & brgs than the sludge factor with 10,000-15,000 intervals. Once the oil is dirty it makes a rough life for bearings.
 
You could run cooking oil in it and it would work fine, they're durable engines. Run the weight of oil the manual specifies and choose whatever brand you feel like it doesn't matter much if it's just a car you drive to work. Do you run synthetic in your lawnmower?
 
used 3quarts of 10w40 and 1 bottle of seafoam to do a flush, had it in for 15, yes fifteen, miles and it was amazing how dark the oil came out. began leaking oil pretty bad out of the rear main seal so i replaced it quickly with 15w40 and like magic, leaking stopped and everything is running smooth as can be. I'm a believer of the 15w40 now, stuff works it's magic well
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top