I recently purchased a beautiful 92 240 wagon with 130k miles on it. I went ahead and changed the oil over to Mobil 1 synthetic thinking it was low enough miles to not matter. Wrong after the first week it started to leak bad through the oil pan gasket and I believe the front seal. I am not sure what to do now convert back or try to work with leaks aka fix them. Is it really worth the cost to fix to continue to use the better oil? I have had several Volvos and the all leaked after the conversion but this car really has some major leaks which it did not have before. I have check the flame trap and it was clean as with entire engine compartment, the previous owner was a professor and always had the car serviced. thanks in advance

 

i've used mobil 1 and other synthetics on all my cars for years and years, and they don't leak unless something is wrong, like blown seals from plugged flame traps. or you put way too much oil in, or something.

its a total old wives tail that synthetic oil causes leaks.

 

Yeah, I've heard of that but never seen it. I have gone to full syn in several Volvos w/out any subsequent leakages. But people will always believe what they want to believe.
Using synthetic oil is good but in the non turbo Volvos I'd say it's perfectly acceptable to use dyno oil, if it makes you feel better. The B230 motor is sturdy and not particularly picky when it comes to oil--may be with full syn you'll go 1,000,000 miles, 800,000 with regular oil... And please share the results, like if the oil leaks go away.