1992 Saab 900 turbo oil viscosity

[crazyoildude]

Quick question to settle an argument i am curious what oil would everyone here recommend for a 1992 saab 4 cyl turbo? Manuel says use 10w30 but 5w30 can be used in cold weather as long as it is a synthetic or synthetic blend.. this car is not used much.. Also the transmission says to use type F transmission fluid i could only find castrol type F what does everyone think of castrol type F
Car has 145,000 miles on it runs good
Also one more thing in the owners manuel the gearbox says use 10w30 but the oil feels and smells like gear oil.. any thoughts?

 

[greenaccord02]

You have this engine on your lawnmower? AWESOME!!

Just kidding - I'd do PP 5W-30. Seems to do well in turbos. Can't say about the Type F or Gearbox stuff

Maybe this should be moved to another section...

 

[crazyoildude]

LOL i dont know how it ended up here in the first place... thanks for the input i was using a syn blend 10w30 motorcraft..

 

[Solo2driver]

0w-40, 10w-40, or 5w-40 is recommended for the Saab Turbos...at least the later ones. Visit SaabCentral , they are worthless for much else, but may be able to lead you in the right direction.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Saab installed 10w30 in the engine and transmission at the factory. If that is gear oil in your tranny then it ain't factory fill.

I know these thangs because I asked a buddy who has a 91 Turbo and an 88 non-turbo. He has 350,000 miles on the non-turbo.

He runs Quaker State Dino 10w30 in the non-turbo. He says he is second owner and original owner ran this oil since new.

In the Turbo he runs whatever 10w30 Full Syn is on sale. Right now it is CarQuest.

 

[greenaccord02]

The best 0W-40 I can think of that's readily available is M1. Before anybody gets rowdy let me say that iron has been known to run high (noise range) with M1 and the oil does shear to a high 30 after a couple thousand miles.

 

[crazyoildude]

thank you for the input i do run 10w40 in the summer although the manuel says 10w30 im a little leery about using a synthetic in an old engine like this that the old owner only changed once a year..and the oil in the gearbox does seem to be gear oil although the manuel says 10w30 .. and type f in the transmission i am currently using type f castrol which is all i could find at the time..

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

I'm assuming this is a 900.
You can run xW-30 or xW-40 in the Saab and it will be fine.
Saab USA didn't encourage use of synthetics in those days, because they didn't have a synthetic with a Saab label. I've had a number of older Saabs. All were changed to synthetic shortly after purchase (usually with 100,000 miles or so on the odometer).

far as the automatic fluid, I used AMSOIL synthetic ATF in mine with absolutely no problems. Now that AMSOIL has a Type F available, I'd use that. For the final drive, I used synthetic 80W-90 gear lube at first, 75W-90 later. Be sure to check the final drive level. Will sometimes develop slow leaks--fluid will disappear and leave no drops. Former son-in-law toasted one at 200,000 because he neglected to check level.

You might also check saabnet.com for info.

 

[addyguy]

With an older, high-mile turbo, I wouldn't use less that a 40-weight oil....preferably a syn 5W-40, BUT if you insist on dino, I'd use a HDEO 15W-40.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: Solo2driver
0w-40, 10w-40, or 5w-40 is recommended for the Saab Turbos...at least the later ones. Visit SaabCentral , they are worthless for much else, but may be able to lead you in the right direction.


I take offense at that!

 

[BrianWC]

But I'd say you're fine with any xW30 or xW40 synth in that engine. It's not that hard on oil.

 

[BrianWC]

Oh and on the gearbox, in my experience, the thinner the oil the better. I didn't venture out into synths but I did run 5W20 dino in mine. It improved the shifting a LOT.