A dealership is charging $210 for transmission fluid flushing. Is this necessary, also is this a descent price? I've heard that you don't really need it,

Also as far as Oil for the 2006 S40 T5 do I need sythetic or regular oil?

The old dealer I used to go to said I needed Synthetic Oil every 7500 miles. The new one says come in every 3000 miles and puts Regular Oil...
which one is right?

Thanks so much

 

I use fully synthetic at the recommended 7500 miles. No need for the most expensive Mobil 1 though. I too would change my oil every 3000 miles if I used the regular oil. I just won't use it unless I can't afford anything else.

No help here on the trans flush though as I cannot offer any first hand knowledge.

 

If the owners manual recommends transmission fluid change, have it done, the way they recommend it.

As for the oil, I use full synthetic every 5,000. It's actually cheaper than regular oil every 3,000.

 

Thanks guys I will stick with synthetic.

I used to always use synthetic oil and do every 6-7k miles at my old dealerships.

This new place I'm going to just stuck regular oil and say to come every 3k. I asked them straight up if the synthetic is better and they said no that it's just "marketing". Well this is what the sales guy said, you don't really have access to talk to the mechanic....

Maybe I need to find a new mechanic...

 

@crayola110,

That's very bad advice you were given. There is most certainly a difference between standard and synthetic. What's "marketing" is him telling you to come back every 3,000 miles. That simply isn't needed. Use synthetic blend or full synthetic, and go every 7,500 miles. There are many articles on edmunds addressing this issue of service centers telling everybody to get their oil changed every 3,000 miles regardless of what the manual states. It's totally unnecessary.

 

I would go by the book for the Trans fluid unless you have over a 100,000 miles and never had it done as you can do damage.

As for the motor oil, it does not matter if you use synthetic or not. If you look at reputable tests they say if you are not hauling a lot of weight then the only advantage is the synthetic last longer, the friction of the two is the same. My dad put close to 400,000 miles on a 1993 Toyota Pickup and only used Wolfshead 10W30 (very cheap). The frame of the truck eventually rusted and would not pass inspection. Both oils are debatable but the important part is that you do change it to manufacturers specs.

 

There is a little confusion I see.While for most cars you are right about the 7500Miles interval for cars with turbo I would never go over 5K synthetic or not.In fact for turbo I would never go other than synthetic.
Mobil1 burns just under 3K while Castrol goes up to 5K on my car.

 

Seems to be a lot of different information here.

I guess I should probably take it to another shop.

I take mine to this huge shop here in Los Angeles, it's the biggest Volvo shop in my area called Swedish Car Clinic. It's as big if not bigger than the dealers in the area.

I have a S40 T5 turbo, and they have been giving me basic motor oil and say to return every 3K

Anyways the service guy who is supposedly an expert basically said synthetic or not is just marketing. He said I should bring in my car every 3K miles with regular oil. Is this guy just completely uninformed. They see like hundreds of cars a week and great volume.

I don't get why he wouldn't know something so basic?

 

It's not a question of "knowing" anything. He wants to take your money. A 3,000 mile oil change interval instead of 7,500 equals two and a half times as many oil changes.

The 3,000 mile oil change interval is total b-s. The minimum oil change interval on my vehicles is 10,000 miles. I go 15,000 to 20,000 miles on my Toyotas.

Now open your owner's manual, find the maintenance schedule for your car and follow Volvo's recommendation. That will be a 7,500 mile oil change interval. Any name brand dino oil of the correct grade with the proper certification(s) will take you 7,500 miles. Though a synthetic oil will give you more protection against coking which will (probably) extend the life of your turbo.

 

I run both my turbo S40's to 7500 miles with full synthetic per the Volvo owners manual.

 

Missing in this and other discussions is the cost of replacing the oil separator which is prone to clogging, particularly with short trips and conventional oil. The repair costs $500 to $900 which negates the savings on less expensive oil. There are threads on Bob Is The Oil Guy (BITOG) and elsewhere on this subject.

More and more Volvo dealers are moving towards carrying only full synthetic oil as the 2013 models require an ACEA A1/B1, A5/B5 specification.

I would use any 0W-30 at a 7,500 OCI but shorten the interval if the car has mostly short trips where the oil does not come up to temperature. See posts by CATERHAM on BITOG for more information.