Recommended Engine Oil 2004 S60 P2 2.0 T SE

[marcb]

If you driving 40,000 miles a year within the Arctic Circle the oil may well make a difference to the engine but I suspect the rest of the car would give way before the engine.

Compare with our current 1500 miles a year in London going to Lidl.

[stuart bowes]

it all seems much of a muchness to me, the only thing in the back of my mind was, well it's a turbo engine so yeah it does take a little more care and attention

but surely the finer points of A3/B5/A2/A4landscape really does it make that much difference

seems to me (though I may be wrong) the more important thing is checking the level regularly and changing it every 1-2 years depending on mileage

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

it all seems much of a muchness to me, the only thing in the back of my mind was, well it's a turbo engine so yeah it does take a little more care and attention

but surely the finer points of A3/B5/A2/A4landscape really does it make that much difference

seems to me (though I may be wrong) the more important thing is checking the level regularly and changing it every 1-2 years depending on mileage

It's actually a bit more involved that that Stu, some components are under such high pressure the wrong oil either won't get to them or will be squeezed out as if it was never there, VAG is a prime example of this,

Oil should always be changed every 10k or 12 months imo, the long life servicing is to appease fleet costs rather than be some super duper high life oil, I also think it's not so much the oil degrades but the filter is the weak link in long life servicing however dpf cars with the regen dump fuel into the pan thing means it's prudent to not go past 10k imo.

[stuart bowes]

granted if you're thinking of putting basic cheap halfords no-name stuff in, but if we're arguing the toss between ACEA A3/B3/B4 and ACEA A5/B5 is that really a concern

I was thinking about this recent post as well https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=326307

Originally Posted by SnineT

.. not so much the oil degrades but the filter is the weak link in long life servicing...

that's probably a fair point though

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

granted if you're thinking of putting basic cheap halfords no-name stuff in, but if we're arguing the toss between ACEA A3/B3/B4 and ACEA A5/B5 is that really a concern

I was thinking about this recent post as well https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=326307



that's probably a fair point though

I agree, but it does go beyond that in some circumstances, the D4 for example needs 0/20 for some reason and it can't be about hot or cold as the hot rating is low, for now it shall remain a mystery

[barrybritcher]

my hunch is that 54plate+ has dual vvt so they probably wanted to only recommend low viscosity oil to avoid solenoid warranty claims from sludge

[bigshorty48]

Originally Posted by Georgeandkira

When you've finished, report back and tell us how the underside of the oil fill cap looked. The high location causes accumulation of chunks and some look quite alarming.

Right, well actually managed to do the oil change yesterday morning. The underside of my oil filler cap was fine, didn't notice any chunks of anything there. However, what I did notice was quite a collection of black, sticky sludge within the oil filter housing which I cleaned out. To my knowledge I've never seen such an accumulation of sludge around the oil filter area when I've done oil changes before in any of my previous cars, does this sound normal? If not, what could be causing this? Didn't look like the oil had been changed in a long while though, definitely well overdue.

[barrybritcher]

shouldnt be any sludge - but perhaps the previous owner never used to clean the housing before snapping in the new filter

[stuart bowes]

Sounds to me like the filter was doing its job then eh, stopping that crud going back into the engine

do you have a record of when the last change was ?

you cleaned it out now run it for a year and do it again, I'd only worry if it's the excessive again next time

I suppose if you were concerned you could use some flushing agent but I've never bothered with it in any of my cars

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

I suppose if you were concerned you could use some flushing agent but I've never bothered with it in any of my cars

Jury's out on that one, I used to flush every oil change but I was always aware that it can strip residue that then blocks oilways,

I haven't read back but if the OP has only had the car a while and it's his first oil change the sludge might be that the car has sat around a while before he bought it, I'd be tempted to change it again in a 1000 miles just to see what's in the filter this time.