Hi there BITOGers,
I have fallen down the rabbit hole and need your help! I recently purchased a 2002 Volvo S60 2.4T with 14,000 miles on it. The previous owner (older lady) drove it short distance around town. A Castrol dino oil was used in it with Volvo brand filters its whole life. I was told the oil was changed regularly - every 3-4 months. I think that might be optimistic, but the P.O. is fanatical about maintenance...
Anyway, I started looking for what would be a good oil to use in the car (my first engine with a turbocharger) and found myself here reading about German oils and trying to learn what the seemingly endless different acronyms mean. So, I seek some guidance. I will start with the basic questions from the "What oil should I use?" sticky:
1. What kind of vehicle do you have:
2002 Volvo S60 2.4T
2. What does your owner's manual say:
Engine Oil: Meeting minimum ILSAC specification GF-2, including ACEA A1, API SJ, SJ/CF and SJ/Energy Conserving.
Your Volvo has been certified to standards using ILSAC oil specifications GF-2 5W-30.
Oil additives must not be used.
When temperatures exceed 86F in your area, Volvo recommends, for the protection of your engine, that you use a heavier weight oil, such as SAE 10w-30.
Intervals: Oil and oil filter changes should be made at 7,500 mile intervals.
3. Where do you live:
Southeast United States - Georgia. Hot and humid.
4. How do you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?):
I drive pretty equally between easy/hard and fast/slow. Leaning slightly to the hard and fast side, however.
5. What is your daily drive like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?):
Daily commute is roughly 6 miles and 15 minutes one way in the city. Longer drives on weekends, with more highway miles.
6. Whether your car has any known problems:
No known problems at the time.
Other: I would like to switch over to synthetic oil from the dino in there now - do I need to do anything besides just changing the oil/filter? I had read about the German Castrol 0w-30 (lead me here) and was thinking about switching to it - or rather the 0w-40 since it seems to be replacing it. However, I believe this oil is an A3/B3 designated oil whereas the manual specs A1 - I don't really understand the difference, so would that be the wrong oil to use? Also, I'm not sure if that specific oil is ILSAC GF-2 certified, or whatever the current, superseding cert would be - does this matter? What other oils do you all recommend? I am comfortable paying the typical prices I see for the 0w-40 (~$26 per 5 qt @ Uncle Wallys), but prefer to not go much higher than that price range (let's say ~$30/5qt). No preference to in-store vs online purchasing. Oh, I have Mahle filters on order and will be using those.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice!
-jrtew
I have fallen down the rabbit hole and need your help! I recently purchased a 2002 Volvo S60 2.4T with 14,000 miles on it. The previous owner (older lady) drove it short distance around town. A Castrol dino oil was used in it with Volvo brand filters its whole life. I was told the oil was changed regularly - every 3-4 months. I think that might be optimistic, but the P.O. is fanatical about maintenance...
Anyway, I started looking for what would be a good oil to use in the car (my first engine with a turbocharger) and found myself here reading about German oils and trying to learn what the seemingly endless different acronyms mean. So, I seek some guidance. I will start with the basic questions from the "What oil should I use?" sticky:
1. What kind of vehicle do you have:
2002 Volvo S60 2.4T
2. What does your owner's manual say:
Engine Oil: Meeting minimum ILSAC specification GF-2, including ACEA A1, API SJ, SJ/CF and SJ/Energy Conserving.
Your Volvo has been certified to standards using ILSAC oil specifications GF-2 5W-30.
Oil additives must not be used.
When temperatures exceed 86F in your area, Volvo recommends, for the protection of your engine, that you use a heavier weight oil, such as SAE 10w-30.
Intervals: Oil and oil filter changes should be made at 7,500 mile intervals.
3. Where do you live:
Southeast United States - Georgia. Hot and humid.
4. How do you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?):
I drive pretty equally between easy/hard and fast/slow. Leaning slightly to the hard and fast side, however.
5. What is your daily drive like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?):
Daily commute is roughly 6 miles and 15 minutes one way in the city. Longer drives on weekends, with more highway miles.
6. Whether your car has any known problems:
No known problems at the time.
Other: I would like to switch over to synthetic oil from the dino in there now - do I need to do anything besides just changing the oil/filter? I had read about the German Castrol 0w-30 (lead me here) and was thinking about switching to it - or rather the 0w-40 since it seems to be replacing it. However, I believe this oil is an A3/B3 designated oil whereas the manual specs A1 - I don't really understand the difference, so would that be the wrong oil to use? Also, I'm not sure if that specific oil is ILSAC GF-2 certified, or whatever the current, superseding cert would be - does this matter? What other oils do you all recommend? I am comfortable paying the typical prices I see for the 0w-40 (~$26 per 5 qt @ Uncle Wallys), but prefer to not go much higher than that price range (let's say ~$30/5qt). No preference to in-store vs online purchasing. Oh, I have Mahle filters on order and will be using those.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice!
-jrtew
