0w-30 or 5w-30 which would you use?

**uzyg** · Friday 20th March 2009, 20:33

I know its the age old question and there's not much between the two but I'll be putting either 0w-30 or 5w-30 castrol edge oil in my s60 2.0 Turbo

car has done over 100,000 miles, not sure what has been used in the past as I have just recently acquired it.

DPA (local independent) did say he feels 0w-30 is 'too thin' but upon further reading I have come across many people saying it is a 'myth' calling it too thin and can be very good. As we know Volvo themselves recommend castrol 0w-30.

What would you use out of the two??

**v70torslanda** · Friday 20th March 2009, 21:08

Personally I would use 5w30 and change it twice a year. Genuine filter every time.

If your car is pre 2005 then the dealer serviced it with 10w40 semi. Volvo now 'recommends' 0w30 at 14 quid a litre. If you haven't used it from day one then don't waste your money. Dave Stew will tell you that it 'ran' through the turbo on his old T5 and he now uses Valvoline 5w40 SynPower with no ill effects, plus it's cheaper than the Castrol.

I guess you 'pays yer money' etc. etc. but as long as you use a quality oil and change it regularly you won't do any harm.

J

**Babybadger** · Friday 20th March 2009, 21:14

5w-40 fully synth is the general consus , do a search on the forum for it. My mechanic uses shell helix 5w-40 in all turbo engines now.

**jardon** · Friday 20th March 2009, 21:14

5W 40 Redline http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-1002-red...oil-5w-40.aspx

**beppie boy** · Friday 20th March 2009, 21:42

i use 5w 40 and mies a boring 170 bhp 2.4 v70 and i change it every 3 / 4 thousand miles this might be a bit too often but i just like to have clean oil in her and have always done this type of oil change since my mk 2 cavalier days. lol

martyn

**uzyg** · Friday 20th March 2009, 22:10

Looking through previous threads it seems 5w-40 or 10w-40 is the most common. Now can someone tell me if Halfords own 5w-40 fully synthetic oil is actually fully synthetic? As I have read in many places that the 'cheaper' stuff can label itself as being fully synth but it isnt always true, whereas the more expensive brands such as mobil 1 and castrol etc are fully synth??

If the halfords 5w-40 is actually fully synth I may just go for that.

**cornclose** · Friday 20th March 2009, 22:17

I doubt they would get away with selling oil marked as 'fully synthetic' if it wasn't. Then again the quality might not be quite as good as branded oils, but who knows. It it meets a certain standard (again one which they'd be in hot water for if they were selling it as something that it wasn't...) then it should be ok.

However, I'd always go with a branded name to be sure...

**uzyg** · Friday 20th March 2009, 22:29

IIRC the Halfords one is made either by Shell has some connection with the people at Shell. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry to be a bugger and keep going on about it but which out of the oil grades would be a safer bet to 'last longer' before another oil change?

0w-30?
5w-30?
5w-40?

Or is there nothing between them?

**dave stew** · Monday 23rd March 2009, 10:04

As John says, I have been running 5W40W SynPower in my T5 for 45,000 miles now with no ill effects. It uses very little oil and seems to do a good job - original, unmolested T5 lump with 145,000 miles up.

**v70torslanda** · Monday 23rd March 2009, 20:22

Originally Posted by beppie boy

i use 5w 40 and mies a boring 170 bhp 2.4 v70 and i change it every 3 / 4 thousand miles this might be a bit too often but i just like to have clean oil in her and have always done this type of oil change since my mk 2 cavalier days. lol

martyn

Queue here to buy BeppieBoy's used oil! I'd pour that into the D5 and do another 8k on it! I bet they love you at your local accessory shop.

J

**Flatout Phil** · Sunday 22nd November 2009, 14:26

So Valvoline 5w 40 Synpower or Shell Helix 5w 40 in the R? I am presuming that 0w 40 would be just too thin (just thinking winter, getting a lighter mixture)? The block has only got 40,000 on it and currently runs Helix.

**irf** · Sunday 22nd November 2009, 16:14

if you search google for "oilman" you'll find a guy called simon on various forums where he explains exactly what a fully synthetic oil is. iirc even mobil 1 isn't fully synthetic.

personally i've used different oils, 10w40, 5w40, 15w50 from mobil 1, silkolene, fuchs etc etc etc.

the important thing as mentioned before is the frequency of the changes, i normally change mine every 3-5k.

edit. maybe i should check the date of the posts next time....

**uzyg** · Monday 23rd November 2009, 10:43

Just to update;

Decided to take it to Dave at DPA Notts after the new Turbo and he put in Valvoline 5w30 fully synth. Its been running fine however it has been using some oil and needs topping up every 2.5k miles (min to max)

Time for an oil change and I have opted for Fuchs 5w40 fully synth from GSF which they were selling at £24 for 5 litres, bargain!

I know its winter and 5w30 would have been thinner and easier to circulate but the use of oil has been bothering me and although I have been advised it isn't 'excessive' I'd rather it not be using any oil at all.

Will put in the 5w40 and let you know how it goes.

Anyone remember roughly how much oil the s60 2.0 petrol takes?