01 XC-70 Transmission Replacement AGAIN

northrancher · Post by **northrancher** » 03 Oct 2014, 22:55

I'm not savvy about mechanics...I'm a mother who's had 4 Volvo wagons to car pool kids around and had no problems with the cars until the 01. Had all my cars serviced at the dealer. In one year, we spent 12,000 replacing the transmission, radiator AND turbo engine, but I loved the car. That was at 95,000 miles in 2007. That transmission lasted for 7 years and now at 184,000 miles, it needs to be replaced again. The car is in great shape otherwise. Dealer quoted us $4500 for a used transmission with 100,000 miles on it--the car is worth $4,000. They've offered me $500 as a trade-in. Do I have any recourse with Volvo? Surely they know the 01 transmission was problematic and that transmission failed twice!! What is my best course of action? I'm just heartbroken this has happened--I was hoping to get this car to 250,000 miles. We're looking at ML350's to replace the vehicle as our primary car, but I'd love to keep the Volvo in the family, if at all possible. Thanks in advance for your help.

Post by **abscate** » 04 Oct 2014, 04:34

The 2001 transmission is a problematic beast but I don't think you will get any love from Volvo replacing it. You can probably cut that bill in half at a good independent, but that's still a lot of coin for a 13 year old car that will probably need other stuff.

It's probably time to sell it for parts and move up to a P2 series. MB will eat you alive on service costs.

A nice P2 with a stick shift will make you the coolest Mom in town and on this forum ....

Incidentally, with four snows and a stick shift, winter driving in ice rain slush snow upstate NY is a breeze.

Last gasp on your present car..is it still driveable? Sometimes you can recover these things with a drain and fill regimen (do not flush!!!!!) of the trans fluid. If it still drives, post that back here and we can point you to the procedure. Don't let the dealer flush it, that will kill it for good.

Post by **JRL** » 04 Oct 2014, 06:13

01 IS a P2.
You should be able to get a BRAND NEW (factory rebuilt) transmission installed for 4K... shop around.

northrancher · Post by **northrancher** » 04 Oct 2014, 08:42

abscate wrote:
It's probably time to sell it for parts and move up to a P2 series. MB will eat you alive on service costs.

A nice P2 with a stick shift will make you the coolest Mom in town and on this forum ....

Incidentally, with four snows and a stick shift, winter driving in ice rain slush snow upstate NY is a breeze.

Last gasp on your present car..is it still driveable? Sometimes you can recover these things with a drain and fill regimen (do not flush!!!!!) of the trans fluid. If it still drives, post that back here and we can point you to the procedure. Don't let the dealer flush it, that will kill it for good.

Thanks for your reply! What is a P2 series? And, the car is not driveable. According to the dealer, it starts and can be moved around, but engine revs high, the gear slips & the computer "locks it out"?? So, it has to be towed. I'm assuming it's kaput at this point. Dealer also said the car needs an add'l $2k worth of work...news to me, since we just had it serviced there.

Dealer suggested we list it on Craig's List as a mechanics special or donate it to charity for its parts. Seems like the next step?

Post by **JRL** » 04 Oct 2014, 10:16

Probably at this point that would be your best bet
P2 platform cars are the 2001-2007 V70, the 1999 2006 S80 and the 2001-2009 S60 cars.

If you like this Volvo generation you can buy my 2007 XC70 White Adventure Series, probably the nicest for sale in the country
(See classifieds here) http://s732.photobucket.com/user/JRL119 ... NTURE%20SH

Post by **oragex** » 04 Oct 2014, 16:27

Many Volvo dealers make a lot of money on repairs. Not all dealers have the same attitude, but it's good to be aware when they suggest expensive repairs.

As for the transmission, the car has already 180k miles. Repairs will start to pile up from now on.Offering a 100k miles transmission for $4500 is an insult. Especially since the transmissions from 2001-2002 are known to not be lasting. They also offer you $500 for the car and say it needs an extra $2000 in repairs. Sad to see this attitude. You can shop around for a transmission if you want to keep the car, but it's risky (look up on Ebay, they sell for around $500).

Also, the Volvo dealer will give sometimes a refurbished transmission for 5-6 grands. For the 2001-2002 models, a refurbished transmission means a transmission exactly like your faulty one, that has been opened and some components replaced - but not all the wearing parts. I have read more that once about a customer whose refurbished transmission didn't last past one year, not to mention those with refurbished transmissions that didn't work well from day one - all those being done by the Volvo dealer.

A 2006-2007 S60 could be bought for not much and will last well past 200k miles, as most of the issues with the earlier models have been fixed. Replacing the transmission fluid every 50k miles with the specific fluid is an excellent idea, even when the Volvo dealer says it's not needed.

As a side note, the XC90 with the specific T6 engine made from about 2004-2006 had transmissions that didn't last past 70k miles. Volvo didn't cover anything. There are XC90 owners out there that had the transmission replaced three times, each at $7000 cost.

Post by **precopster** » 04 Oct 2014, 16:54

PM your VIN number to me and I'll track down the cheapest NEW transmission from a dealer. Then you can have it shipped to the repairer of your choice for install.

Some of the '01 transmissions were listed at $2, 400USD the last time I checked however it depends on your VIN.

Post by **JRL** » 04 Oct 2014, 17:43

If you know how to ask, Volvo (USA) WILL replace XC90 T6 transmissions, sometimes twice including the radiator and hoses.
(I've had 2 freebies and these were XC90s I bought to sell)!
If not everything, many times they will hand you all the parts and you pay for or do your own labor.

northrancher · Post by **northrancher** » 10 Oct 2014, 10:39

I think we may just keep the Volvo as a backup knock-around vehicle for the dogs, short errands, etc. I may regret this decision when more repair bills start to pile up, but the car is otherwise in great shape--it looks like a new vehicle. Took really good care of it.

All I have to do now is find a transmission that won't cost a lot and get it installed. The dealer couldn't tell me if the radiator is shot, too. He said it would cost me $1,000 just to remove the transmission

And, they'd have to run another test to find out if the coolant fluid leaked into the transmission causing the transmission to fail? I guess the only way to know you have a leak in the fluid is AFTER the transmission failed. Is that even possible???

Does anyone think I have a chance with Volvo Corporate agreeing to offset some of these costs? Also, do you have any recommendations for a good independent Volvo mechanic in the Denver area? Thanks in advance for all the help.

Post by **JRL** » 10 Oct 2014, 11:31

Not on your car, no
A glycol test takes 5 minutes no big deal.
A grand is about right. It's a flat rate 10-11 hour job.
In reality a good Volvo mechanic will take half that time to do it but that's what the book calls for and that's what Volvo uses!
(That's how mechanics make their money. If a flat rate job actually took them as long as the book gives for it, they won't make much money, only the dealer does)!!!