What kind of oil?
 

I will be changing the oil on my 1990 volvo 240 non turbo dl this weekend. What kind of oil should I use in it? I never done an oil change on it before myself. I already have mann filter and copper rings. also, i live in austin, texas if the climate has anything to do with it.

10w30

Since you live in Austin, I would recommend 10w40 Castrol or mobil one.


Dan

Another vote for Castrol 10w-30 with a Mann oil filter, and a 1" socket ... even though I'm (personally) using full sythetic "stuff" from Megalo-mart (wally world). :)

What about Castrol full synthetic oil? I heard that if the engine is old that it is better to use regular oil because the synthetic oil will sludge on top of the sludge that is already there, is this true?

A lot of Volvo shops use a heavier oil like 20W50. Prior to getting rid of my 240, I called a few places and everyone recomended that and used it on mine. I would say use a good quality oil and stick to a good oil change regiment every 3,500 miles reguardless what you do.

Simply not true. If your car has been serviced properly and oil changes on time and not extended with a good oil, you shouldn't have an issue. If you did have a sludge problem, then you should do a flush prior to the oil change. The issue with Synthetic oil and old motors is that the oil being super slippery will essentially find the weak spots in the seals and leak from that. The oil it self doesn't create leaks, like some might say it just finds the weak places and goes right out!

i don't know if the previous owner kept up on oil changes. so i don't know if there is a existing sludge or not. becuase of this, should i stay away from the full synthetic?

Also, my engine leaks oil because i see a oil film at the bottom in certain areas. However, my oil level stays consistent at the same level and does not drop, so the leak is not enough for me to fix(and kill my bank account). But because of this, would this be another reason to stay away from full synthetic oil?

Oil pan plug
 

When changing my oil today I noticed the oil pan is dented where the plug is and because of this the plug isn't a normal plug. It is a plug that has legs in the back of it which seals it extra tight to stop any oil leakage through the plug. Is this bad? I don't want to have to replace the whole oil pan because because the engine has to be taken out and not only is it costly I'm would worry it would cause other problems from the movement(like the rule if it's broke don't fix it).

Not necessarily. There are products you can use to flush the motor. Most Oils now a day have some sort of detergent in it to help clean deposits. Why do you want synthetic?? I had a small oil leak on my 240 and left over night a small "quarter" sized spot on the driveway. I wasn't too concerned since it was minute BUT I did keep an eye on the oil level.


Sometimes that rule does worse in the long run that fixing it.... Rigging and fixing are 2 different things.

the normal plug worked fine on the dented oil plan....but the shop said they could pull the dent out. it didn't go the way as expected and after trying to fix it the regular plug wouldn't fit on it anymore...hence the anchor plug. i learned from that better to leave it alone unless absolutely necessary.

Ah! gotcha......

BTW, I think if you stick with a fossil fuel you will be ok... You can run synthetic and see if your leak gets worse but at that age, stick to the same thing and keep your interval up consistantly.. That's your main thing!

Shell Rotella 15w/50 with a dash of Lucas oil additive

The recomended weight for the nonturbo b230 motors is 15-40w

From the owner's manual...

I'll never claim to know more than the mfgr(which is why I originally recommended 10w30), but...

FWIW, I've been using a 5w30 synthetic blend in my street driven 245 year round for the past 100k miles with no adverse effects(3-4k OCIs). The latest 5w motor oils(synthetic or dino) are capable of maintaining enough high temperature shear strength in an aging engine while increasing cold pumpability and, potentially, fuel economy.

Thinner motor oil...its not just for C.A.F.E. anymore.

I just recently moved from standard oil to full synthetic, and I have been noticing an increasing amount of oil leaking around the head gasket. If I am going to stick with synthetic, would this warrant a head gasket change?
1990 240

I have been running 5W-40 Rotella T5 in my 1990 240 sedan with a Pureolator PureONE filter here in Oregon with no issues. I run the PureONE on my 2.0 turbo Subaru (because of the 12.7lb check valve) and love it. They're worth the money. My car before the speedo went inop nearly a year ago, had 156k miles on it. It has the normal weepy seals on the block, but still runs strong!

I've been using Mobil-1 10w30 on our volvos for many years and many miles, had no problems. I've generally used Mann or Mahle filters (they are/were the OEM for Volvo), these have the proper oil pressure bypass valve many 'generic' filters don't.

I change oil and filter every 5,000 miles since we purchased our 1989 740 GL new. I use either Castrol or Valvoline 10W-40 dino oil and the Volvo filter. Now have 353,000 miles on the original motor.