2001 V70 tranny problems

[jalex19100]

Emil, you still driving this thing?

FYI, I have a 2001 V70 2.4t (174k mi) and I am in the same boat. I bought it last year (155k mi) and the transmission didn't exhibit any issues on the almost-20-minute test drive. On the way home after purchasing, a 30 to 40 min. drive, it just went nuts...hard upshift flaring, hard downshifts into 2nd, etc. (and the oil light came on too *bang my head*)

Over the past year, I've done a few things specific to the transmission, mostly a few months ago:
- drained and filled a couple of times with Toyota T-IV + lubeguard
- put some transtune in between those two drain and fills
- flushed it with IPD's flush kit with about 12 qts of T-IV and added some lubeguard
- replaced the B4 servo cover (mine fell apart when removed as mentioned above)
- cut my return line from the radiator and put a magnefine filter in where it was cut
- had the local Volvo Doctor check my software revisions and all was good.
- reset adaptations (can't remember if I did it a while back, but did it yesterday just to be safe)

I monitored the servos from VIDA while driving yesterday, and it seemed healthy...a larger amperage is read when it shifts, and then the open servos maintain a 780mA or so current while open. I occasionally feel like it repeatedly shifts softly back and forth between 3rd and 4th around 35mph, but I saw no servo changes. My fluid temperature ran a little hotter than the coolant temp by a few celsius but neither went over 100C (according to VIDA), usually 97C and 93C.

My symptoms take a while to appear, and usually only in 20 min. or more of stop and go traffic at low speeds. My mostly highway trip to work doesn't trigger the symptoms at all. Long trips, it's pretty rare until hitting traffic.

We'll see if it adapts, but I fear I am going to have to become good friends with the local Volvo Doctor to determine how much I should fix or I could end up replacing more than I need to.

Funny, I favor Moog as well. For the Volvo, I'd stick with OEM or Volvo brand replacements. IPD, FCP Euro are the two I've shopped from, but the other ones shown on this site are probably good, too. My dealer has been awesome at giving me a Volvo Club discount too (15-20% brings it close to FCP prices).

Just get pads from IPD, FCP or Volvo brand...any OEM replacement should be decent.

I get my alignment done at a great local shop and it's a pretty standard thing...no special pain for them.

You may want to replace the timing belt, water pump, but unless you are near 200k like me, I would just inspect it well and leave it, especially with the transmission issues.

I don't think the skid plate/belly pan is crucial, but I think it helps control airflow in the engine compartment and protect stuff from salt and debris. When I got mine, a couple of the holes for mounting mine were stripped and the back driver side hole was broken off of the skid plate (I use zip ties).

My transmission is perfect until it gets to full temp, as well. From what I've read, the transmission lock-up behaviour, and other things, change once it reaches full temp. If I manually shift from L - 3 - D, and back down, I actually don't feel like I see the hard shifting, so it's perplexing. I'm tempted to see what it would take to make my temp sensors read 10C cooler than reality just to trick the TCM.

Feel free to ping me sometime if you keep the car and maybe we can share info.

-Jason

[precopster]

I have similar symptoms on my 2000 NA 5 speed and like yours is happy until warm. I've done everything you have done minus the Magnafine and while it's a100% improvement in drivability compared to previous performance when purchased it's still annoying me with occasional 3rd to 2nd bangs in traffic. There's a seller on eBay selling the Rostra solenoids for these AW55-50s as well as a inexpensive kit which is also claimed to solve our symptoms. Search for AW55-50 on eBay and you'll see the seller's ads.

These Christmas holidays I may give both kits a try and report back.
Sent using Tapatalk 2

[jalex19100]

Looks like they are $250, which seems reasonable. At that price, I'd consider sending the valvebody to Valve Body Builders in Canada for a little more $. The problem with just replacing the solenoids is that it doesn't fix any wear in the valve body. And for my car, I think they even have a redesigned valve body at Volvo to exchange for, which solves the delay in going from P to D.

If you get the valve body rebuilt, the factory tolerances are restored. I believe they'll machine the solenoid holes and put in upgraded/larger solenoids if those holes are worn.

On the other hand, according to Mark here on the Volvo Forums, it fixes the issue.

VERY tempting.

[precopster]

Sure at around $500 you'll get a rebuilt valve body, though I doubt you'll get Rostra solenoids which are redesigned (perhaps specify these upon order for a little extra? )

The redesigned valve body at Volvo costs around $1,200 and is good value.

