2002 V70, transmission guaranteed to fail?

Faust · Post by **Faust** » 06 Jun 2022, 20:19

I was offered an extremely nice '02 V70 the other day. It seems to me I have read here that the '02 auto trans are absolutely guaranteed to fail. If so, what mileage is reasonable to expect before failure?

Post by **br0dy519** » 06 Jun 2022, 21:36

I think that is completely dependent on how early on the software was upgraded to remove the start stop feature, and also fluid service intervals; both are well documented.

Post by **abscate** » 07 Jun 2022, 03:31

The trouble rate on the 2001-2002 stop neutral transmissions was about 10%, so certainly not guaranteed to fail. I guess everything is guaranteed to fail at some point. Fora usually amplify perceptions of trends, by roughly a factor of 9.71828

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 07 Jun 2022, 10:34

Faust wrote: ↑06 Jun 2022, 20:19 I was offered an extremely nice '02 V70 the other day. It seems to me I have read here that the '02 auto trans are absolutely guaranteed to fail. If so, what mileage is reasonable to expect before failure?

I have a 2001 V70, which I bought used in 2008 and it had all service records since new. This car did indeed have transmission problems and the problems started when the car had about 30K miles on it so pretty early in its life. The symptoms were shift flares and banging into gear when shifting. The previous owners took the car to the Volvo dealer multiple times and they did the software update but that's all they did. These shift problems could have been fixed with a new valve body or linear solenoid cleaning and rebuild but I don't think the sticking linear solenoid problem was known at this time or ignored by the dealer. This is a case were the initial problem should have be fixed right away because the transmission did eventually destroy itself by 70K miles.

The start/stop "feature" may have been a contributing factor but I think the primary problem with these early transmissions were sticking linear solenoids and if not repaired quickly further more catastrophic transmission damaged occurred.
With my car the previous owners paid $4K for a dealer installed transmission at ~70K in 2008 and it lasted until 109K miles until it developed a bad pump whine (poor quality rebuild). I had the car by this time, bought it at 80K miles, so I took it back to the dealer and It was just out of warranty but the dealer did replaced the transmission for labor only and this transmission lasted ~ 100K miles until I rebuilt this 2nd dealer installed transmission (verified poor quality dealer installed rebuild).

Are there any service records with the 2002 car, it would be good to know the history of the transmission? How does if shift right now? These transmissions can last a long time if they don't develop valve body/linear solenoid problems or if they do develop a VB or solenoid problem the problem needs to be repaired quickly before further damage is done, this is critical. Transmissions just don't last long if the internal fluid pressure to the clutches isn't correct.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » 07 Jun 2022, 19:03

Don't know any history on the car, it is owned by a dealer. Has 87K miles and looks it. Other than to inspect for a label indicating a timing belt change (not there) I know little. Too bad it is red.

Post by **abscate** » 07 Jun 2022, 23:51

If it drives and shifts well, buy it. Do a drain and fill and see you in Mass on the Pike!