Avoid XC90 T6 – Transmission Issues
Model years 2003-2005 were made with automatic transmissions that fail early and often.
The parts guys at my Volvo dealership told me recently that it’s the XC90 T6’s that are the ones to avoid at all costs. They said it’s a GM designed/partially assembled transmission on these XC90’s that was a pile of junk from the drawing board. They said there aren’t anywhere near the number of transmission problems with the T5’s or the V8 model XC90s.
Here’s the XC90 T6 Transmission thread for more on that. Please post to that if you’ve had a XC90 T6 transmission failure.
Volvo Repair Details
31 Oct 2008Posted in Transmission, Driveshaft, Bevel Gear Volvo XC90
Tags: GM transmission, transmission failure, XC90
Related Posts
Your Comments
This Volvo blog post comment area is not the place to get help for your Volvo.
If you need help, please go to the Volvo Forums and ask your question there.
If you're offering your advice regarding this Volvo repair, please leave that advice here by entering it in the form below.
Well I am just another casualty of the XC90’s transmission path of distruction and heartbreak. I purchase my 2003 XC90 on December 7, 2008 and just yesterday February 2, 2009, on my way to work, the transmission decides to stop working. My car is a T6 unfortunately and what kills me the most is that I haven’t even had my car 2 whole months. A hard lesson learned.. I am heartbroken! I know that when you buy a used car(which this one was although it only had 62,500 miles when I bought it 12/2008) you know that there could be problems coming your way more so than a new car. I was ready for that, but not less than 2 months after I bought the car. Please, is there any good news or hope that the transmission has been corrected?
I have a Volvo XC70 and my wife complained about some grabbing with the transmission. Sure enough, the service guy said it was pretty much shot. The good thing is even though it is a 2005 that went into service in 2003 and I literally went over 50K miles this weekend and am out of warranty, Volvo paid for $3900 of the $4400 it was going to cost. I asked why the generosity and the service manager at the Volvo/Audi dealer said Volvo knows about the problem and are helpful in repairing it. Spending $500 beats trading up for a new one of an XC90 which i was going to do (which I am not sure about now knowing about these problems).
Hello
I own a 2005 Volvo xc90, i would just like to warn you all about the problems that comes with a volvo.( I know we have had three and the only 1 that worked properly was the 1996 v70). The car was great until +-60 050 km when I was towing my Jet-ski at 125 km/h and i put my foot flat to overtake a truck. It was like i was in neutral. I put my foot flat and nothing happened the car just revved. Then a message appears,”transmission service Urgent.” I was 200 km from the nearest town. What to do I had my whole family with me + my parents. Got a tow truck Took it to the Garage the next day and they told me it would take 6 weeks for a new gearbox. Still under warranty did not have to pay anything, +-65 000 power-steering fluid leak. Car went in 3 times that month. +-72 563 km prop-shaft disconnected/broke. 3 weeks for a new one +-80 000 gearbox again my wife in the middle of Johannesburg. another 4 weeks. 90 000 side shaft comes out of place 2 weeks in garage. I found out Volvo had fitted the wrong part to my xc 90. So much for Quality Inspection!!! If I had been going fast I would have had a serious accident. 95 690 Power steering leak AGAIN!! At 100 000 km bought an extended warranty R45 000 . But that gave me an extra 40 000 km of warranty. At 107 689 power-steering leak Again. We were on a 4 000 km trip so it turned out to be very expensive. Last week we just did 111 156 km when my wife went to pick up the kids from school. As she drove out of the parking lot the power steering pipe burst spraying the fluid everywhere. We have now had it with volvo they have terrible customer service, even Volvo SA is useless. We have had lots of other minor problems with the car but these are the main if anyone is thinking of buying an XC DON’T, you would be better of with a trolley on wheels. We are very very disappointed with volvo and will never buy another one again. If you have a volvo xc 90 sell it before the warrenty expires or it will cost you an arm and a leg for the repairs. We have now had Nearly R 150 000 Rands worth of stuff replaced. Anyone else had major problems let me know.
Hmmm – 125km/h towing and you put it on the floor. For us Americans that doing about 75 and putting the accelerator on the floor with a very heavy vehicle, towing something. I agree these transmission’s have issues but I’m also tired of reading the over glorified stories of how my transmission blew up. Maybe I’ll feel different when mine blows up but I’m going to do something about it.
Agree with Big Dog. Anyone that drives that fast speed hauling a trailer tells me all I need to know about the validity of the rest of the claims. It is both unsafe and abusive to the vehicle and tranmission. I have the V8 and never had any issues with it. But then again I drive at safe speeds for towing. Including over mountain passes.
You guys are idiots…any well built vehicle could handle towing a jet ski with a 40lb tongue wait at 75mph. I’ve had crappy Vw with 90hp Tdi that can handle that work…
Yes the T6 is a horrible, horrible vehicle due to transmission issues but the T5 and V8 can handle such conditions.
FYI he was talking about his lightweight V70…read again…
Had the same problem with ours at about 70,000 miles, well out of warranty but the local dealer covered it. Be sure and ask as it can save a lot of money.
Apparently this transmission is quite reliable in smaller GM vehicles but when Volvo chose to use it in a very heavy vehicle like the XC90, it fails prematurely.