transmission problems

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 17 Apr 2012, 22:26

I know that this subject has been chewed to death, but here is my story, problems and solutions. The reason i decided to make this post is because when i was looking for help even though people had same problems they never wrote what worked. So about a month ago i found Volvo C70 Convertible for 2500$. Did sound too good to be true, and it was , but i was hooked, this was going to be my next restoration project. So here are the problems it had. When the car is cold it would shift nice and smooth when transmission did warm up it started with shift flares, and a couple rough shifts, few more minutes of driving resulted in shift that were comparble to a semi truck doing 3 and a half the speed of sound slamming into the back of it, 10 more minutes of driving would result in transmission not down shifting from tue 3rd gear and stalling out the whole car, my solutions were as follows fluid get thinner when warm so i did AT flush at jiffy lube, made no difference, found out later that it needs mobil 3309, and i now have castrol 3309, so a bottle of lucas additive went it, made a bit of difference for a day, than back to usual, Volvo dealer said i need to replace it, took it to Transmission repair shop (not aamco) they scanned - no codes. Again i was told a complete rebuild was needed. found out about software upgrade and B4 Servo cover, decided to do both same time, took it to a shop Volvo Only shop, good people. Mechanic drove my little volvo came back, checked computer, and told me that software installed was the latest they had and B4 Servo cover was also an updated version. I went ahead and replaced the servo cover anyway and on the way home something strange has happened, it still slammed into gears, but it did it exactly when it needed to be done. So when i got home i looked under the hood and top torque mount was a little torn, decided to replace that as i have no money for a new transmission, well here is the kicker, when i took it out it simply fell apart and even thought it looked OK when on engine - it wasnt. Put a new one in today, and OH MY GOD! My car shifts smooth! That got me very interested , drove it to the point when it used to slam, and it was fine, poped the hood and that mount get VERY hot, so rubber gets soft ..... That is the connection!!!, drove it nonestop for an hour in traffic, saw a shift flare that is still there, and a harder than should gear change, that is more like a ford fiesta at 3mph instead of a truck at 3 times the speed of sound. I guess lower torque mount will get rid of that. As for shift flares, im gonna go get some mobil 3309 and see how that affects the flare, will update this post as repair go on. Hopefully this will save somebody the headache. And some money.

Northern Chev · Post by **Northern Chev** » 18 Apr 2012, 08:35

This thread interests me. We're all keenly aware of the transmission firmness that comes along with many Volvo models and how they are more often than not diagnosed as bad transmissions.

Very interesting information you've shown here. I'm eager to hear what becomes of your "flaring" issue. In the long-run though the trans may still be bad. Keeps us updated.

SHAKAMAMBUTU89 · Post by **SHAKAMAMBUTU89** » 18 Apr 2012, 09:00

Yeah the same thing used to happen in my old volvo 850 glt. Whenever I would go from 1st to 2nd, and 2nd to 3rd it would feel like my car is about to break down. I did a transmission flush and that really didn't have much affect on the car despite the transmission oil being black. My brother told me I probably had to change the upper ttorque mount but before I did that I sold that car. For anyone having this problem they should go straight for the mount rather than anything else.

Good luck!

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 18 Apr 2012, 14:55

UPDATE:

Fluid level was a little to high an hour of Bolt On Bolt off and about a Quart of fluid is now out of the car .... looks a lot dirtier than i expected after 500 miles. Probably means that flush was not as good as i expected and that Lucas Stop Slip broke down a lot of gunk. AT Flush coming up right after lower torque mount.

5 minute test drive - gear changes when the leaver is moved are a lot faster , about 0.5 of a second from Park to Drive, that i think is normal - especially as the fluid in transmission is still a little to high. and gear-changes themselves are a lot more willing and quick

P.S. I'm sorry for a first post being a bit hard to read but i was using my phone to post it. And looks like i posted in the wrong section, oh well, it will do regardless. A bit more on the car it is a 2001 Volvo C70, with 125k miles, and a 5 speed auto! And against my better judgement i bought it even though i knew about AT failure rates

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 18 Apr 2012, 23:59

after a longer drive can say that the flares are very minimal about 200 revs or so. havent felt any hard shifts at all today, there was one downshif that i could hear, but that was solely because all of my attention was focused on the behavior of the transmission.

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 19 Apr 2012, 15:23

UPDATE: Found out last night that the Castrol that is in my AT is not be used with any Volvo 5 speed auto, says so right on the bottle, going to go to service station and try to get my money back, Volvo dealer in the area has special on AT flush, so made appointment for a few days from now - Hope it helps with shift flares, the shifts were smooth the whole day. and i am almost happy. One lower torque mount and AT Flush coming right up

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 24 Apr 2012, 13:15

UPDATE: ---- New fluid went in - all is well,lower torque mount is still responsible for a bit of harshness, but seems to shift well, smooth, quick, the car is a lot more responsive than before - HAPPY!!!!!

Hope this helps someone )

yevgeniy · Post by **yevgeniy** » 27 Apr 2012, 14:37

New Lower torque mount is now on the car, Shifts perfect, drives perfect - - - - - As you can see - no need for rebuild, or replacement. If i could fix my transmission, with all it's problems - i'm sure people can fix theirs.

Good Luck to all.

dbeckwith · Post by **dbeckwith** » 28 Apr 2012, 05:33

yevgeniy wrote:UPDATE: ---- New fluid went in - all is well,lower torque mount is still responsible for a bit of harshness, but seems to shift well, smooth, quick, the car is a lot more responsive than before - HAPPY!!!!!

Hope this helps someone )

yevgeniy,

What kind of fluid did you ultimately end up using?

Thanks

Post by **precopster** » 28 Apr 2012, 08:58

Adaptations? You don't mention that they were done or otherwise after the B4 servo cover replacement. Could be the trans has adapted and most of the results are because of this. Our upper torque mount is/was torn and still not replaced.

In our 2000 V70 na it took a 100 mile drive of mountainous hard manual shifting to clear the cobwebs and this readapted the TCM(after the car had already done 1,500 miles with no improvement) It now shifts perfectly. As with your case dealer had quoted $4,500 to replace. The TCM was updated at the dealer as a first measure with no success but this only got rid of the false neutral.