John:

Looks like the experts (Don and Duane) have trouble shot your problem. But to answer your question(s) - I'm fairly convinced that the hype surrounding synthetic oil is true - cooler and cleaner running. I've converted two of the cars under my care (wife's '90 244 and daughter's '95 Chevy) and they DO run a bit cooler, and the engines have cleaned up nicely. I haven't converted my other Volvos yet, because all of them have rear main seal leaks, and I need to address those first. But I've run the Valvoline 10W-30 synth in the tranny of the '85 for several years. The Volvo manual said that this was a suitable replacement for ATF where the temperature stays warm, as it certainly does here!

Finally, no, my wagons (I have two, an '85 and an '87) are not blue. The '85 is beige (probably the most vilified Volvo color) and the '87 is ivory (second most vilified Volvo color, probably cause it's close to beige). I read a novel recently where one of the characters was described as the "most boring man in the world" because he drove a beige Volvo station wagon. Since I have (essentially) TWO beige Volvo wagons, what does that make me? (don't answer this question!)