No Communication With TCM

KaMiKaZi_t0M · Post by **KaMiKaZi_t0M** » 26 May 2013, 11:27

Hello all!
I've been looking for a good Volvo forum for a while, surprised this one eluded me. I picked up my girlfriends mom's 1999 S70 as it was having some transmission troubles. I restore older Saabs and moderate Saabcentral, a Saab forum and know how helpful communities can be!

Here's the history. My girlfriends mom has driven this car for a long time and it always ran fine. One day shes driving and says it has no power. Brings it home, and a day later it will not start. Has it towed to her local mechanic (does no European cars) and says they got it to run. Thinks it needs a transmission, put a used tranny in and it has the same problem; starting in 3rd gear and flashing up arrow.
So I tow it to work and have my mechanics start working on it. We do all Volvos, Saabs, BMW and others so I figured it would be a breeze (I'm the service manager there). So my guy pops in our Autologic utility and it does not communicate with the TCM. Speaks with the ECU fine however. I have tried rowing the shifter back and forth incase it had a bad PNP switch, no such luck still flashing UP arrow. Tech thinks I should try a new TCM, but in my research it looks like those rarely go. Here are my questions:
1. Do the TCM's go in this commonly? It has a Temic unit in it
2. If it needs a TCM, do I need to have it programmed?
3. Can you think of anything that can cause this problem that isn't the TCM? Any connector/wiring issue I should look for? Grounds that will remove power from the TCM?
Help me save this S70, it is a fine car and it deserves to be on the road!
Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help in advanced!
Tom

Post by **Matty Moo** » 26 May 2013, 11:37

1. No.
2. Yes.
3. What regular obd codes were pulled? Anything else going on with the car?

KaMiKaZi_t0M · Post by **KaMiKaZi_t0M** » 26 May 2013, 11:42

Thanks for the quick reply. There are no OBD codes or codes stored in the ECU. Our autologic utility is currently in a lawsuit with Volvo for removing some of the feature on their utility. We have Vag Com on a PC, will that connect? May allow for better communication. When it really can't communicate wouldn't it throw a CEL?
Car runs great, just constant flashing up arrow and starts in 3rd gear. Again, trans was replaced with a known good unit and problem persisted.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 27 May 2013, 10:30

If the light is flashing you have trans codes at the minimum, you just have to get them out.

Vag-com really won't do anything on a 99. You're going to have to get something to read them.

KaMiKaZi_t0M · Post by **KaMiKaZi_t0M** » 27 May 2013, 13:07

Hmm, what a shame what has happened to Autologic. It was a PHENOMENAL Volvo tool. Anyways, so the "no communication with TCM" is either:
1. Because the TCM is no good, this is not probable.
2. The tool cannot read the TCM codes.
Also Matt, I am going to give my parts manager your contact info. We do a TON of ABS modules and have them rebuild by BBA if I remember...

Post by **precopster** » 28 May 2013, 01:50

The Autel EU-702 is the scanner of (cost effective) choice. It has pre-loaded set of Euro car files in it and can be converted to Japanese or domestic cars by file download. But it's purpose is only to read and clear codes.

I can't see why your Autologic can't be used to simply read codes from the TCM. Is it totally non-Volvo compatible since the licensing issue?

I deal with a garage here in Oz that can no longer use their Autologic to initialise new ETMs in Volvos (throttle modules) due to the same (legal) issue.

Another garage scanner that can do this is the Autoland Scientech Vedis II which has pre-loaded files and doesn't connect directly for sw download. Not certain if it will reload TCM sw which may be what you require in this case.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 28 May 2013, 21:06

KaMiKaZi_t0M wrote:Hmm, what a shame what has happened to Autologic. It was a PHENOMENAL Volvo tool. Anyways, so the "no communication with TCM" is either:
1. Because the TCM is no good, this is not probable.
2. The tool cannot read the TCM codes.
Also Matt, I am going to give my parts manager your contact info. We do a TON of ABS modules and have them rebuild by BBA if I remember...

Get the Autel. I'm telling you it's the best $150 scan tool in the world. It isn't without it's quirks, but once you figure them out you'll love it.

If you guys want modules done, let me know. Shops pay less than others especially when we do several at a time.

KaMiKaZi_t0M · Post by **KaMiKaZi_t0M** » 31 May 2013, 06:25

Thanks for the information guys. So far, because I got a Gear Position Switch cheap, I put one in. Not only did it not fix the problem, it put the ABS light on!
Is this another piece of the puzzle? Or have I improperly installed the switch and angered the ABS system?
The reason why I did this was we used our "PC Retriever" to read the TCM codes. In the active setting, I could check the shifter location. That being said, P and R came up, but the other locations came up as "ER", which I attest to error.
Hopefully a bit more diag will help...

Post by **precopster** » 31 May 2013, 16:55

Do the gear positions now show correctly?

Post by **EstVolvo** » 01 Jun 2013, 15:06

Check your ABS module.