My approach on the Aisin aw55-51sn...long

[deano1]

Hey guys and gals
I don't really post much and tend to be a a lurker just reading all I can on a subject til i feel ready to tackle the job I've been researching.
In the past I've been very timid about buying cars with automatic transmissions because of their complexity to repair and instead choosing manual just simply because i enjoy driving the stick and for the fierce reliability they tend to provide
But recently when I stumbled across a 2004 c70 that was a smokin deal because the seller knew or thought the tranny was on it's way out. I decided to wade into the auto trans swamp and so i made the purchase.
So this car had all the symptoms, as it seemed to shift fine when cold but the shifts quickly became violent once everything warmed up. So violent in fact 3 of the 4 engine and tranny mounts were destroyed.
After reading many posts about how these poor transmissions get neglected because of confusion in the Volvo maintenance schedule I figured dirty fluid was the prime culprit.
Again after doing a lot of reading on this forum and a few other forums,, chance of reviving this tranny with a simple flush was clearly going to be a long shot and at best.
What I was thinking was if these shifts have become so violent what chance would the fluid have to clean out all the gunk from the sticking components and decided that I'd have to drop the sub frame to gain access to the tranny pan and valve body.

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solinoid1.jpg (1.26 MiB) Viewed 6096 times

Once the pan was removed three culprits were now in plain site,,, the 3 linear solenoids, and once the electrical connection is removed surprisingly easy to remove these solenoids. 2 bolts and small brackets and they just slide out.
I had considered ordering the rebuild kits or buying the replacement solenoids you see on ebay but i had not felt confident to take these apart and reassemble.
I mean you only have one chance or else you have to drop the sub frame relive the whole ordeal again and again.
I had a ace up my sleeve http://transmissiontechnology.ca/
These guys were only minutes up the road from my house so i decided to pop in and chat them up.
I had dealt with this place before when my future wife's 2004 Nissan Maxima had transmission problems and they sorted it out quickly but that time we took her car into their shop and the replaced the entire valve body for $1000bux. we felt it was a good deal considering every other tranny shop was quoting more than double for their version of a fix.
Jay was the contact at transmission technology and after a brief discussion with him he assured me that Carlos would not only rebuild and set them up to factory specs he would also modify them so the solenoids were able to self clean,,,basically just drill holes in the back cover. All this for about the same cost of a rebuild kit from Ebay.
What really convinced me was the fact they have a dyno for calibrating them back to factory specs. I asked Jay about resetting the tranny computer but he said "No it wasn't necessary". He said it was possible for a couple hard shifts while the tranny relearns itself. More good news eh!
Once the solenoids were back in the car I did the flush with Castrol TransMax multi vehicle by putting a hose on the cooler return line and flushing 2 quarts in and 2 quarts out til the color came back to a clearish red color instead of the solid mud brown color that came out of the drain. I will mention this though upon initial start up the orange arrow on the dash wash flashing and engine light was glowing.. continued to flash until I erased code with my Autel.

I was finally ready for a test drive and I will say it was uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary happened the tranny performed as it should with nothing weird to report after a couple hundred kms. It's been flawless.

So Thanks to all the guys on here that have went before and laid it out and made it easier for the rest of us.

Cheers guys!

[johnschnupp]

Thanks for the information. I just purchased a used 2005 V70 162,000mi a few weeks ago. I posted earlier but got no replies. Maybe it is such a worn out topic or maybe it's because I'm new here. I'm a competent wrench. My profession is semiconductor manufacturing equipment maintenance/field service engineer. I do all my own work on my Harley and tractor. But, when it comes to my car it is easier and quicker to have it serviced. My symptoms have been what you are describing, especially the problems when fully warmed up and 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. If I am super easy on acceleration from a stop I can get thru the low gear shifts ok (it is still obvious but not violent). If I do not pay attention to my acceleration it can be violent and I've had it throw an CEL P0811 code (clutch slip). I have also discovered that it won't shift as violently in the "W" mode, which makes sense, as that mode is a winter mode to help limit wheel slippage and it feels to be limiting the power/torque applied when in that mode.

My big problem is that I just simply don't have the equipment to dive into a lot of the work described (in this and many other posts) of lowering the sub-frame and tearing into the transmission. It's also winter in Vermont and doing this in my driveway is simply not an option. I spent a lot of time reading posts in the forum and by far the majority recommend draining and refilling the tranny. Most all of the posts recommended a drain an fill only v. a full flush on high mileage vehicles with unknown maintenance history. I was able to confirm with the local Volvo dealer that this vehicle has never had the fluid changed. I have a case of 3309 and an appointment at my local garage scheduled later this week.

I've been warned by one person that doing the drain/fill was going to destroy the tranny. His theory was that the old fluid is holding everything together and that fresh fluid is going to be "slipperier" and cause problems. In a weird way there seems to be some logic but I have not read one post here on MVS that would indicate the doing a drain/fill on the tranny made the problem worse. In fact, most posts indicate that the drain/fill does indeed offer improvement.

The biggest thing I am looking for is confirmation that a fluid drain/refill won't kill the transmission.

Thanks.
John Schnupp, N3CNL
1995 Sportster XLH 1200 +106,000
2004 Subaru Impreza RS +216,000 RIP
2005 Volvo V70 +162,000
Georgia, VT

[jonesg]

Starting in W seems smoother because it starts in 2. So there is no shift from 1 to 2.

There's disagreement about power flush v's incremental change. You decide.
I think any fluid is better than no fluid.

In Vermont you need a garage, it's not easy to keep up with a volvo in 5 months of mild weather.
I'm in northern maine, a garage was at the top of my list when we were house hunting.
Still, it's a scramble to get things squared away before winter hits.

