Just bought a 92 745T w/ 165K. Car was a one owner and pretty well cared for. Oil was changed every 3-4000 miles - but always with dino oil.

I changed oil in it the first time Saturday, and used Valvoline Durablend (1/2 & 1/2). I am hoping that this will prepare the seals for full Mobil syn - 10W30, and they will not leak. All is dry as a bone now.

I was also thinking of the possibility of something like Marvel Mystery Oil for a spell to help the seals ???

Am I headed down the right path ? How long might I stay with the Durablend (or something else) before I make the jump?

All input welcome..
Andrew in AL

I am considering the same for my 244 (with a 100K oil change coming up next month). I know that Irv uses synth - but what are the real benefits? Is it worth it? Andrew - your "progression" sounds good - do people think this will work?

My 244 holds all its oil right now - no leak whatsever. I am worried about synth finding those clogged gaps - is this a good thing or just something else to worry about?

-pu
--
((1992 244, 100K)) ((1987 245, 270K)) San Diego

Irv uses/used synthetic in his P1800? I was wondering about that but didn't know how to find out. What brand? I switched my B230FT to Amsoil about 7K km (~4500 mi) after it's rebuild last summer. The engine now has about 17K km (11K mi) on it and is running great (except for a little d*mn piston slap). I think the synthetic helps 'the slap' a bit though. Anyway, for my summer job I'm working for my Volvo mechanic and the way we convert cars to synthetic (Amsoil) is: Idle engine with engine flush for 15-20 min, drain oil, pour in Amsoil and change filter, put a oil change sticker on the windshield that says to change in 5K km. In 5K km we change the oil and filter and set the oil change interval as 8-10K (usually 8 for Volvos). This method seems to work well.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '91 745Ti, 277K km.

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=643157 just posted this in someone else's topic.

personally, i jumped straight from crap oil to mobil 1 and i was fine.
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Kenric Tam
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'

Yeah, me, too; many times.

Ditto. No leaks that weren't there before, and those got no worse. Oil consumption around 1 qt every 3-4000mi, and has been that way for years. Using Mobil-1 10W30 and Mann filters...change both every 8000-10,000(mostly highway) miles. Mobil-1 website advises to just change to the synthetic and that flushing or gradual changeovers are unnecessary.
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Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-944 B230FD)

Thanks for the replies.

I think I will make a gradual change, and watch and see. Wally World has Mobil 1 in 5 qt. jugs for less than 19.00. I will get that, along with some standard Mobil 10w30 - next mix will be - Hmmmmmmmm

3 qts syn; 1 qt dino.

How does that sound? Little more than the half and half I just did.

Andrew in AL

If it's crud build up that is keeping your seals from leaking now, isn't it just a matter of time before the cleaning action of the synthetic removes the crud and leaks show up? Are you just delaying the inevitable? I doubt any slow transition is going to do anything except delay your finding out if the seals will leak or not. I did this switch a year or so ago. I went straight synthetic and changed the filter again after a couple of months, then I drove for a whole year without changing the oil - about 8000 miles. I just changed it and was just slightly darker than when it went in - very impressive. In the last month or so I have developed a small oil leak in the area around the water pump, but I haven't investigated yet.

Ron
87 745 230000km

Well, to be honest, what I did was this for my own change:

Drain dino, switch to synthetic, replace filter.
Wait 1500 miles.
Drain synthetic, refill synthetic, replace filter.
Wait 3000 miles.
Drain synthetic, refill synthetic, replace filter.
Wait 6000 miles.
Replace filter
Wait 3000 miles.
Drain synthetic, refill synthetic, replace filter.
Wait 3000 miles.
Replace filter
Wait 3000 miles.
Drain synthetic, refill synthetic, replace filter.
Wait 3000 miles.
etc.etc.

So I'm done with my step-conversion type procedure. I change the oil every 6, the filter every 3.

The reason I did that is because synthetic's cleaning properties make the first change 'dirtier' and thus why only 1500 miles. By the third change, things should be cleaned out decently enough, so I extend the interval to 6000 miles, but still replace the filter every 3.
--
Kenric Tam
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'