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I have a 1998 S90 - it's the sedan version of your wagon - same engine, transmission, etc. In case your owner's manual is missing from the glovebox, here's what it says about oil and filter changes...
Every 6 months or every 5000 mi, whichever comes first:
- extended periods of idling or low speed operation
- frequent short trips less than 7 mi.
- extended periods of driving in dusty or sandy areas
- Trailer towing
- Driving in mountainous areas
Every 12 months or every 10,000mi, whichever comes first:
- Frequent trips of longer than 7 miles
- primarily highway driving.
A recent Volvo service bulletin for new cars recommends 7500 mile change interval for conventional (non-synthetic) oils and 10,000 for synthetic, and that includes their turbocharged engines which present a more challenging environment for oil.
You can see a 3000 mile change interval is not mentioned. The people recommending it are the ones trying to get you into their shop to sell you oil - and probably other "repairs". The people who designed and built your car disagree, and their motivation is to make you happy with the car.
In the 8 years I have owned my S90, I change the oil (synthetic Mobil-1) every 9k to 11k miles with mostly highway driving, and I always use top quality filters (Mann, the supplier to Volvo). At 278,000km (173k mi.) the engine is smooth, quiet, and gets very good fuel economy, for such a large, boxy, and rather heavy car.
It would be ideal if every time we started our engines we could operate them for 10 miles or more, but this is not realistic for 90% of us. And this is contemplated by Volvo in their oil change recommendations. What you CAN do is give the engine a decent workout on the highway every few weeks or so.
One VERY important and critical maintenance requirement for these cars is to replace the engine's timing belt every 70k miles. You should be on your third belt by now, and it should be relatively fresh, and if you are not positive about that, consider having this done, as it will fatally damage the engine if it fails.
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Bob: Son's XC70, my 83 244DL, 89 745 (V8) and XC60. Also '77 MGB and some old motorcycles
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