V70 T5 Tranny Troubles

[SuperHerman]

Brenda: Sorry to hear you are going backwards, but at least you are not spending money. It would be good to try and get the fluid level correct. Get a semi clear clean collection container, maybe an old 1 gallon washer fluid bottle (milk container), cut off the top so that you can position the opening to catch fluid from the transmission drain plug (or just leave it as is and use a wide funnel). Then fill it with a quart of water and draw a line where the water mark is at. You may want to add a 1.5 quart line just in case. Throw out the water, give the container a final rinse and dry and you are ready.

Send the BF under the car with it not running, if the car is cold that is fine (no sense in you getting dirty), have him back off the transmission drain plug enough so it dribbles or if he wants he can remove the plug and quickly replace it, then drain 1 quart. Start the car on level ground, let it warm up and recheck the transmission fluid level. Hopefully it will be correct - if not use the drained fluid to get the fluid level correct, or if still too high, repeat the process using the 1.5 quart mark. How much to take out is a guess, but by having a clean container and a set point you should not loose any fluid.

Other option is to suck fluid out the fill tube - this is way easier if you have the equipment.

After that I think you have to investigate if your filter is clogged.

[VolvoLvr]

F-i-n-a-l-l-y able to borrow a lift, etc. and find the time . . .

Had to remove a little less than 1.5 gallon to get the ATF correct level. Put it through the gears - all of them. Geartronic showed 1,2,3 and 4. Shifting was smooth - once I figured how to move the shifter just so . . . Everything sounded smooth/quiet but, unfortunately, there was no change in movement. It still wouldn't move forward or in reverse

[01_Nautic_V70]

If you're not hearing the whine, it could possibly be something besides the clogged filter. A total failure in the torque converter could cause no movement, but that's remarkably rare. It's possible to check if the pump is running by looking at line pressures. This can be done on jack stands or a lift.

The pump pressure can be checked at the ports on the outboard side of the transmission as shown:

Figure1.jpg (117.79 KiB) Viewed 1793 times

The following link walks through what pressures should be measured at the ports:
https://www.sonnax.com/tech_resources/1 ... nformation

[precopster]

For a backyard mechanic like me with no advanced pressure testing guages the pump pressire is also visible at cooling lines on the radiator. Just use the bottom hose to drain into a 2 quart milk bottle with engine running. It should fill quickly ie. no more than 40 secs of engine operation. Have some fresh green clips for the coolant line from the dealer on hand as they are mostly destroyed once removed

On the question of Geartonic vs non they are identical transmissions the only difference is software and the shifter.

Also just looking at your codes and wondering what may happen if you reseat the TCM computer....stranger things have occurred by cleaning corrosion from the TCM contacts.......worth a try only because it's mostly a free fix apart from the computer removal tool.

[01_Nautic_V70]

For a backyard mechanic like me with no advanced pressure testing guages the pump pressire is also visible at cooling lines on the radiator. Just use the bottom hose to drain into a 2 quart milk bottle with engine running. It should fill quickly ie. no more than 40 secs of engine operation. Have some fresh green clips for the coolant line from the dealer on hand as they are mostly destroyed once removed

Good point on the cooling hose check. However, if you're ordering fresh green clips, you could have a cheap test gauge in the same amount of time thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime.

Regardless, I think your timed fill method is a good first check. When my filter was clogged, it would have taken several minutes to fill a jug.

[precopster]

Isn't Amazon wonderful!!

Each of the 3 ports there has different pressures at idle and in D. We have to be pretty specific here......

BTW my T5 is going as well as ever.

[01_Nautic_V70]

Isn't Amazon wonderful!!

Each of the 3 ports there has different pressures at idle and in D. We have to be pretty specific here......

BTW my T5 is going as well as ever.

Glad to hear it! Happy to hear more 2001's are still on the road.

The document I linked to walks through the specs for pressures at each of the ports at idle and load. Regardless, the "jug test" should probably be done first as a go/no-go check.

[precopster]

Oh man it was just a hole that needed to be drilled .

The test for blockage is to blow compressed air through the upper cooling hose. If the car immediately starts moving again you need to either drill the hole or get a new transmission or try the backflush method.

Any backyarder with a good sized drill bit could have done it. I poured lots of new fluid through to get the shavings out and then some more fluid through when I tapped out the hole with threads.

