another problem detected in my s80

goramunda · Post by **goramunda** » 27 Apr 2012, 15:45

well as i have wrote in my previous post that i was confused about whats the transmission model etc...

i would like to share this info in order to seek volvo guru's advise and help.

my s80's mileage is 136000 km ( near about 60-70000 miles). i was driving the car and suddenly transmission stopped working. neither R or D. so i towed the car and parked near my home. the message in the dash was transmission service failure. than i left the country for 3 years for my study and now i came back to my home country .

i want to fix the car, i plugged the new battery and tried to start it , but it wasnt than after several tries it started. i turned it off and now i saw the engine oil , its like chocolate milk shake. is it a radiator or cylinder head needs to be re faced and should install new head gasket.

please note that i also noticed leakage in radiator while pouring water. a guy told me that the oil is perfect due to it was parked so long and started after long time so it might be dirt. ( i guess its transmission oil coolant oil mixed in water and goes in engine and causing dirty oil) secondly there is an oil smell also in the place where we pour water.

guys need your urgent advises i ll be realy grateful to you. and so sorry about that long story which i wrote.

Post by **jimmy57** » 27 Apr 2012, 17:17

You need to check and see if engine oil is low or if transmission oil level is low.
The radiator has a cooler for trans fluid that can leak and let radiator and transmission fluids to exchange places.
The engine uses an oil cooler that is mounted to rear of oil pan and has coolant hoses going to it to allow the heat from oil to passed to coolant for oil cooling. It usually lets oil into coolant but it is rare for coolant to get into engine oil from this failing.

goramunda · Post by **goramunda** » 27 Apr 2012, 17:59

ok, i have checked the engine oil its good , i mean full as it should be. but cant find place to check transmission oil. any guidence , secondly as i have mentioned , car was parked for 3 years almost without starting and when car was stopped there was not any issue of engine over heating, now there is radiator leaking also + transmission problem.

is it possible that due to transmission oil coolant was not good it damaged the transmission and thats why the oil is like milk chocolate?

but when i checked the oil before i start it after 3 years the oil was good and was not lyk milk chocolate and i started the engine for almost a minute and turned off and in the morning when i checked the oil it was like milk chocolate.

i will check the transmission oil and will post it . and if you have any advise after seeing this post kindly advise.

thanks jimmy

Post by **jimmy57** » 27 Apr 2012, 19:31

The transmission dipstick is down low in front of transmission. Lower radiator hose is usually over it and has to be moved to the side to see the yellow dipstick.
The chocolate milk liquid is inside engine or inside the coolant tank where coolant/water is added to cooling system?
Antifreeze/water mix getting into transmission will make it stop working. My suspicion is that the coolant problem is what stopped your transmission from working 3 years ago but the other thrings weren't noticed then.

goramunda · Post by **goramunda** » 27 Apr 2012, 20:16

the chocolate milkshakiee oil is inside the engine , i mean when i check the engine oil dipstick

i will check now the transmission oil and will post it too for better troubleshooting.

secondly, due to leak in a radiator there is no water/ coolant therfore i cant see if its in coolant tank also. but i can smell oil in water/coolant tank. but not sure which oil smell is thay

mysterious thing is that , oil was normal before starting and after starting of a minute the oil became like tht. (ofcourse it took long to start the engine due to starting after looooong time, but i started it for a minute or less.)

goramunda · Post by **goramunda** » 28 Apr 2012, 06:22

the oil in the transmission is OK and at its max level. the color is RED Wine color.

Post by **jimmy57** » 28 Apr 2012, 10:13

OK. This is not good.
You have a transmission problem since it quit going into gear. AND you have some issue allowing coolant to go into oil.
The coolant was likely sitting in oil pan and wasn't mixed until you cranked over the engine and it ran.
The oil cooler on the back of oil pan is usually going to be oil leaking into coolant but not the other way of coolant into oil.
The fact it sat for 3 years might make a difference and the oil cooler could have done this. There is an aluminum pipe that runs across under intake manifold that carries crankcase vapors and it has coolant pipe next to it to heat it. I have never seen this but I would think there is a chance that corrosion of the piping could result in coolant getting in.

This is not going to be an easy thing to discover and you know you have a transmission problem already.
You have engine problems that may also be costly.

If you decide to repair the car the engine must be fixed first as any diagnosis on the transmission has to be with an engine that runs.
The oil cooler on back of engine is the first place to go. Remove it by removing the heater hoses and then the 4 torx 40 screws holding it to the oil pan. a small amount of oil will run out of cooler.
The cooler can be tested by blocking one coolant hose port and applying air pressure to the other. Fill the other side where engine oil flows with solvent or water and apply the air to coolant port and see if air bubbles out.
If no air bubbles out then install cooler and connect coolant hoses as the cooler is not the problem.
The next step is removal of intake manifold and then the heated crankcase vent line to check it for leaks.

The cylinder head gasket could be the problem but I can't imagine a cylinder head gasket that fails while car is stored.
You had no problems with having to add coolant, no low coolant warning, before you parked the car for the three years?

goramunda · Post by **goramunda** » 29 Apr 2012, 07:52

no, there was not any problem of water leaking or a msg at dash!but yes now there is a msg at dash saying low coolant. i will check the oil cooler, my frnd a mechanic told me it might be a problem of oil cooler otherwise head gasket.

yup you are rite, have to fix engine problem first in order to diagnose transmission problem.

will post shortly after checking the oil cooler.

Post by **chrism** » 03 May 2012, 20:52

A compression check on all cylinders may be a good move at this point.