New member. Oil questions on Saab turbo

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If you look in the VOA section you will quite a number like LM Synthoil 5/40 and several of the Mobil 1 synthetics. The universal average for a 5/40 VOA is 2480 and I have seen one oil with 3500 ppm.

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: skyship
Originally Posted By: wally21
OK. I was going to start a new thread, but I think that my question fits pretty well here.

I have an '05 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon that I purchased almost a year ago. It had 125k miles on it at the time, and I couldn't get any detailed maintenance history (Was it run only on synthetic oil? What were the typical OCIs?)

Since I bought it, I have run M1 0w40, Amsoil 0w30, and I'm now running Motul 300v 0w40.

Yes, I know that M1 is a great oil and that the Motul is probably overkill. Please don't respond just to tell me this.

My main question is this: not knowing the oil history of this car and knowing that Saabs can be sludgers (though my model year should be ok), should I run an oil with a high level of detergents?

I opted for the Motul with my latest oil change because I just wanted an extremely high quality ester-based oil (also considered Redline). However, being that it's mainly a racing oil, the 300v doesn't have the same detergent levels as street-use oils. Is this OK? Since I have a high-mileage vehicle, I've been thinking that I should run something like Pennzoil Ultra Euro 0w40, which cleans the engine very well.

Right now, I'm thinking that I could run PU for the next few changes to clean out the 125k+ miles of gunk and then switch back to the Motul. It seems to me that if you have a really high quality oil like Motul, as long as you don't go too long with your OCI, you shouldn't need much detergent. What do people think?


If the engine you have is a potential sludger or you want to do long OCI's, the detergent and dispersants in the add pack are important. All the major brand full synthetics or HM oils will help clean the engine, but I would look for a Calcium content of a least 2500 ppm if you have a VOA available and change it before the TBN is below one third of the VOA figure (About 3 minimum).


What oil on the planet has calcium at 2500ppm? Please post some examples


If you look in the VOA section you will see quite a number like LM Synthoil 5/40 and several of the Mobil 1 synthetics. The universal average for a 5/40 VOA is 2480 and I have seen one oil with 3500 ppm. Moly free Mag 1 5/40 is near the top of the VOA list and that has over 2700 ppm of Calcium.
 
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A convenient but not AS thorough stand-in for dropping the pan is getting a wire coat hanger and straightening out (or cutting out) a length of it and inserting it carefully into the oil pan. You can both scrape along the bottom and, if you are gentle enough, tilt it upward and run it along the mesh of the oil pickup tube. If it comes out with sludgy bits on it, you might consider further attention.

Wally21, understand, the turbo stress itself is not the problem with this car. It's the engine design coupled with an inadequate PCV system. Sure it was made better by 05 but I can't think it was the most stable in the world even then. And as for anything in there already? Yeah I never saw any luck with anything (including flushes) in removing an even moderate amount of sludge in the 9-5. Arx filled up my filters w/ carbon bits when changes w/ other stuff didn't and made some decent cosmetic improvements. BUT if I were truly trying to get things clean in as short of a time as possible, I'd manually clean as much as I could. I was more of a rolling science experiment. Even though it ran like a Swiss watch (er...Swedish?) when I traded it off at over 150k miles, I still had a decent amount of sludge in the engine. Even after all those 5k highway mile (read every couple of months, at least) synthetic oil changes with, like I said, most having at least having a maint dose of arx.
 
Originally Posted By: skyship
If you look in the VOA section you will quite a number like LM Synthoil 5/40 and several of the Mobil 1 synthetics. The universal average for a 5/40 VOA is 2480 and I have seen one oil with 3500 ppm.

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: skyship
Originally Posted By: wally21
OK. I was going to start a new thread, but I think that my question fits pretty well here.

I have an '05 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon that I purchased almost a year ago. It had 125k miles on it at the time, and I couldn't get any detailed maintenance history (Was it run only on synthetic oil? What were the typical OCIs?)

Since I bought it, I have run M1 0w40, Amsoil 0w30, and I'm now running Motul 300v 0w40.

Yes, I know that M1 is a great oil and that the Motul is probably overkill. Please don't respond just to tell me this.

My main question is this: not knowing the oil history of this car and knowing that Saabs can be sludgers (though my model year should be ok), should I run an oil with a high level of detergents?

I opted for the Motul with my latest oil change because I just wanted an extremely high quality ester-based oil (also considered Redline). However, being that it's mainly a racing oil, the 300v doesn't have the same detergent levels as street-use oils. Is this OK? Since I have a high-mileage vehicle, I've been thinking that I should run something like Pennzoil Ultra Euro 0w40, which cleans the engine very well.

Right now, I'm thinking that I could run PU for the next few changes to clean out the 125k+ miles of gunk and then switch back to the Motul. It seems to me that if you have a really high quality oil like Motul, as long as you don't go too long with your OCI, you shouldn't need much detergent. What do people think?


If the engine you have is a potential sludger or you want to do long OCI's, the detergent and dispersants in the add pack are important. All the major brand full synthetics or HM oils will help clean the engine, but I would look for a Calcium content of a least 2500 ppm if you have a VOA available and change it before the TBN is below one third of the VOA figure (About 3 minimum).


What oil on the planet has calcium at 2500ppm? Please post some examples


If you look in the VOA section you will see quite a number like LM Synthoil 5/40 and several of the Mobil 1 synthetics. The universal average for a 5/40 VOA is 2480 and I have seen one oil with 3500 ppm. Moly free Mag 1 5/40 is near the top of the VOA list and that has over 2700 ppm of Calcium.


Last night because I thought 2500ppm was insane high for calcium in any oil I decided to look into it further. And your right,there are some oils with calcium that high. I learned something new.
I like to rip into your posts skyship however I will admit when I'm wrong and thank you for increasing my knowledge base on this particular point.
 
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