My Transmission Has Died - 2000 5-speed Topic is solved

Post by **rolsen11** » 13 Apr 2026, 18:27

So much for that trip I was planning to take. I will do my best here to describe what happened.

Driving home from work today, I had the cruise control set to 70mph, no issues. Suddenly, the cruise control disabled itself and slowed down fairly quickly. Strange. I resumed it and it worked for a little while and disabled itself again. Very strange. I turned the cruise control off and back on again while driving through a speed zone. After accelerating back up to highway speeds I activated the cruise control. A few seconds later, BANG. Cruise control turns off and the car slows down quickly, orange arrow is flashing. I immediately pulled over as the the car violently downshifted. I put my hazards on and put the car in park. As I did so the transmission banged again going over reverse.

Thankfully I had my nice scanner with me. Pictures from that are below. Importantly, the engine runs perfectly fine. I put the car into drive and drove down the shoulder. The car is able to move under its own power, but the entire rest of the drive home, the car does not upshift or downshift. It's stuck in one gear. It seems to be stuck in either 3rd or 4th gear. If it helps the car sat at ~2k RPM at ~40-45 MPH. I haven't tried to manually shift the transmission out of Drive and into 4th, 3rd, or Low in fear of further damaging the transmission so I don't quite know what would happen there. When I got home, I shifted the transmission from Park to Drive a few times. Every time I put it in Reverse, it violently shifted. It has NEVER done that before. It would only hard shift into Drive previously.

Folks, I really need your help. Not just on solving the issue but on what steps I need to take. Do I need to replace the transmission? If yes, do I buy a junkyard unit or pay for a full rebuild? If no, what do I fix? Who is gonna do this work (keep in mind, I live in northern Minnesota. Volvos are not common here and there are little to no European shops anywhere near me)? Can a 2001 P2 5-speed mate with my car? because there are a handful of those available in my general area for less than 500 dollars. Maybe I can try replacing it myself but I don't have the tools, space or knowhow to take that on. Besides, this is my only car. I can't have it down for a long time if I can help it. Thankfully I have family to give me rides if needed but I don't want to strain them too long.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to VIDA so I can't do a deep dive on specific Volvo codes and diagnostics. Also, I made some posts earlier regarding a rich condition and I noticed that in that new P1651 freeze frame, the fuel trims look pretty rich again though there is no new code for a rich condition. Is there a correlation here in some way?

Post by **rolsen11** » 13 Apr 2026, 18:36

...Could it be the PNP switch?

(Adding the codes in text here just to make this thread easier to find when searching trouble codes)
P1618 - Fault In Lead Between AW 50-52 And Motronic 4.3 (MIL Requested)
P1651 - Maximum Torque Exceeded Fuel Cut-Off Triggered
P0705 - Transmission Range Sensor Circuit (PRNDL Input)

Post by **volvolugnut** » 13 Apr 2026, 18:47

We need some background information to start.
What is the mileage on the car and do you know of any service (like fluid changes) done to the transmission?
Have you checked the transmission fluid level? What is fluid color and smell? Do you know how to check fluid level?
Can you read any codes with a reader? Are the codes in your second post the codes you found?
Is any fluid leaking?
volvolugnut

Post by **rolsen11** » 13 Apr 2026, 19:13

volvolugnut wrote: 13 Apr 2026, 18:47 We need some background information to start.
What is the mileage on the car and do you know of any service (like fluid changes) done to the transmission?
Have you checked the transmission fluid level? What is fluid color and smell? Do you know how to check fluid level?
Can you read any codes with a reader? Are the codes in your second post the codes you found?
Is any fluid leaking?
volvolugnut

186,254

Transmission fluid was changed ~25k miles ago using cooler line method

Forgot to mention this: I checked it, level looked fine, maybe a little bit low but not concerningly so. Color was mostly brown. Not sure if that's normal or not after 25k miles with some old fluid mixing with the new. I didn't smell it yet

Yes, the codes pictured and listed are the codes I found right after pulling over. I only listed them in the second post to make them searchable in the forum

No leaks found

Post by **abscate** » 14 Apr 2026, 03:50

The 2000 5 speed might be a unicorn transmission, I’m not sure it is the same one used in the p2 series starting in 2001

1999 p80 used a4 speed trans of course.

I would get Vida or a high end scanner and look at the solenoid currents. Your symptoms sound more like a solenoid problem. One bad solenoid and the trans will get stuck in one hear, usually.

Need someone to confirm the AW55-50 trans fits 2000-2007 cars?

Post by **rolsen11** » 14 Apr 2026, 05:50

Looking into getting VIDA DICE today. Would greatly help me solve the problem and determine next steps.

Post by **rolsen11** » 14 Apr 2026, 06:38

Pulled the dip stick again this morning and smelled the fluid. It does not smell burnt, which is good news. Right now I'm inclined to agree with abscate that it's probably a solenoid failure. I know they're a weak point of these transmissions.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 14 Apr 2026, 07:53

I have had trouble with my 2001 V70 5 speed automatic.
See this thread for long term report viewtopic.php?p=649256&hilit=p1618#p649256
When my transmission would have hard shifts, P1618 would be set. After drain and fill process and clearing the P1618. The shifts were better and the code did not for many miles.
However, I never had single gear lock issue, so you may have other problems like Abscate says.
volvolugnut

rrres · Post by **rrres** » 14 Apr 2026, 10:05

rolsen11 wrote: 13 Apr 2026, 18:36 ...Could it be the PNP switch?

(The following just to make this post easier to find when searching trouble codes)
P1618 - Fault In Lead Between AW 50-52 And Motronic 4.3 (MIL Requested)
P1651 - Maximum Torque Exceeded Fuel Cut-Off Triggered
P0705 - Transmission Range Sensor Circuit (PRNDL Input)

I'd start with it since there is a code for it and pretty easy to deal with.

Post by **rolsen11** » 14 Apr 2026, 15:54

VIDA + DICE is on order!

I discussed this situation with a coworker today and he brought up a point that I thought was interesting. He thinks that the car being in only one gear is a limp mode/protection mode. I thought there is a lot of validity to this since the cars driveability was fine in that one gear going home, no shakes, shudders or abnormal noise.

I found out that GMs variant of this transmission has exactly this type of mode. So I now strongly believe that's why the transmission is behaving this way, though my transmission certainly is not in 5th gear. Now to find out what caused the fault.

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