Several transmission threads lately- what are your thoughts?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 23 May 2018, 22:08

So, I've been a firm believer in my other volvos of a maintenance schedule of auto transmission drain and fills. I know Volvo says it's a closed system and not to touch it but that's wrong (in my opinion). What are other owners of the P1's opinions in regards to this?

Post by **mrbrian200** » 24 May 2018, 01:14

MadeInJapan wrote: ↑23 May 2018, 22:08 I know Volvo says it's a closed system and not to touch it...

They're full of it. "lifetime fluid" is friction transmission fiction.

Post by **abscate** » 24 May 2018, 04:23

It’s a lifetime fluid If you accept 7 years and 150000 miles as a car lifetime.

Most of us here consider that a good start.

Post by **mrbrian200** » 24 May 2018, 22:10

150k seems high to me. Drain and fills should probably be on a regular schedule from the moment these cars dropped out of the powertrain warranty. I don't know what that schedule might be (to keep the fluid properties and trans happy). I suspect once per year or every 15,000 miles is probably a bare minimum for vehicles that are not experiencing specific issues with the trans.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 25 May 2018, 04:38

I'm glad we're all on the same page. With my other Volvo's I started doing full fluid exchange (2 quarts out, 2 quarts in) from 80K miles and then every 50K miles. I do like the idea of a simple drain and fill though once a year.

mechanic · Post by **mechanic** » 02 Oct 2022, 12:20

as far as a drain and refill: here's my experience- on a AW30/40 transmission I drained & flushed the transmission fluid on a '98 V90, which was a milky brown color at the time; I don't believe the transmission had been serviced at all before this. The drive-train had about 258k miles on it.
BUT I did not drop the pan & change the filter.
About a month later the transmission stopped shifting. No Drive, no reverse. difficult to shift into park. I would VERY slowly move forward in 1st gear.
Ended up I had the trans rebuilt, & on these units, they incorporate an electronic solenoid to shift gears, which is unavailable except from China. Fortunately the solenoid I was able to get did work but it took some time to get it here (NorCal).
The first gear was cooked also, just from wear. The gears, after miles of movement, drop minute metal filings into the fluid & these eventually wear on the total unit.
So if you drain the fluid & or flush the system, drop the pan and change the filter also. Use a good gasket and a good gasket sealer on the refit.
Let it sit for 24 hrs. b4 refill of fluid.(NAPA has a very good flexible rubber gasket and 3M is a good sealer)
Should last for 30/40/50k miles if not driven under (very) heavy loads
Good luck.

Post by **Roger_850T** » 02 Oct 2022, 18:28

At this point I change it regularly in all my Volvos. I've had shift issues that I may not have had if I was more aggressive about changing it; at this point I just do it regularly. None of them have accessible filters, so nothing to do there. These days I'm tending to do a drain-fill-drain-fill every ~35000 miles, or ~3 years.

Roger