A common question I see ask members about oil types and brands. I think it's most important to keep it changed regularly as outlined in the manual. I use 10w-30 in the spring, fall and winter months. 10w-40 in the summer due to the heat here, a lot of 100+ days.

I myself use full synthetic oil and prefer Castrol. Not that I think that it's any better than other brands, just because I have used it for years and have only had a problem with engine wear when I stopped changing the oil in my 740 GLE. Went 20,000 once without changing it and a few times 10,000 miles. I ended up putting 405,000 on the car before I gave it away. Had to change the motor out at about 325,000 due to wear after I stoped changing the oil after about 260,000.

Right now I'm running Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-30 because I get it at the best price. I also try to use Mann filters.

I don't know much about filters except I trust Mann and have used Fram Tough Guard. Does anyone know anything about bypass filters? Are these bypass filters? I don't think they are but really don't know.

Anyway here is a poll to answer some people's question about what a lot of us use. Please check the poll and leave a note with your 2 cents worth. (Let me know if you think it should be stuck).

Thanks, Robert

 

i currently use non-synthetic in my 850, but once i get my rear main seal leak fixed (i leak about half a quart over a 5k mi. oil change), im probably going to switch to full synthetic.

 

Not a bad leak at all but I guess any leak is to much when switching to synthetic (not to mention a mess on the garage floor).

 

Synthetic motor oil links.

Mobil 1 Myth Video: Is Synthetic Motor Oil Good for Everyday Cars? - YouTube

Edmonds Syntheitc VS Conventional: Motor Oil: Conventional Vs. Synthetic - YouTube

 

Castrol GTX 10W-40

It's the only thing that's ever been in the car, 280,000 miles later I have no desire to switch.

 

Mobil 1 Synthetic and Mann Oil Filters. All I hear is Fram and Bosch oil filters suck. My friend just started using Amsoil Special Synthetic blend and their Purlator oil filters that are guaranteed like 25,000 miles if I remember correctly. Some crazy mileage, but I passed because I would never travel that far in a year.

 

Prior to switching to full synthetic, all I use to use was Castrol Oil GTX. That's all I put in my 740 for 405,000. I tried to stick with Castrol Edge but it's hard for me to find my weight.

I use to only use Fram filters before I started ordering filters from iPd. I changed them every 3 to 5k so I never had a problem with them.

 

What about air filters anyone? I had bought a K&N and used it for a while until a friend did some research and found they allow more particles through than most other filters. This increases air flow, but sacrifices cleanliness, which is not an incentive for me, as it is minimal power gain on a red block, I'm sure. So I started using Mann air filters.

 

I was told that the K&N air filter removes more particles from the air. Where did your friend get his info? IMO, it has lasted the test of time. If it were junk, it would have been gone long ago.

K&N High Performance Lifetime Aftermarket Air Filters - Automotive and Motorcycle Air Filters

K&N Air Filter Facts You Should Know



Trueflow test:
Automotive Air Filter Test - YouTube

Test #2, Foam VS Cotton Gauze:
The Truth About Filters: Foam Air Filters - YouTube

 

I think the confusion comes from folks looking at unoiled K&N filters. You can see straight through them! I'm talking not just pin holes...hold it up to your eye and you can make out images on the other side! Properly oiled is a different thing. At that point, I believe they filter better. The biggest pitfall is over oiling them. The oil will collect on the AMM wire and gum it up. I'm not convinced of a performance increase however. Just a quality, renewable filter.

 

Hmmm, I'll have to ask him. All I know is he showed me some diagrams of the air quality and the K&N was one of the worst. I guess I should have done my own research first, but I still have it around so no loss.