[abscate]

Thanks for the information. I just purchased a used 2005 V70 162,000mi a few weeks ago. I posted earlier but got no replies. Maybe it is such a worn out topic or maybe it's because I'm new here. I'm a competent wrench. My profession is semiconductor manufacturing equipment maintenance/field service engineer. I do all my own work on my Harley and tractor. But, when it comes to my car it is easier and quicker to have it serviced. My symptoms have been what you are describing, especially the problems when fully warmed up and 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. If I am super easy on acceleration from a stop I can get thru the low gear shifts ok (it is still obvious but not violent). If I do not pay attention to my acceleration it can be violent and I've had it throw an CEL P0811 code (clutch slip). I have also discovered that it won't shift as violently in the "W" mode, which makes sense, as that mode is a winter mode to help limit wheel slippage and it feels to be limiting the power/torque applied when in that mode.

My big problem is that I just simply don't have the equipment to dive into a lot of the work described (in this and many other posts) of lowering the sub-frame and tearing into the transmission. It's also winter in Vermont and doing this in my driveway is simply not an option. I spent a lot of time reading posts in the forum and by far the majority recommend draining and refilling the tranny. Most all of the posts recommended a drain an fill only v. a full flush on high mileage vehicles with unknown maintenance history. I was able to confirm with the local Volvo dealer that this vehicle has never had the fluid changed. I have a case of 3309 and an appointment at my local garage scheduled later this week.

I've been warned by one person that doing the drain/fill was going to destroy the tranny. His theory was that the old fluid is holding everything together and that fresh fluid is going to be "slipperier" and cause problems. In a weird way there seems to be some logic but I have not read one post here on MVS that would indicate the doing a drain/fill on the tranny made the problem worse. In fact, most posts indicate that the drain/fill does indeed offer improvement.

The biggest thing I am looking for is confirmation that a fluid drain/refill won't kill the transmission.

Thanks.
John Schnupp, N3CNL
1995 Sportster XLH 1200 +106,000
2004 Subaru Impreza RS +216,000 RIP
2005 Volvo V70 +162,000
Georgia, VT

John...I. Don't think anyone here has killed an old transmission with a drain and fill. Where we do recommend careful thought is power flushing, where pressure is applied to the trans ports.

If you get the right size piece of vinyl hose, you can do the Successive 3 liter drain , 3 liter add over 3 weekends in the driveway even in a cold Vermont winter. You dont even go under the car. The top oil cooler line on the radiator line comes off, you idle and pump 3 liters into a recycle container, and replace 3 liters with the skinny funnel.

Repeat next weekend, repeat next weekend.

We don't get the deep cold you do one hour west of Vermont, but I haven't managed to get my car in the garage for years.

[precopster]

Old fluid is the number one killer of transmissions.

Drain from below and fill from dipstick or use cooling hose drain in addition to the first fluid drop. Either way it's best to use synthetic fluid in older transmissions that have more problems; just my 2c worth and others may disagree but this has been my experience.

To the first poster with 2004 C70 great to have a recommended specialist that can do solenoid repairs. That year Maxima may well share the same trans so it's no wonder they do such a good job twice in a row. Please post up their details, address and phone number ; nobody will sue you for sharing their credentials.

[deano1]

Hey John
I'm really no expert on these transmissions but I would strongly suggest the fluid drain and incremental flush. You really have nothing to loose at this point do you? That problem you've described will only get worse over time until those solenoids completely lock up.
I went ahead and put a trans filter in that cooler return line as to offer a little more protection and cleaning.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0014B ... UTF8&psc=1
Again many others are doing this so I'm really just following their lead.

Transmission Technology link: http://transmissiontechnology.ca/

[johnschnupp]

Thanks guys. You have all confirmed that I'm headed down the correct path. I'm having my local shop do a drain and fill. No power flush. Even they told me that they did not recommend using a power flush machine. They have one but told me their experience was that it cause more issues than it solved so now it sits in a corner of their shop for the most part unused.

Had not thought about an inline transmission filter. No time to get that ordered now but I was planning on driving thru a tank of gas (350-400 miles) and then doing the drain/fill again. I figured if I did this a total of 3-4 times most of the old fluid should fairly diluted.

Yes, being in the northern climes certainly does bring it's challenges. No major snow yet but it is right around the corner. I do have a garage but the car is the primary transportation and I can't afford to have it down for a week or more at a time, thus it usually goes to the local shop where they do good work. My work schedule is a whacked out 12hr night shift and I don't get a lot of spare time to work on cars...the Harley is different, it is more a recreational vehicle (but I do ride it a lot), right now it needs work, oil pump, which I can do in a bit at a time and I don't need much room to work, only a small corner.

John Schnupp, N3CNL
1995 Sportster XLH 1200 +106,000
2004 Subaru Impreza RS +216,000 RIP
2005 Volvo V70 +162,000
Georgia, VT

[johnschnupp]

Deano,

The link for the filter seems to be just for you guys in Canada.
The same thing is available in the US but the Amazon link is different,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014BCFC0/

John Schnupp, N3CNL
1995 Sportster XLH 1200 +106,000
2004 Subaru Impreza RS +216,000 RIP
2005 Volvo V70 +162,000 (it's new to me)
Georgia, VT

[vt9000cse]

Also in Vermont. Also in the Semi-Conductor Equipment field. Also have an Aisin AW55 transmission. Also with issues with it. But on a 2003 Saab 9-3. Right now it works but is stuck in 2nd gear. Reverse works and 2nd. That's it.

[abscate]

(Off topic) PM me, you guys in the semicon field.

I work in this field and many others and do a lot of placement. Its all unpaid, as I hate recruiters and am using my afternoon career to put them where they belong, out of business.

we can connect on linked in or email off Fora.