I just flushed the transmission fluid in Mary's 2004 V70 2.5T with Valvoline MaxLife ATF ((their pn VV 324 ) from NAPA at $4.79 per quart). It works fine. It shifts just like it did before the change.

The fluid was very dark coming out of the hose at first and it took 10 quarts before it started to look noticeably lighter. At 14 qts it was almost as good as what was going in. 16 would have been better, but I only had 14. It is much better than when I started.

The fluid comes out of the upper corner of the radiator and a 3/4" O.D. hose is a little too small. A few wraps of electrical tape made it a better fit.

Greg

I recently flushed mine on an 04 V70 non-turbo, after doing much reading on the fluid the general consensus is that the fluid for these transmissions must meet the JWS 3309 spec and to my knowledge the Valvoline fluid does not. There are tons of threads/arguments on this on Volvospeed, Matthews Volvo site, turbobricks, etc. I'm not sure on when the fluid requirement changed on the V70, but I want to say it is post-01 cars.

The 3309 spec fluid is available from Volvo, which of course is priced ridiculously, Mobil 1 makes a JWS 3309 fluid which would most likely have to be ordered and it is around $8-9 bucks a qt, and Toyota makes a fluid for their Lexus line called T-IV that meets the proper spec, its available from the dealer for around $5 bucks a qt. I don't know what the Valvoline will do to your transmission, maybe nothing, but you can get the proper spec fluid from Toyota in the same price range. Just some food for thought...

I called Valvoline and talked to a 'fluid technical specialist' and asked him specifically if the MAxLife fluid was guarenteed to meet the JWS3309 spec and he said 'Yes. It is a direct replacement. They do a lot of testing and recommend it for the Aisin transmissions.' On the back of the bottle it says that it is recommended for transmissions that take the T-IV spec fluid.

Valvoline MaxLife is available locally. Toyota fliud has to come from a dealer which is not nearby (shoot, the local Dodge garage just closed here). In any case, if it starts to shift funny I'll change it to something else, probably Toyota fluid.

Greg

Hi: I recently purchased an 04 XC70, and in attempting to get a quart of tranny oil at the Coeur d'Alene
Parker Toyota dealer, the parts staff was baffled and was unaware of compatibility with the Volvo. I brought the operator's manual in and showed the numbers, but they could not cross reference them on their computer. Then I saw the compatibility list on the Valvoline oil they they brought out as a possibility. All numbers matched except the Volvo Manual tagged a dash 8 (-8) on the end of the part number and it was not on the Valvoline number. This was enough to scare me away.

From reading on the Brickboard today, I see that their Type IV fits the bill. They had said that had just two varieties for Toyota, Type IV and I think UF (or was it UT?) for "Universal Fluid" or World Fluid or something like that. I'll pick up a quart of IV today.

The original message was posted in 2009. It is soon to be 2016 and after several fluid changes and I suspect 100,000 miles with the Valvoline, the transmission is working fine ( I'm touching wood...). I would say that the Valvoline fluid is compatible.

Greg

From the Valvoline website

Can MaxLife ATF be used in Volvos with a Geartronic Transmission?

Valvoline MaxLife ATF is suitable for use in Volvo transmissions that require the use of TIV or JWS3309 ATF.

I have been using Maxlife for many years, it has been fine.

04 V70 214,000 Miles
99 V70 300,000 Miles
00 V70 169,000 Miles

Complete fluid change is the way to go. DSon't let the fluid get that dark again. It can cause the seals to become hard and that's not a good senario.