So my wife and I just bought our first car together. It's a used 2000 Volvo S70, and I'm taking the maintenance on it a bit more gung-ho than on my last car. I really want to get as much out of this car as I can, because I know that Volvo's will run until the end of time if you maintain them properly.

So much first question is: What's the best oil to use in a 2000 S70 with over 75,000 miles on it? I was talking to a mechanic friend of mine who says to use a Synthetic Blend, and not a full Synthetic oil or Conventional. He had never owned a Volvo or really worked on them either, but mainly owns and works on Honda's and Toyota's. So I pose this question to the Volvo community.

Any and all advice will be welcome!

Steven Arterburn

 

This is some disputes about full Synthetic oil on a high milage car.
I have use Castrol GTX 10w-30 on my 745t for the past 10+ years on here and she is still strong after 253,213miles.
also have a BMW 540i which gets full synthetic Mobil1 5w-30 and it has 160,000miles and is running great.
I say use full synthetic when you can. "The more you give to your more...the longer and better it runs."

 

15w-40 or 15w-30 synthetic blended it ran so much better in my s70 than 10w-30. But mine has 220k on the engine

 

You don't say if you have a turbo or not.

The range of oil on this forum is all over the map. Let's keep it smart and simple though. People are suggesting grades that even are not even on the owners manual. Most on here think for some reason, thicker is better. You did not say which climate you live in either. But actual tests show that the engine gets no hotter basically whether you are driving in 100 F heat or 30 F heat.

-If you don't have a Turbo but a NA, then just use dino oil (like Castrol GTX 5/30 across all seasons) Change at 3K intervals

-If you have a Turbo then use a popular synthetic like Castrol Syntec, Valvoline Synpower, or Pennzoil Plat all available in 5/30 at Walmart for $20 for 5 quarts, (pick up two 5 qt. jugs) since your engine takes 6 quarts to fill. Get a pack of filters online at FCP Groton for cheap. Run it 5 K.

 

I believe Volvo used 5/30 non-synthetic oil when I took it to their dealership. I have 98' S70 T5 with 97000 miles.

 

I completely agree with Fred. Non-turbo use conventional 5W or 10W-30 and change at 3K intervals. Turbos should use a good synthetic 5W-30 and change at 5K intervals. Back in '06 I purchased my third S70 T5 with 91K miles on the clock. Some of the conventional wisdom on this and other boards is that you shouldn't shift to synthetic oil on a higher mileage car that has used dino oil all its life because you'll end up with rear mail seal problems. I switched this 98 to full synthetic and changed the oil after 1500 miles the first time and then again 2000 miles later before settling into a 5K oil change schedule. Synthetic oils have better sludge prevention additives than typical conventional oils so if you switch to a synthetic it will do a great job in solubilizing and cleaning out sludge left by conventional motor oils. Because of this it's a good idea to short cycle oil changes like this if you change over a higher mileage car to synthetic. This car now has 110K miles and so far no rear mail seal issues (knock on virtual wood!!!)

 

I sure wish you were around the Michigan area. Your knowledge of S70T5's would be of great use to me.

I have mine with 152 K on the clock. It's been a constant mission for the last three months to bring this car back to life. It's in pretty good shape right now. No leaks of any kind. Idles steady at 900. Starts right up. Used Turbo I put it spools good. Transmission is smooth. No check engine lights. That was after a lot of work on my part to replace a whole lot of components thanks to this forum. Next is the left wheel bearing hub for this weekend. Hopefully the grinding noise when slightly turning the wheel to the right will disappear.

Prior owner just let the thing go. If I had known then what I known now, I would have saved myself a lot of cash.

 

I live in Kansas City, MO. So midwest climate - fairly cold winters and fairly hot summers. It's not a turbo.

And I've got no information on what oil has been used in it before.