Early P2 2.5T Transmission issues vs later MY

[firstv70volvo]

As stated, the 2 main issues were Volvo told owners the trans were 'sealed for life' so no need to change the trans fluid. Now they recommend every 50k miles. The 2nd issue was the auto-neutral as vtl mentioned above. The auto-neutral had a software update to remove it to stop issues with it. Now whether owners ever had it done I don't know.

Neil.

You also have to include the sticking linear solenoids issue. Sonnax and many other transmission companies wrote a lot about the problem and specialized in diagnosing, testing and rebuilding the solenoids. Many companies sold kits to rebuild the solenoids, sold new and improved solenoid bushings and sold complete sets of rebuilt or new linear solenoids. I don't know what percentage of transmissions had this problem but it was significant.
Once the fluid pressure going the clutch packs is incorrect due to the sticking linear solenoids the slippage prematurely wears the friction plates, overheats the fluid and the hard bang shifts pounds the hardware.

[scot850]

Great information! Thanks for sharing. Volvo had a B4? modification kit to overcome a early 5 speed auto trans issue. Fortunately, my V70R with the first year of the trans for some reason did not need it. One has to wonder though how much of the issues was due to lack of servicing of the trans and dirty contaminated trans fluid?

Neil.

[abscate]

In other discussions of this here I think we settled on a 2001 failure rate of about 10%.

Looking at a used car, to paraphrase legend Jim here (RIP) , if it’s a 2001 , test drive it amd make sure it shifts perfect.

[firstv70volvo]

In other discussions of this here I think we settled on a 2001 failure rate of about 10%.

Looking at a used car, to paraphrase legend Jim here (RIP) , if it’s a 2001 , test drive it amd make sure it shifts perfect.

"test drive it and make sure it shifts perfect"

This is great advice and make sure it shifts perfectly when cold and when hot.


Found some photos of the sticking solenoid with my 2001. I read some time ago they traced the problem to a coating they put on the bushings (I think PTFE coating). The coating would swell and cause the plunger shaft to bind. Ironically, I suspect they added the coating to make sure the shaft moved freely.

Under the copper (bronze?) washer on the shaft is one of the two shaft bushings.

IMG_0300.JPG (41.01 KiB) Viewed 165 times

I scraped away some of the coating just to confirm there was a coating on the bushing.

Linear solenoid bushing close-up.jpg (33.38 KiB) Viewed 165 times