Think I should switch to a lighter weight oil?

[PulMax]

Okay, the car is a '86 Volvo 240, B230F engine, running Mann W917s and Castrol GTX 10-30.

The car does not like the cold, as I found this morning. In the brisk sub zero temps, the thing just didn't want to turn over. Its fine once warmed up though. I know its not a battery/starter type problem...this is mechanical and in the engine. Once running, its really unhappy until warmed up. Idles smoothly, but not as fast as it should...engine is struggling until warm and oil is circulating, I think.

Does switching to a 5-30 or something sound like a good idea here?

 

[greenjp]

Absolutely, switch to a 5W-30. Remember the "operating" viscosity is still 30, there's little if anything to be gained by using a 10W.

jeff

 

[reyjay1]

Yea Castrol oils always tend to seem thicker in the grade, and not to warm up as fast, so don't use 10w30 in the winter in Wi. and dont use GTX in the winter either. Not unless you have a garage kept muscle car that always stays warm. Otherwise I would say totally mismatched oil for a Volvo engine.
Now we'll see how much controversy that stirs up.

 

[fred0803]

0/30 GC is to be considered I would think

 

[PulMax]

2 quarts of Mobil 1 5-30 and 2 quarts of Pennzoil 5-30 (the last of the 5-30 I had in the garage, lol. synth blend!) later and hte car runs a lot more smoothly and quietly in the cold :-O

the real test comes tommorrow, when I try to start it up after its sat all night, lol.

 

[NJC]

Pulmax, I just switched over last night to a 0w30 synthetic from a 10w30 GTX on my '89 745 turbo with identical engine to yours.

Temps right here are in the mid-30's but my engine cranked over noticeably faster. I suspect you'd notice a large improvement in cranking speed with a 0w oil.

I did a bit of a blend to thicken it up: 3L XD-3 0w30 + 1L 15w40.

 

[Pablo]

Same basic engine (with a turbo) in my old beast. While I can get away with a 15W synthetic, not gnarly as cold here. I have a strange brew in the beast right now....and yes at 20°F she didn't crank instantly. I dosed it with LC and thinned the oil right back.

 

[Ugly3]

Yes, get thinner oil in there. My first choice would be synthetic 5w30, second choice would be synthetic 0w30. If this is a short tripper you may want to consider synthetic 5w20.

 

[PulMax]

While I was doing my quick ninja-like oil change today (see previous post for mix I used) I couldn't help but notice how much better the synth poured in the cold than the dino did :-o remarkable stuff.