If we're going to split hairs, though there is a bushing in the trans case that also wears and the valve body doesn't include this, of course.

[jalex19100]

You are probably right about the rebuilt valve bodies.

Great local shop says ~$3500+ to replace my transmission with a new one. But then they said $3000 for the part, 10 hours labor, which would really be $4000. And if they use Volvo trans. fluid, another $100+.

Local Volvo dealer (Volvo club price) is $1125 for the valve body and $3150 for the transmission, $150 volvo fluid, etc.

Flipping through Sonnax docs, seems like it's 90% a valve body issue. Lots of explanations around heat and solenoid behaviour - http://www.sonnax.com/publications/tran ... -solenoids.

Looks like VW Beetles have had similar issues: http://newbeetle.org/forums/transmissio ... nty-2.html

[jalex19100]

I put in a Hayden 677 trans cooler this past weekend. I was going to put it before the magnefine filter, between the radiator and the transmission (the upper/return line), but when I looked at the radiator, it appears that it's leaking and all gunked up around the transmission-affected area (lower 1/3).

So, I changed my mind, sliced off the end of the other $100+ trans cooler hose and now have the transmission cooling hoses leaving the transmission, entering the hayden cooler, then through a magnefine in-line filter, then back into the transmission. I drain & filled it with Toyota T-IV and a little LubeGuard, replaced the magnefine filter and put it all back together.

Even after a lot of city driving, the cooler is still cool enough to touch. It does get hot, though. I haven't had any issues since.

I didn't bother making a box or mount, but mounted it on the lower driver-side part of the radiator, partially exposed through the holes in the lower bumper. I ran the zip-tie-like-posts through the A/C cooler, cut them so they didn't go any further (like through the radiator), slide the discs the posts lock to up between the radiator and A/C cooler and that seems fine. I don't like that it could potentially affect the A/C cooler stuff, but I just didn't see any good places to attach a frame or mount and I don't have a garage.

I could upload a picture, if anyone was interested, but it's a pretty bare bones job...nothing fancy. I wasn't sure it was going to work and I am still waiting for the ECM to switch the engine light with a code that means P155 (piss) "trans fluid never gets really hot anymore and that just bothers me. We'll see how long it lasts.

[precopster]

Does Vida report lower temps now while driving? And how's the shifting behaviour with the new cooler?

[jalex19100]

It's only been two or three days, and I reset adaptation a week or two ago; time will tell. But so far, it's good enough that I don't even think about it now. I haven't had time to hook up vida and watch it while driving. Maybe I'll take a picture and look at it with Vida this weekend when I take a look at some other things.

My remaining issue is that I still get an occasional rough idle, almost like the MAF or PCV system needs cleaned. When I looked at it with VIDA a couple of weeks ago, the accelerator signal was 0% (via the ECM), but 8% from the accelerator, and that caused the cruise control to not come on and it did not want to idle. I remove/replaced the fuses for the ETM and ECM and it's mostly disappeared, but I still wonder what the cause was. Gremlins...

[precopster]

I had O2 codes, ETM codes and others (from transmission) every week. I used to drive around with my scanner next to me until I replaced the alternator about 2 months ago. So far not a peep.

Don't know if it's from the adaptations but gearbox and ETM are not to seay to reset with a battery pull.

I suspect the regulator was leaking AC volts into the system. Replaced it for $45

[jalex19100]

Ambient temperature is about 17C, so not the best day to test the transmission oil temperatures. My drive to work is about 20 minutes, 17 mi, 13 mi of that is highway. I took a longer route to pick up a few more city miles, with more than half of the time driving at speeds lower than 40 and several stops.

The highest temp reached, toward the end was about 73C (165 degrees F).

The engine oil temp was around 82C on the highway (I have a 80C thermostat, which was an earlier attempt to lower the trans temp), but reached 106C before the fan must have kicked on because it then dropped down to 100C.

I can still feel it shift, but there is no delay or clunk in any gears. I drove a couple of hours on Sat. with no issues, but I didn't have VIDA hooked up at the time to monitor it.

Replacing the radiator would probably have helped some, in my case, because I think it was leaking. There is a good amount of build up (oily gunk) on the lower driver side part of the radiator, blocking maybe 10% of the fins from cooling as designed.

I might build a frame to house the cooler and take it off of the A/C cooler, because I don't want speedbumps to push on the part of the A/C cooler that circulates fluid. Right now, I just have the zip-tie-like mounting pins holding the trans cooler on.