2004 XC90 Introduction

[Bloose]

Hello all!

I am new to the forum and new to Volvos in general. The other day I bought my first ever Volvo. It is a 2004 XC90 T6. Actually, it's technically not "mine," my wife and I bought it for our college age son.

He was involved in a roll over accident with my 2003 Golf TDI and came out of it without a scratch. Because of this he decided he no longer wanted to drive the 1983 Mustang Convertible we bought him for graduation. I told him if we buy him another car it had better be something safe, which lead us to Volvo.

I've always admired Volvos but never owned one. I've usually owned domestics with the exception of the VW and a BMW years ago.

I made a deal to purchase the XC90 before I found this forum and therefore was unaware of the transmission issues. I did find the forum before actually paying for the car though. I decided that a deal is a deal and the car is in very nice condition so I went ahead with the purchase anyway.

The good news is I am more than a little handy. I'm not a professional mechanic or anything but I do all my own service work. I own 11 vehicles so I'm always working on something. I've successfully rebuilt two transmissions now (and several engines.) I rebuilt a Ford AOD that I retro fitted into my 1968 Fairlane and also a 44RE Chrysler transmission that I put into my Jeep Cherokee that I swapped in a V8 from a Dodge Dakota.

On both transmission rebuilds there were common upgrades to address factory shortcomings. This was especially true with the AOD. I had to put in a hardened input shaft, replace cast drums with steel, increase the number of clutches and steels in each drum, run a Kevlar OD band, upgrade the OD servo, put on a newer style sprag roller clutch, and put in a shift kit amount others. The 44RE included a few similar upgrades but not nearly as many.

The point of the above is that nearly every transmission made can benefit from upgrades to address factory short comings. It seems to me that the 4T65E that comes in this Volvo XC90 T6 would be a perfect candidate. I have seen a lot of discussion about transmission failures but I have not been able to find much in the way of what the actual internal failure is and how to address it, either before or after the failure. If and when the transmission fails, I guess more when than if, I would like to be prepared with a plan, not only to replace or rebuild the transmission, but also address any weaknesses that can be addressed. It seems that putting a rebuilt transmission into the car with the same shortcomings is a recipe for frustration and failure.

I'm also wondering if there are any precautions that can be taken or upgrades made while the transmission is still working well to extend its life. Of course I know that regular fluid changes are a good start but I also wonder if a shift kit and any other pan off but trans still in the car upgrades could be made to at least extend the life of the transmission. Superior makes a shift kit and I wonder if it would work in the Volvo version of the transmission and if it could do any good.

I'm actually a bit surprised that so many people have so many problems with these early transmissions yet there seems to be little discussion on addressing them other than putting in a rebuilt transmission. Maybe there has been tons of discussion and I just haven't found it.

Hopefully this car will end up being reliable for my son and maybe with some luck even the transmission won't be an issue. I'd be happy to take any advise I can get from people with actual experience with them though.

Sorry my first post was so long!

Thanks,
B-loose