Oil for Volvo 944 Turbo?

[PhillyVolvo]

Good Evening All,

I am a newbie but I believe I have read every post over the last 48 hours here and at brickboard and still need some advice. I just acquired a "new" 1994 Volvo 944 Turbo with 114K miles and do not have a good record of its history (Oil changed at 113K and passed PA inspections in September). I am planning to run an A-Rx treatment (2x as recommended for 100K) but do I switch to synthetic for the Turbo afterwards? If so, what is the best synthetic to run or if not, what type of dino should I be using?
I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, in fact will most likely take it to the shop just to have the oil filter changed before the RX treatments starts, but would like to begin maintaining this car on my own. Any advice or recommendations as to what I shoul be looking for on this particular car would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pablo]

I can only recommend synthetic oil for Volvo turbos.

Your choice as to brand. Amsoil 5w30 will do fine in your climate, as will the 5W-40.

 

[Vasili]

Hello there and

I think that doing the Auto-RX is an excellent idea, especially since you are not sure exactly how the car was maintained.

To answer your specific question, I would go with a top tier synthetic oil (PAO or POE basestock) that matches the oil weight that is recommended in the manual.

The two oils I would recommend (to be fair, there are other great synthetic oils out there, and I don't have any specific experience with the engine in your car, so others can comment on that) are...

Redline Oil (has a POE basestock) in whatever weight it says in your manual or Mobil 1 0W-40 (has a PAO basestock).

I'll keep the technical stuff to a minimum, because most people including me get lost in the details. There are two true synthetic basestocks PAO and POE (that I know of) (a third is coming/just came out, EOP, but its new so I would let them get the kinks out before buying it). I suggest sticking with a true synthetic (PAO or POE basestock), because your engine is a turbo and that is a lot harder on the oil.

So that's about it. I could say which oil to pick over the other of the two I've listed, but to be honest (and based on Used Oil Analysis posted by other members here) both are great, so just pick whatever is easy to find in your area.

P.S.
Just to be fair, and so others don't complain, there are other options to look at (which I stated above) and they are...
Mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5W-40 (there is some talk that it is part POE, but I'm not sure.)
AMSOIL
MOTUL
Castrol 0w30 (aka German Castrol or GC)

P.S.S.
Between the basestocks, POE can be considered better than PAO (also more expensive), but is the difference in price matched by a higher level in quality? Well, that's up for debate here. In any case, any of the oils mentioned in my post (so long as its the right weight) will do a very good job in your engine, some of course will be better than others.

The best thing would be if someone with the same engine as you, would post/point to any of the used oil analysis to see which oil did the best in your specific engine.

 

[Gary Mintz]

Phillyvolvo As Pablo suggested I would only run a synthetic oil for Volvo Turbos.
Turbo Formulated 10w30 Synthetic Motor Oil My Mother had an 84 Ford SVO 4 cyl Turbo charged and that is all she ran in it. With no problems at all.

 

[jtantare]

I use Mobil 1 5w40 in 92 940 turbo, 94 960 and 89 240. Don't waste your money on A RX.

 

[pscholte]

In order:

(1) GC
(2) Amsoil European Formula 5W-40

 

[Mike242GT]

I have two Volvo 944 turbos and a 744 turbo (same engine), and have run all sorts of oils in them; Delo 15w40, Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40, Castrol Syntec Blend 10w30, Trop-Artic 10w30 blend, Amsoil 10w30, German Castrol 0W-30. No more green GC to be found around here, but the gold stuff seems to work fine. That'd be my first choice if it's available to you, but the cars seem to run fine on the conventional, too. The 744 does consume a bit, but then it does have 215K on it. Stick with Mann filters; you can save by ordering them by the case (10 filters) from FCP Groton.

 

[ALS]

I run Mobil 1 10W30 in my 87 745T. The 97 960 also runs 10W30. Both cars have been Auto-Rxed and I have zero oil leaks in either car. The 960 I have Lube Control in it and the 745 runs a maintenance dose of Auto-Rx.

 

[Gary Mintz]

Hey PhillyVolvo
I also found this on a different forum, that I visit.

quote:

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The 99 Volvo turbo I had would caramelize the oil from the high heat of the turbo, and required frequent changes. After I changed it to AMSOIL Series 2000 0W-30, this problem was greatly reduced, but I still couldn't run it more than about 7,500 miles. I changed it over to SAE 10w30 Turbo Formulated oil (ATM), and the problem went away. I was able to run it for the 25,000 miles AMSOIL recommended, and it was still in good condition when I changed it.

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CAR CARE FORUMS look under Lets talk Amsoil \ Amsoil Oil Thickens?