what kind of oil should i be putting in?

 

I have a question too...

What type of car, mileage, year and prior oil usage?

Generally if it's a turbo, then use synthetic oil 5/30 but opinions will vary, and use a Mann filter or NAPA gold.

Trans oil depends on transmission, read the owners manual for the proper grade, usually cars 98 vintage and older use Mercon/Dexron III. Newer cars with 5 speed autos use Mobil 3309 or Toyota T1V, or Volvo Dealer fluid. All the same stuff, price is expensive at Volvo Dealers though.

 

I bought my 99 S70 with 60k miles few weeks ago, no clue as to what oil went in it before it was mine. So I ended up reading the owners manual and went with Castrol Syntec 10w30. Volvo does recommend Castrol oils in their cars. The general consensus I gathered was if your temps in your area get below -5 degrees fahrenheit then go with 5w30, otherwise go with 10w30. I ran my 97 850 GLT on Castrol GTX 10w30 for around 5 years, and it was bought with 85k miles on it, never had any issues.

I do know syntec can sometimes burn a bit for the first few changes if switching from a dino oil because it cleans out junk leftover from the dino oil.