5W40 and high mileage?

[kilou]

Hi,

I have a 1997 Volvo S40 (normally aspirated 2.0 gasoline engine) with 200K miles. The engine still runs fine and I plan to keep the car as long as I can.

With such a high mileage I wonder what type of oil I should use. This engine is not powerful (140hp) and I don't race the car. I'm looking for an oil that can withstand OCI of 7,5K-10K miles. That engine only calls for an ACEA A3 rating and the possible grades are wide (usually from 0w40 to 15w40) with recommended 5W40 or 10W40.

Recently I've been running on Mobil Super S 10W40 which is a basic synthetic blend. But I'm unsure it can hold 7,5K-10K OCI (oil analysis are [censored] expensive here in Europe and it's not in my budget). Therefore I'm looking at other options which are:

- Liqui Moly Super Leichtlauf 10W40 (synthetic blend with normal OCI, rated MB229.1 and VW505.00)

- Liqui Moly Synthoil High Tec 5W40 (full synthetic for extended drain interval, rated MB229.1 and 229.3, BWM longlife 98 etc)

Obviously the synthetic seems better but it is slightl more expensive and honestly I do not know whether it makes sense to pour such a "good" oil in that standard old engine. Moreover what about running a 5W40 in a 200K engine??? That engine had 5W40 in the recent past but it did burn a bit more oil than with the current 10W40 so maybe the 10W is better than 5W for high mileage?

Also in Europe it is almost not possible to find a full synthetic 10W40 oil. All 10W40 are synthetic blends. Do you think the Mobil Super S 10W40 can cope with 10K OCI or is it too much? Would you recommend the full synth 5W40 over the synth blend 10W40 even if this means higher oil consumption?


Thanks a lot, I'm quite lost...

 

[addyguy]

A quality syn-blend would do 10k miles if it is mostly highway driving - we've seen UOA's that bear that out. It will do 7.5k miles under any driving circumstance, so you can at least get that out of it.

May sound like an annoying question, but many here will say, 'What mostly got it to 200k miles? Whatever that was, keep using it!'

Mobil makes good oils - if thats what it has 'mostly' been run on, and it is realtively easy to get, keep on using it.

 

[tig1]

M1 0-40.Will work well for you winter and summer. 10,000 OCI no problem.

 

[kilou]

Thanks for your replies guys!

@addyguy:
The car has been run on Castrol SLX 0W30 and Castrol TXT (can't remember the rating) up to 100K. Then I switched to Castrol Magnatec 10W40, then Motorex SPX 5W40, then some cheap supermarket 5W40 and 10W40 and now I'm on Mobil super S 10W40 for the last 7K miles. Maybe it's just OK to stay with Mobil super S 10W40 but I was wondering if it would be OK with 10K OCI on that oil. Seems OK from what you say but I must say that the oil looks quite dark now... But do you think it would be better to run a fully synthetic oil 5W40 such as the Liqui Moly Synthoil that is slightly more expensive but has a better additive pack? The question in fact is is it good to use a 5W oil in a very high mileage engine that from history burns more oil on 5W40 than on 10W40?? In fact is it better to have a thicker 10W rather than a better additive 5W in a high mileage application?

@tig1:
M1 0W40 would be really too thin when cold for my engine coz I had a higher oil consumption on 5W40 than on 10W40 so I'd probably not try a 0W.

 

[addyguy]

If you are 'definetly' going to a 10k OCI, a full-synthetic oil would be a 'safer' choice. Any synthetic can go 10k; specific brand is not really an issue.

Re M1 0W-40, you have to understand that 0W-40 is not necessarily 'thinner' than 5W-40. The '0' part is how well the oil flows at very cold temps. Oce the oil is at room temps or above, it may very well actually be thicker than a 5W-40.

Also, all engines react differrently to different oils. There is no guarantee that your engine will always burn more 5W-40 than 10W-40. Depends on the oil and engine, you just have t try different ones and find out what works.

 

[sprintman]

M1 0W40, Castrol Edge Sport 0W40 are just two. You need a 0W rating for Switzerland

 

[Drivebelt]

Quote:
Maybe it's just OK to stay with Mobil super S 10W40 but I was wondering if it would be OK with 10K OCI on that oil. Seems OK from what you say but I must say that the oil looks quite dark now... But do you think it would be better to run a fully synthetic oil 5W40 such as the Liqui Moly Synthoil that is slightly more expensive but has a better additive pack?

Most likely the conventional component of a synthetic-blend motor oil in Europe like Mobil super S 10W-40 is going to be a Group I/I+ solvent refined base oil. The synthetic blends based on Group I/I+ oils really aren’t that good oils, and are not really suitable for extended drains. I would not be inclined to run them 10k. Europe really doesn't have much in the way of high performance Group II base oils, so the vast majority of conventional oils are still Group I/I+ based, and the synthetic blends use these for their conventional component. If the conventional component of that Mobil Super S 10W-40 was Group II based, I'd not have much problem running it 10k. But I doubt it is.

I think it's much preferable to run a full synthetic 5W-40 10k than that Mobil super S 10W-40 GI/I+ based syn-blend 7k.