XC 60 - oil change question

[Lincs Robert]

Why don't you get your oil filter from Volvo. That way you can do the change without anything looking suspect should a Volvo technician be inspecting your car 👍

Interesting point Mr Bear, however- it used to be common practice for manufacturers to mark the factory fitted oil filter in some way to detect this very thing. Vx used to fit black finished oil filters, still marked as VFO93 (or whatever), specifically to tell if a car had an oil change post being built. It wasn't possible to buy the black filters anywhere else - so the system worked well & trapped people that had gone over miles or time on their first service.

[Lincs Robert]

Mine gets done every 12.5k, for several reasons, in order of priority:

1. That's an oil change every 3.5months and I really cba to lie under the car any more frequently
2. The D5 lump is known to do starship mileage on the standard servicing, so I'm really not worried.
3. A's we live in a pretty temperate climate, it's not like the oil is used in adverse conditions (-25 in Sweden or +40 in Spain for example) so the oil isn't going to be performing on the limits of its spec.
4. That's what Volvo recommend.

If you are going to go DIY, I can link you an eBay seller that I've had good experiences with. Genuine Volvo stuff (sealed, holograms on etc) at very good prices.

When all's said and done I don't think there are any meaningful studies on how oil degrades over mileage and whether this degradation has any measurable impact on engine life. If there were, in sure someone would have linked them by now. As far as I can tell, there just seems to be a consensus that "x miles/months is too long for oil to be an engine". So, without any empirical evidence one way or the other, just change it as often as gives you peace of mind. Because that's all you can definitively say you're buying.

Yes please, could you PM me the details. Ta

[biggriffin]

Why don't you get your oil filter from Volvo. That way you can do the change without anything looking suspect should a Volvo technician be inspecting your car 👍

Interesting point Mr Bear, however- it used to be common practice for manufacturers to mark the factory fitted oil filter in some way to detect this very thing. Vx used to fit black finished oil filters, still marked as VFO93 (or whatever), specifically to tell if a car had an oil change post being built. It wasn't possible to buy the black filters anywhere else - so the system worked well & trapped people that had gone over miles or time on their first service.

.

Dangly berries. I bought 20L trade club oil, and was given x4 black filters, few years ago.

[Kevin Wood]

...

When all's said and done I don't think there are any meaningful studies on how oil degrades over mileage and whether this degradation has any measurable impact on engine life. If there were, in sure someone would have linked them by now. As far as I can tell, there just seems to be a consensus that "x miles/months is too long for oil to be an engine". So, without any empirical evidence one way or the other, just change it as often as gives you peace of mind. Because that's all you can definitively say you're buying.

Indeed. We all get in a tizz over mileage because that's the easy thing to measure. My view is that oil deteriorates mostly due to cold starts and cool running, especially in low temperatures. Once the engine is hot (properly hot - i.e. after 20 minutes fast cruising) the oil probably isn't being degraded much if at all. In fact, moisture and contaminants are being expunged from it by evaporation via the breathers. It's the cars that do a lot of cold starts without getting into that mode of operation that need frequent oil changes. I very much doubt your car does more than 2 cold starts a day and gets plenty of hot running in-between them, so is quite kind on its' oil in comparison to one that just does runs a couple of miles to the shops.

[Lincs Robert]

Why don't you get your oil filter from Volvo. That way you can do the change without anything looking suspect should a Volvo technician be inspecting your car 👍

Interesting point Mr Bear, however- it used to be common practice for manufacturers to mark the factory fitted oil filter in some way to detect this very thing. Vx used to fit black finished oil filters, still marked as VFO93 (or whatever), specifically to tell if a car had an oil change post being built. It wasn't possible to buy the black filters anywhere else - so the system worked well & trapped people that had gone over miles or time on their first service.

.

Dangly berries. I bought 20L trade club oil, and was given x4 black filters, few years ago.

Only repeating what a Vx service manager told me. 

[Lincs Robert]

...

When all's said and done I don't think there are any meaningful studies on how oil degrades over mileage and whether this degradation has any measurable impact on engine life. If there were, in sure someone would have linked them by now. As far as I can tell, there just seems to be a consensus that "x miles/months is too long for oil to be an engine". So, without any empirical evidence one way or the other, just change it as often as gives you peace of mind. Because that's all you can definitively say you're buying.

Indeed. We all get in a tizz over mileage because that's the easy thing to measure. My view is that oil deteriorates mostly due to cold starts and cool running, especially in low temperatures. Once the engine is hot (properly hot - i.e. after 20 minutes fast cruising) the oil probably isn't being degraded much if at all. In fact, moisture and contaminants are being expunged from it by evaporation via the breathers. It's the cars that do a lot of cold starts without getting into that mode of operation that need frequent oil changes. I very much doubt your car does more than 2 cold starts a day and gets plenty of hot running in-between them, so is quite kind on its' oil in comparison to one that just does runs a couple of miles to the shops.

Fair point, my usual shortest trip is about 10 miles.

[TheBoy]

When all's said and done I don't think there are any meaningful studies on how oil degrades over mileage and whether this degradation has any measurable impact on engine life. If there were, in sure someone would have linked them by now. As far as I can tell, there just seems to be a consensus that "x miles/months is too long for oil to be an engine". So, without any empirical evidence one way or the other, just change it as often as gives you peace of mind. Because that's all you can definitively say you're buying.

Unsurprisingly, the oil manufacturers do not publish this.  But if you approach them as a car manufacturer (excluding Mercedes ) about you actual requirements, you will get more honest answers