'96 850 Volvo turbo, Schaeffer 5W-40, 130k/5600

[Ken2]

-1996 Volvo 5-cyl 2.3L turbo, 130,880 miles
-Schaeffer #9000 5W-40, 5590 miles
-6 quart sump, 12 ounces of LC20 added at oil change, 1-2 ounces added per 1000 miles. Auto-Rx cleaning at 115,000 miles.
Mann oil filter
Mann air filter (10,000 miles so far)

Cu...........4
Fe...........9
Cr...........0
Al...........3
Pb...........0
Antifreeze...0
Fuel.........N
Water........0.3%
Silicon......3
Visc.........12.26 cSt
SAE..........30
Sulfation....23%
Oxidation....14%
Nitration....22%
Moly.........208
Ph...........805
Zn...........943
Mg...........8
Ca...........2137

Water is a bit high. I'll install new PCV parts soon. Terry recommends increasing the LC20 to 3 oz. per 1000 miles. I'll test again at 10,000 miles. Wear is excellent, consumption is nearly nil (was quart/2500 miles before Auto-RX), and the engine is smooth, quiet, and strong.


Ken

 

[Pablo]

Why more LC? The oil already thinned. Scheaffer's is a great oil. Why would Terry recommend even more LC?

I honestly got much better numbers out of my my runs without LC.

 

[Pablo]

TJ76 - good points. I'm not 100% believer in the accuracy of Oxi numbers (especially when comparing oils), however your experience sounds great within one brand of oil.

The thinning has been mentioned before. Indeed cause remains unidentified. Schaeffer's doesn't thicken normally, so I'm not sure.

No doubt this is a good report, IMHO.

 

[TomJones76]

Pablo,
Terry's probably reccomending the LC to control this guy's oxidization.
I was able to keep my oxidization down to 2 or 3 at 4500 miles using LC.
In fact, I was able to keep it down to 10 at 10K and we have one guy running M1 for 7500 miles in a GM 4.3L turning in a "0" for oxidization.
Terry may feel that more LC would keep the number lower.
I've noticed that you consider LC responsible for thinning out oils it is added to.
While I don't know about causation, I use LC religiously and seem to have a substantial amount of thinning.
When I run the numbers using the Chevron or other calculators, adding the reccomended levels of LC seems to do barely anything to my end viscosity.
Do you think it has some kind of synergistic effect, like maybe the pour point depressants or VII that get added to most oils have?
Or could it be that the anti-oxidant effect prevents thickening?

 

[denny2w]

Seems like you may have change this oil too soon.
The water maybe in part due to the oil not really allowed to get hot before changing. I found this true in colder winter weather. Looks Good!

 

[TomJones76]

Yeah.
Good point about the Oxi numbers between oils.
I only have two "same-oil, same-car" results for Oxi right now.
I went 4400 miles with LC on Superflo 5W20 and had "3". I went 9800 miles LC on Superflo 5W20 and had "10".

The whole thickening thing has me tempted to make a TommyBrew... maybe a 1:1 mix of LC and something thick. Castrol 5W50 crossed my mind for the "thick" element, since it wouldn't mess up my low-temp starting. The other option would be that really thick STP stuff, but it appears to have the low-temp flow properties of... iron, but then again if anything would keep my oil from thinning, it would.

BTW, anyone got the virgin viscosity on this 5W40 handy?

 

[Pablo]

Vis = 12.26

Virgin = 13.50-14.50

Is this purely turbo shear?