What oil do you use on your Volvo Penta?

HawaiianFish

HawaiianFish

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2022
Messages
115
Fluid Motion Model
R-23 (Outboard)
Hull Identification Number
FMLC3010F819
Vessel Name
Pau Hana
I am about to change my oil on my D6 435 and want to use Volvo oil, but the wait time for delivery is significant. Shell Rottella T4 looks comparable and is available immediately. Obviously if warranty is still a consideration, you have to stick with Volvo, but if it isn’t what are you guys using? Are there differences between marine and commercial truck oil?
 
Affirmative on the Shell Rottella T4.
 
I used Chevron Delo 400 15-40 for 6,500 hours in my Volvo Penta KAD44P, for 185,000 miles in my Ram's Cummins ISB, and for 4,100 hours so far in my Nordic Tug's 330hp Cummins. Available at Walmart, Sam's, and nearly every fuel dock along the Inside Passage from WA to SE AK.
 
The Shell Rottella is $66 for 5 gallons at Walmart today vs Volvo oil for $170 in a week.
 
I have seen a lot of VERY strong opinions about this on various forums. The clear winner tends to be the Delo 400 15W-40. If that's not available, the Shell Rotella is a good backup, although I did see some folks say "sure use the shell if you want to be back at the dock changing your oil all the time." :roll:
 
The Portland area authorized Volvo Penta dealer, who does warranty work on local Ranger Tugs and Cutwaters, uses and recommends Delo 400. It meets the VDS-4.5 specification, as does Rotella T4. As long as we use an oil meeting whatever standard our Volvo manual specifies (for the D4, its VDS-3 or VDS-4.5), there shouldn’t be a warranty issue.

Gini
 
Volvo Penta Motor Oil #40005012
 
I had a hard time finding Chevron Delo in the PNW and had to switch to Shell Rotella. When I sent my sample in to Blackstone Labs, I inquired if it was ok to switch between the two. Their reply:


JOHN: Shell makes a great product, and the Rotella oil should work just as well in your engine as this
Chevron Delo 400 SDE 15W/40 has been. In our experience, the brand of oil you're using doesn't really
have any noticeable impact on how your engine wears. Operational factors and other considerations (e.g.
contamination, filtration problems, etc.) are really the main things that influence wear. At the end of the day,
oil is oil -- feel free to use any API-certified oil you can get your hands on. Wear looks great here, and no
excess dirt is suspected with silicon reading low.

Love the personalized service these guys give for just $35!
 
dbsea":32c8v6at said:
I can measure the diameter for you later today when i go check on my boat. I went with the manual 9.5L pump for mine, haven't done it yet. Will use this for both engine oil and transmission fluid.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N7 ... UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
Thanks Dbsea, that would be great, I completely spaced today when I was at the boat. Half way through my impeller change… Allegedly you need the impeller to do it.
 
Haifisch":zt9lqicz said:
I had a hard time finding Chevron Delo in the PNW and had to switch to Shell Rotella. When I sent my sample in to Blackstone Labs, I inquired if it was ok to switch between the two. Their reply:


JOHN: Shell makes a great product, and the Rotella oil should work just as well in your engine as this
Chevron Delo 400 SDE 15W/40 has been. In our experience, the brand of oil you're using doesn't really
have any noticeable impact on how your engine wears. Operational factors and other considerations (e.g.
contamination, filtration problems, etc.) are really the main things that influence wear. At the end of the day,
oil is oil -- feel free to use any API-certified oil you can get your hands on. Wear looks great here, and no
excess dirt is suspected with silicon reading low.

Love the personalized service these guys give for just $35!
Click to expand...

That is really good information to know thanks!
I’m gonna check out Blackstone Labs tonight…
 
The reversible electric pump I use came with both 1/2” and a 5/8” inside diameter hoses. On the D4, the 5/8” hose is a perfect fit on the starboard-side tube (shown, but not named, in my manual) where oil can be both pumped out and pumped in. I use the 1/2” hose on the other outlet of the pump for directing the used oil into a container, and for pulling the new oil out of the 2.5 gallon containers I buy it in and pumping it in through the same starboard-side tube. It’s a slick way to go. All I do is move the 1/2” hose from the old oil container and move it to the new oil container, and flip the switch to reverse the direction of the pump.

What is more difficult is withdrawing an oil sample from the D4 (I’m another fan of Blackstone Labs for both engine and transmission oil analysis). Getting a tube down either the starboard-side oil tube or the dipstick tube for an oil sample from the oil sump has been easier said than done. Can’t do it with the usual 1/4” tubing. I’ve had luck only with 1/8” fuel line, and then only down the dipstick, not the starboard tube, after some persistent twisting, turning, and pushing. There seems to be a constriction of some kind where those tubes connect to the sump pan, which makes getting a line down that far a challenge. At least, it has been a challenge for me. It was easy on my D3. Any tips anyone?

Gini
 
Aloha Gin,

What pump do you use?
Also is there a reason you can’t take the sample from the oil you extract with your pump when you do your oil changes?
 
Gin":3nrkcsp8 said:
Aloha Koi and Shelly!

It’s this Reverso, with the link below. I purchased it from Defender a couple of years ago. It’s expensive, but Reverso is a top shelf brand and, at the time, Defender had a good sale on it. And it has proven to be bullet proof. https://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|10918|2349116&id=2037292

Gini
Click to expand...
Excellent, thank you. Pricey yes, but that pump looks amazing! I might return my amazon one.
 
The reason you don't take the "oil samples" for testing from the used oil you removed at an oil change is because you don't want any contamination from your oil change equipment and container. The oil sample kits I get from my supplier contain small sealed bottles and plenty of tubing that fits down the oil dipstick tube to extract oil directly from the oil pan (or reverse gear) without it ever touching anything but new tubing and bottle. The bottle fits on the bottom of a small vacuum pump designed specifically for extracting oil samples (if I recall correctly I ordered mine on-line from Autozone, for somewhere less than $50, but it has been some time ago so perhaps not). The pump is also designed for the tubing that comes with each oil sample kit. It takes a little extra time at each oil change but you get samples that have no chance of any outside contamination.
 
So I’m at Walmart, Dello Synblend or full synthetic? FYI I’m gonna be changing it again in the fall before winterization and will be using this in my Onan genset as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sorry I forgot to respond to the second half of the question about why not take the sample from the extracted oil. But ditto what S. Todd said — oil contamination would be the concern. At least, that’s been my reason for not using it.

Maybe that could be avoided by catching some of the extracted oil about mid-way through the extraction, after a few gallons have gone through the pump. Seems like what would be extracted at that point would be a decent sample of what was in the sump. But I’ve never done that.

Also, sampling isn’t always done at the same time as the oil change. For the change interval, Volvo specifies one year or 200 hrs (whichever is first). I sampled the first time with about 100 hrs on the oil, but only 7 or 8 months in to the interval. I didn’t change the oil then. I waited for the results from Blackstone, which advised me I could go another 50 hrs or so. Which I did, and I sampled that time when I changed the oil. I got a thumb’s up from Blackstone that the results looked good and I can safely go 150 hrs on the oil.

Gini
 
I am not where I have access right now, but I believe my Next Gen manual says not to use synthetic oil in the generator at least for the first 5 years.
 
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