A3 is petrol cert, B3 is an older diesel spec essentially superceded by B4 but still exists as yet for more basic oil. You wont find singular A or B specs now they are always combined as A3/B3 or most commonly A3/B4. Basically B3 is short life B4 is extended drain.
Check check check indeed fella! Please! 😉😉👍

My v70r has always had 5w 30 fully synthetic oil
 

My v70r has always had 5w 30 fully synthetic oil I did originally use 10/40 semi as listed but stated to notice hydraulic lifter tap after it had been stood for a few weeks as I don't use it as my daily car since changing the oil type the noise has stayed gone

Halfords!!!!! I presume they are still doing it.

Regards
John

Oil threads usually degrade to become as meaningless and mindless as tyre threads. I hear so much subjective twaddle on this I had an oil analysis done. This cuts the cr*p you'll read on this subject.

I do daft miles thus oil is a major cost. OK, I'm not using liquid like most of you, thus it's cleaner burning - I do mine every 30Kish.

Here's proper numbers...

Fully Synth Valvoline. Until you've a sheet like this, can we explain how we know anything?

[QUOTE=CNGBiFuel;2741328]Fully Synth Valvoline

I've read many good things about Valvoline full synthetic. It's also what my old TVR dealer and the TVR factory used in their TVR Tuscan race cars (4.5 litre 2 valve (not 4) V8's 470 bhp @ 8000 r.p.m.) so I guess they were pretty happy with it.

Regards
John

I'm not brand loyal, any known brand does me. I've done oil-analysis three times, and do it not out of anorakdom, but because I was spending mad amounts on the stuff.
My personal 'buy-rule' makes fully synth. a must, thus my PCV stays unclogged - that may be that the car doing 500-900 miles a week, thus everything gets burnt-off anyway. I've done diddly-squat miles lately, so maybe that will change.

Whichever brand I use, the analysis reads much the same with the same conclusions. I suspect the metals are kept down by virtue of magnets banged-in wherever. I'm no lubrication expert, but at a molecular level I can't imagine surfaces are much different in any engine, cooking road-wagon or top-fuel dragster. Blackstone told me, much of it's hogwash. It'll be about getting lubrication to surfaces and keeping it there. And that's about engine design as much as oil.

Either way, without analysis with each post in this thread, I'm not sure where this thread can go. Analysis in my use shows not a lot of difference in brands, and even then, with the engine getting older, I'm still not comparing like-for like. Thus outside of a lab, how could I know?

That chart simply tells me the state of my oil; at this mileage; in my engine; in my use. It doesn't give too much away for anyone else.

Oh yeah, and I follow Blackstone's advice on filter and change every second.

Not in my local! I’ll have to try elsewhere!

Is the Blackstone service available within the UK?

Just looked in the Volvo Handbook for my '98 V70 T5 Auto CD with the B5234T3 20 valve 240hp engine. It recommends SAE 10w-40 - ACEA A2/A3 (old standard) synthetic or semi for turbo engines.

MOT time on Wednesday!!

Bob :)

As I wrote above, what conclusion can ever be drawn from this? Synth oils were coming in back then, and today they're common-place. If you could buy the oils of that era now, there's better, hence why would you?

I have no brand loyalty. Above is proper analysis, these I've done with various brands and they all say much the same. In short buy decent oil, and leave the filter in longer. 25K+. Synth helps stop the PCV clogging, more so if we tootle about and don't 'drive' , thus not enough 2-3 hr runs to burn off the crud.

And we've done the PCV 'big-pipe' mod anyway, that'd help a lot, or if we haven't - that'd be a far wiser place to focus attention. Aside from many other benefits, it'll lower oil consumption in the bargain.

These oil and tyre threads all read the same, subjective twaddle on which no conclusion can be drawn. With all fluids, the best is the fluid you're prepared to change the most. If you've not done all your fluids, do those first before mincing about over one brand, or another. When did we last flush our coolant and our brakes?

If you've been prepared to run dirty fluids in there now, the case for brand choice is lost. Why? - because, any old , "Cheap 'clean' slaughters, dirty 'premium' ".