[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Clan

volvo have never recommended 5w/40

on the pre 2005 models with 12000 mile service intervals it was 5w/30 and on volvos oil chart is does say do not use 5w/40 for what ever reason .

the 0w/30 came along with the change to 18000 service intervals ...long life oil .

Castrol is the OEM oil for Volvo at present and they do change their recommended or approved oil when they develop new oils OR R&D indicates the previous oil was not the best one. They have even reduced the oil change interval in a few cases.

For example OEM for my diesel was Magnetec 10w40, then about 5 years ago it was changed to Edge 5w40 and finally about a year ago they changed it to the new Edge 0w40 (All of the oils were Acea A3/B4).

The OEM OCI was 20K km, but was cut to 15K km BUT only in the UK, as that was done to allow the UK Volvo dealers to use Magnetec 10w40 which is much cheaper than Edge 0w40, but does not last quite as long.

If you have a newer Volvo that is supposed to use Edge 0w30, do not use anything but that oil if you want to stick to the OEM viscosity groups, cos SAE figures are groups and that oil is right at the top of the 30 range, so it's a thick 30. If you want to go thick, move up to a full synthetic 0w40.