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I went thru the documentation I had on hand & distilled this comparison of recent oil recommendations from Saab. The Documents I used were the 2000 9-3 owner’s manual, the 2000 Oil TSB (pub. July, ’00) from the Townsend website, the 2003 9-3SS owner’s manual & the 2003 Revised Oil TSB (pub. Dec 2, '02) from the Taliaferro website. Please note which items are required, which are recommended, and what's available.
’00 9-3 Owner’s Manual:
Recommended grades: API SH/SJ and ACEA A2/A3
Basic recommended viscosities: SAE 10W-30 or 10W-40
No recommendation or requirement for either semi or fully synthetic oil, only a notation that the listed ACEA grades “normally encompass semi & fully synthetic oils.”
No recommendation or requirement for any particular oil type with regard to severe driving conditions, only a recommendation for twice-as-often oil changes.
5W-30 is only recommended if it meets both: 1) ACEA A3, and, 2) is either semi or fully synthetic.
0W-40 and 0W-50 may be used if they meet: 1) ACEA A3, 2) are fully synthetic, and, 3) of a well-known brand.
’00 Saab Oil Technical Service Bulletin, “Cars affected: All 900, 9000, 9-3 and 9-5” (Includes cars back to 1978):
Recommended grades: API SH/SJ and ACEA A3
Recommended viscosities: SAE “classes” 30 - 40.
Recommendation for fully synthetic oil for increased drain intervals and city-style driving conditions (either are considered “demanding driving”).
Synthetic oil is identified as factory fill for all cars, and was selected for the reasons of oil longevity, hot and cold engine protection, fuel and pollution reduction, and sludge elimination.
The “oil table” included in the TSB lists the recommendations in descending order of preference, with 0W-40 full syn listed first, 5W-30 semi syn listed second, and 10W-40 mineral listed third. This preference is verified by further labeling the oils with either a “minimum requirement” or “recommended” designation, based on the application in a particular engine.
Both full syn and semi syn oil are listed as a minimum requirement for turbocharged engines.
Both full syn and semi syn oil are recommended, and mineral oil is listed as a minimum requirement, for normally aspirated engines.
Full syn oil is recommended and semi syn oil is a minimum requirement for diesel engines.
Mineral oil is not recommended for either turbocharged or diesel engines.
’03 9-3SS Owner’s Manual:
Required grade: GM-LL-A-025
Recommended brands: Saab or Mobil (Mobil 1 is not specified)
Available viscosity: SAE 0W-30
GM-LL-A-025 rated oil is required in order to meet the 18,000 mile or 2 year drain interval.
No recommendation or requirement for any other ratings, only a generalized listing of API and ACEA grades.
’03 Saab Oil Technical Service Bulletin, “Revised Recommended Oil Grades”:
Required grade, 9-3SS: GM-LL-A-025
Required type, 9-3SS: Fully synthetic
Available viscosities, 9-3SS: SAE 0W-40 (Mobil 1) and 0W-30 (Saab OE)
Drain intervals for the 9-3SS are fixed at every 30,000 miles. In between the fixed intervals, the Oil Life Monitor will determine a variable drain interval from 8,000 miles to 15,000 miles, or once every two years at the longest. The OLM assumes oil condition based on known detrimental factors, just the same as it assumes full syn oil meeting GM-LL-A-025 is being used.
Required grade, 9-3CV/9-5: ACEA A3 and API SJ or higher
Required type, 9-3CV/9-5: Semi synthetic
9-3CV/9-5 viscosity is not identified, but inference of 5W-30 is made due to a notation stating only Saab semi syn is approved for No-Charge maintenance.
Drain intervals for the 9-3CV/9-5 remain at 10,000 miles under normal driving conditions.
The Dealer Network:
Available viscosities, types and grades:
0W-30 full syn GM-LL-A-025, API SL, ACEA A1/A5
5W-30 semi syn API SL, ACEA A1
Summary
Is this fun or what?? Generally, the trend is toward more stable oil. It gets confusing because the wording in all of this documentation is much less stable than the oil is!
The consistencies: any multi-grade oil with a hot viscosity of SAE 30 to SAE 40 and an ACEA A3 rating.
The trend: toward fully synthetic oil and lower cold viscosities.
The inconsistencies: the dealer oils, the new GM-LL spec, and the new 2.0L engine.
Conclusions
Go with fully synthetic, ACEA A3 rated oil and you can’t go wrong, regardless of your preferences for viscosity and drain intervals.
[WARNING: The following is rife with personal observations and opinions; continued reading may increase your blood pressure.]
I can only speculate about the dealer oils, but lowering Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) numbers works for me.
As for the new spec, I’m still trying to wrench some info out of GM about it. At this point, I’ve identified twelve oils that meet this new spec. They’re all fully synthetic, they’re all European-made, and all but one is 0W-30. Seven of them are also rated ACEA A3, two of them are ACEA A5, two of them are ACEA A1, and one of them is unidentified for any other ratings. Obviously, if they're basing the new spec on any previously established spec, it's a pretty low/outdated one.
The last thing to consider is the engine. Or, more accurately, the new oil capacity on the new engine. It now holds 50% more oil than the previous engine, going from a four liter oil capacity to a six liter oil capacity. When you combine this with a forced-selection of oils that is only fully synthetic, then the extended intervals really aren’t extended over the previous recommendations.
Conspiracy questions? Okay! Why is Mobil-made Saab OE 0W-30 and Euro Mobil 1 0W-30 GM-LL rated, but U.S. Mobil 1 0W-30 isn’t? Is there an agreement between GM and Mobil to let the dealers get some oil sales/customers established before Mobil pastes the new spec onto U.S. labels? I don’t know. And why switch from established specs to an in-house spec that isn’t published anywhere? Again, I don’t know. However, like the DexCool fiasco, I'm beginning to think the only advantage to this new spec is to earn GM more "ecological credits" when they get fees tallied up by various countries. Obviously, a claim of 18,000 mile intervals for a gasoline engine and 30,000 mile intervals for a diesel engine is weighty environmental stuff, and the direction all the car makers are headed.
Personal Opinions (You’ve been warned again!)
I LIKE long drain intervals. With the proper oil, I get MORE protection for a LONGER period of time in ALL driving conditions. This means I reduce the amount of time and money I spend, and oil/filter waste I create, by the simple act of choosing a better oil and not doing as many changes. For my in-warranty vehicle, I’d use the most robust oil I could find which satisfies the necessary requirements, and then use it for the maximum recommended drain interval. Since there’s no published documentation for the new GM-LL spec, I’d feel most comfortable using something that also meets a known spec that satisfies my comfort level. For me, that’s ACEA A3. Especially in a turbocharged engine, where you absolutely can NOT control how and when the oil’s getting trashed. But that’s just my personal opinion, and that’s the worst reason why anybody else should do the same thing. I plan on having some 0W-40 oil analysis data this summer (I decided to have an analysis done at 5,000 miles as well as at 10,000 miles), and I’ll post my results and oil filter dissection here when I have it.
Now, I'm sorry, but I've got to go get a beer ...
posted by 216.160.177...
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