98 V70 non-turbo automatic trans fluid change

[98v70dad]

Since you are still working on this one ....

I just drive this car to and from work, although daily that adds up to over 70 miles. Years ago I would have just bought something that claimed compatibility and put it in. However, when I substituted valvoline aft (claimed to be compatible and approved) for genuine hyundai and the shifting situation changed from super smooth to very crisp and abrupt I learned that adequate and optimal aren't the same thing. I'm being a little more careful this time.

So the Valvoline was crappy (or incompatible) in this case?

With Supertech you're not trying out a new transmission fluid, it is used by many long time members across many forums (but not Lee), the experiment has already been done and repeated many times over many years. And your car is an NA with only 124,000 miles so you don't really even need to worry about previous abuse (yes, even though the fluid may never have been changed - pretty much all my Volvos started that way at ≥100k). With regular changes you are basically guaranteed to have zero fluid-related problems for another 100k, maybe more.

If that 70 miles per day includes a lot of highway miles, that is a super easy day for the transmission. Much less wear on the transmission that 30 city miles per day.

Granted I would think more carefully about a turbo vehicle that sees spirited driving but for me this one is automatic: buy the cheap stuff that is easy to get and move on. I either buy gallons from Walmart or more recently cases of quarts from Sam's Club (this house brand is not marked Supertech, it is $2 per bottle), they are both cheap, reliable and plentiful.

Thanks for your input. I respect your opinion as you have given me some good advice for my car on many many questions. The valvoline ATF wasn't a bad choice for the Hyundai it just changed the shifting from soft to crisp....no big deal, just different. My point was you cant just jump around with ATF and expect that it won't make any difference.

It is hard for me to be enthusiatic about the generic stuff. I agree if you are willing to change it fairly frequently its not an issue. However, I do not want to change it frequently. I don't use generic motor oil for the same reason. I would like to do the drain and fill two more times in the future at most. This car has to last me another 2 to 5 years until I can afford another one. If I can get it to 225K miles I'll be well satisfied. I have three cars and I do all the maintenance on all three. I try to keep the projects to a minimum if I can help it.

[erikv11]

Sure, and you can't go wrong when erring on the side of caution, I can see that. You sure you want to go to long (over 30k) intervals though?

OK I'm slowly going down the rabbit hole now about lubricants and synthetics and blah blah blah, I will back off!

In response to your (a) and (b) I don't have much:

(a) I am certain I have used the Dex VI before, picked some up when it as all they had at wally world. I remember looking carefully at the backwards compatibility. Put it into a car running Dex III, to be honest I don't know which car and by now it is has probably been switched back to mostly Dex III, but no ill effects. That may not help you because this was the Supertech that you have fairly stated you distrust anyway, but for the record no ill effects from running VI.

(b) Haven't used a high mileage ATF. Except in the power steering pump a couple times.

[98v70dad]

Sure, and you can't go wrong when erring on the side of caution, I can see that. You sure you want to go to long (over 30k) intervals though?

OK I'm slowly going down the rabbit hole now about lubricants and synthetics and blah blah blah, I will back off!

In response to your (a) and (b) I don't have much:

(a) I am certain I have used the Dex VI before, picked some up when it as all they had at wally world. I remember looking carefully at the backwards compatibility. Put it into a car running Dex III, to be honest I don't know which car and by now it is has probably been switched back to mostly Dex III, but no ill effects. That may not help you because this was the Supertech that you have fairly stated you distrust anyway, but for the record no ill effects from running VI.

(b) Haven't used a high mileage ATF. Except in the power steering pump a couple times.

I don't distrust the supertech its just that I think it will require more frequent changes and I'd rather do something else. I believe that supertech works for you and it might work for me if I was willing to change it every 30 to 50K miles. I just don't want to do that. I looked closely at the bottle of valvoline dex/merc and it said "for cars whose owners manuals specify dexron-III and mercon". That is exactly what the 98 V-70 manual says so I bought it. I figure clean fluid is better than the nasty stuff in there now and if it doesn't work out I can change it. FYI, I almost bought the super tech for the same reason.

I really do appreciate your comments over the past few years. You and the others who have replied to my posts have saved me thousands of dollars. Last night I started dreaming of a BMW 5 series sport wagon coming off lease at an auto broker. Cars like that in Atlanta are like brand new cars
with less than 100 k miles and they can be had for less than $20,000. If I can nurse the volvo along for several years I can do it. Sorry to all the volvo purists. The volvo was an exceptional deal and I've been happy with it but its old and tired and a bit of a dog in the performance area.

[98v70dad]

The valvoline stuff they had at walmart was called dex/merc and it claimed to meet Dex-III and ALL subsequent...sort of like a universal. I'm leery of it for that reason. If they had a Dex-IV that said it also met Dex-III I wouldn't have any hesitation to use it.

That is a pretty bold statement. I hasten back to investor conference calls where the perfunctory warnings were made that things might be "forward looking" and should not be construed as a guarantee of future success. I'm a bit surprised that the label made it through the legal department at either Valvoline or Walmart.

...Lee

I ended up using the dex/merc by valvoline. I mis-stated the info on the bottle. Sorry folks. The info sheet for the product that you can download on valvoline's website makes it pretty clear that it's appropriate for a car that needs a dex-iii or mercon atf. I've drained and replaced 3.5 quarts so far with about 25 miles of driving...no problems.