Brenda if you still have the vehicle PM me for a link to the thread with lots of beaut and pretty colour pics of the underside of an engine......thinking about it almost makes me want to do it all again!!

[firstv70volvo]

It seems possible to backflush the filter through that port, though I don't know of anyone here successfully doing so.

That port, specifically the opening on the left as you are facing the valve body, does indeed go back to pump suction (through a pretty convoluted path)
Transmission with Valve Body Removed.jpg

As these casting photos show, only the left port should be used for backflush, the right port goes to the pressure regulator in the valve body.
Mid Casting.jpg

If you could actually pressurize that port with ATF, the fluid would move into the gear pump and be pushed down into the filter.
Pump Internals Annotated.jpg

The O-ringed connection below is where the pump seats on the filter itself.
IMG_1870.JPG

The good news is, the "stuff" coming through that filter falls out of the filter pickup in the area of the drain plug in the middle of this photo.
IMG_1917.JPG

What remains utterly unknown is how effective this would be. Will the fluid flush the whole screen clean and get all the gunk out? Or will it flush a square inch of the screen clean and then, because fluid seeks the path of least resistance, the bulk of the gunk remains untouched? My guess here is that high volume, low pressure is the best approach to getting the fluid to backflush that filter rather than a high pressure flush. HVLP may be a real struggle given the small port and the torturous path the fluid must pass through.

TL;DR It MAY work, but it is not known.

About 3 weeks ago my car (2001 V70 T5) started making a whining sound and it was coming from the transmission. Louder when cold and as the engine RPMs increase. Last week I got P0740 and P01618 codes and transmission service required. The transmission has about 105,000 miles on it and it is a Volvo dealership replaced transmission back in 2009. When cold it would not go into reverse or bang into reverse but would go into drive and still produced codes after being reset and driven uphill.

With these symptoms and sounds I suspected the filter was clogged so I could now could try the backflush method to see if it would clear the filter. Pulled off the valve body cover and removed the small cover for access to the pump suction port. Sprayed trans flush into the port and followed with compress air while the drain plug was out. I didn't see any crud come out, the flush was mixed with ATF and it looked clear. When I drained the fluid it was nice and red also and there were no obvious particles that could be seen. Based on what I observed I wasn't convinced the filter was clogged so I did one more thing before putting everything back together. I re-torqued all the valve body to case bolts to spec. Several tighten down some but nothing seemed too loose.
After getting everything back together I didn't expect much improvement but to my surprise the transmission whine was gone, it goes into reverse and drive fine, shifts great and no codes even going up long step grades as a stress test. I've been driving a lot for the past week and all is still well with no codes on the hill where I had codes consistently before. Still not certain what fixed the problem but if it is a clogged filter the problem will likely come back. What was unexpected is I just didn't see any particles in the fluid, the transmission has had an inline filter on it since installed and it was changed every 30K miles. I'm wondering if there was pump suction leak between the valve body and case and re-torqueing the VB bolts may have am actually sealed things ups, which would mean a long term fix. Time will tell.
I have been looking at used transmission just in case and am finding out the 2001/2002 transmissions are hard to find and expensive when you do find them. Not a lot of information about later model year transmission swaps either.

[cleven479]

I think the person that posted just above (PDXSVT) asked a very important question if a swap is done. I get that another AW55-50SN transmission with Geartonic from a 2001 or 2002 V70 T5 would fit and I spent hours this week checking for who might have one. The couple I found were quite expensive (>$1,000) and was told by ErieVovo that they're rare. For clarity, I’m wanting to follow PDXSVT's question up with can an AW55-50SN without Geartonic from a Volvo OR one that doesn’t come from a turbo work as well?

Huge, huge, HUGE amounts of gratitude for your time following this thread and supplying info and photos. I don’t think I’ve ever been on another forum in which the community is so dedicated to helping each other out. I’m simply in awe!!! Thank you <3

Brenda

The transmission doesn't need to necessarily come from a T5, or even a V70 or even a GearTronic. anything with this Volvo P/N 8636761 (ask them for a picture of this plate) will be a direct fit. These are from my 2001 V70 T5 with GearTronic. The transmission is from a 2002 S60 non-turbo.

bringing it back from the dead. I have a 2001 V70 T5 with geartronic on it and iv read every where it HAS to be a gear tronic trans or else th car will not shift right and go into limp mode. I just recently bought a t5 that needs a trans and i have to travel 5 hours to buy one.