 

I've seen graphs making K&N look horrible, others making them look like the greatest thing ever. I'm a fan of paper filters changed regularly. With paper, there is no guess work. This is Texas...lots of dust and insects to try their best to make it into your combustion chamber. I ran a stock size turbo flat panel K&N on my V8 740 in a turbo air box for 3 years before cleaning and oiling it up. I don't put a lot of miles on any given vehicle in a year but I think it had gone around 12k. Had some dirt in it, clean side was clean as was the piping to the MAF and TB so, my own anecdotal data tells me it's ok. The crazy thing as I mentioned above...is after cleaning the filter of the old oil and dirt, but prior to re-oiling...you can see through the filter! I think that would lead to over oiling by many youngsters and others thinking "If a little is good, a lot is better". I appreciate that the K&N is renewable; in this day and age it is commendable. And...I don't advocate people who own K&N's to go forth and toss them away immediately. What I would say is if one hasn't purchased one...don't bother. Just my 2¢ personal analysis concludes they have negligible power improvement and filtering is too dependent on the vagaries of the person oiling them.

 

I'm sure some dust won't hurt these engines anyways, after all, it is a brick, right?

 

Er...uh...yeah. Right!

 

ISO 5011 Duramax Air Filter Test Report

 

I just can't resist saying, that report is worth the cost of it. LOL

Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. It was interesting reading the report and seeing the graphes and numbers. I wish someone would do one up to date. Not to say that these companies have done much to change how they make and design their filters.

What does all that mean to me??? There are a few things that comes to mind when I'm thiniking about my air filter...
1. Is the filter keeping my motor/air clean enough?
2. How often am I going to have to deal with it (cost and time)?
3. Will the filter hinder / help my car's preformance (better gas mileage, a little more hp, etc.)?

So, if the filter is letting so little (fine-like dust mites) dirt through that it doesn't matter in the intake, MAF, motor, I really don't care. Here's my deal, when I pop someone's box and the filter is so messed up that it is litterally falling apart, it's not good. Or if the thing is really dirty and plugged up, it has to be hurting the gas mileage, they need to make sure it's changed more often. I know it's not the filters fault that people totally forget to change them every 30,000 miles but that's just how it is. The oem/mann filters only cost $12. So you would have to purchase 4 of them to pay for a K&N filter. Then if you use a K&N filter you have to get the cleaner and oil which cost more money ($10 every 50,000 miles). So you would have to keep the K&N filter for about 250,000 miles to offset the cost of the filter. Now if the K&N filter helps you get 5% better gas mileage (1.1 mpg better) it could pay for itself in 6,000 miles.

The only other thing I would be interested in finding out is how many of these bad MAF sensors have K&N filters in front of them and how many had paper filters. Also if the filter type has anything to do with the MAF failures?

I guess I can do a white glove test in our S70 and wagon. The S70 has a paper filter and the wagon has a K&N. Wipe out the intake in front of the MAF and check it with a white glove in 10,000 miles and see which one is dirtyier. Very few of these cars see dirt roads daily so they don't take in to much dirt.

 

My friend, who is not even a Volvo owner, would love to inform you guys about his opinion on here.

Matt????

As for me, I guess any air filter is better than never changing it like the 98% of other cars on the road today.

 

Matt here! There's really no definite answer here, more of just opinions. And we know what they say about opinions. When it comes to those two videos posted, the dislike bar pretty much said it all to me. The only thing I liked about the test Burn Stains put up is that it seemed to be the most legitimate thing I found and had a variety of brands.

Basically what I take away from it is if you want more flow you have to sacrifice filtration. If you want more filtration you have to reduce flow. The point they were trying to make in those tests was the car manufacture knows how much air their engine needs and determines the size it should have with a regular filter. A less restrictive filter really isn't going to benefit you on an all stock motor. I ran a K&N in my Camaro for around 30000 miles with no problems. I even cleaned my MAF at Burn Stains' house recently and it really didn't even look dirty to begin with. So maybe they do still filter okay. I switched to a Wix which was somewhere in the middle of those tests and my gas mileage and power stayed the same. And yes I track my mileage closely.

I know it's a TDI forum, but this is where I found the link Burn Stains posted.
"Cold-air intakes" and "high-flow air filter" FAQ - TDIClub Forums

 

What about pre induced air filtration?

 

Like a pre-filter filter?