Outdrive oil

[LegacyT]

Any recomendations on the type of oil used in an older volvo aq drive? I had the upper gearbox rebuilt. I ran castrol gtx 10w-40 and sent it for analysis and it came back pretty poor. The drive killed the oil after around 30 hours use... I'm thinking conventional shell rotella 15w-40 or the shell semi-synthetic rotella T5 10w-40. That or go full synthetic royal purple straight grade 30 or 40 weight. Has anyone experienced problems with the cone clutch not engaging with synthetic oils? whats your guys' views for drive oils?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Outdrive oil

30 WT

Synthetic or not doesn't matter.

Don't use 10W-40 in your drive or your engine.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: Outdrive oil

With these type of drives it's typically best to run what the book says to use. In this case i believe it should be conventional straight grade 30W oil. Check your manual to be sure as some drives recommend other oil types. 10w-40 has been rumored to be harmful to aq series drives.

http://www.volvopenta.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Penta/Misc/drive_2_oil_rec_7745608.pdf

 

[Alan Lloys]

Re: Outdrive oil

EDIT: I was corrected below. I was thinking of the 4 cylinder models. Disregard what I said below.

My manual as well as the head cover on the engine calls for 10W-40 oil.
I have been using Castrol 10W-40 full synthetic in it for the last 2 years. I use the same in both engine and outdrive.
I have not had any issues with the clutch or drive in general.

It is getting difficult to find a full synthetic 10W-40 oil - last I checked it looked like Castrol discontinued it and I could only find Mobile 1.
Either way they should both work just fine.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Outdrive oil

Older manuals all said 30W or 10W30. None said 10W-40. This is for the V8 engines which is what the OP has.

This is what current Volvo manuals say:

Use of multi viscosity oils such as 10W30 and 10W40 are not recommended

I use Mobil 1 15W50 in my engine.

 

[LegacyT]

Re: Outdrive oil

I've settled on royal purple straight 30 weight synthetic for my drive. Thanks for the input guys

 

[Alan Lloys]

Re: Outdrive oil

Older manuals all said 30W or 10W30. None said 10W-40. This is for the V8 engines which is what the OP has.

This is what current Volvo manuals say:
View attachment 230443



I use Mobil 1 15W50 in my engine.

Sorry my mistake. Should have looked closer at the engine model. I was thinking of the older 4 cylinder units such as the aq125.