Use L gear - get upshift & check eng lights

[Sommerfeldt]

Hmm... that seems counterintuitive to me, given what you've said before. In a kickdown, you kick the gear down, raising rpms to pick up as much power as possible, right? Basically, you redline the engine, and that's OK, but using the transmission to raise rpms (far below kickdown levels) and use the engine for braking in 3 and L is bad? I see some holes in your logic, misha.

- S

[misha]

You have normal kickdown for one gear downshift and a switch beyond normal kickdown for downshifting as much gears as possible.
Auto transmission have more stress when you braking with it than accelerating with it because the car accelerates as much as transmission allows it to.....the way it's programmed to.
When you move shifter manually you are FORCING the transmission to do something it won't do on it's own because it's not disigned to and not programmed to.
That's why there is a TCU for auto transmission.
When you hit a kickdown it does exactly what it is programmed to do and in the limits in which it is designed to work.There is no forcing to do something which it will not do.

We can do this all thay long if you want to be sarcastic....i'm just presenting the FACTS.

[precopster]

I agree with Misha on extra wear and tear especially in the lower gears. Downshifting to 3rd or 4th at 40mph is hardly producing much deceleration (and resulting friction)

The 5 speeds are better at this because we can choose ANY gear which is appropriate to roadspeed.

I'll take the extra wear and tear on the transmission to avoid speeding fines and loss of license (we can accrue up to 12 demerit points here in a 2 year period) which are ridiculously expensive also.

I hope the OP is still around. Did he/she get frightened away?

[Sommerfeldt]

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, misha, I'm just trying to get to some facts.

- Fact: The auto trannys were designed to operate the way I use them. I quoted you the owner's manual from Volvo.
- Fact: I haven't seen you produce (that goes for you too, precopster) any evidence that using the auto tranny the way it was designed to be used (according to Volvo) produces the excess wear you're talking about.
- Fact: Downshifting to 3 at ~45-50 mph will hold that speed beautifully in slight downgrades. It's not about decelerating. Volvo confirms this, and it's recommended in the owner's manual.
- Fact: Downshifting to L at ~20 mph will NOT bring engine anywhere near redline. I.e. far less stress than a kickdown.

Also, there's no such thing as a "normal" kickdown, misha. Either the tranny is downshifting, or you're forcing a kickdown.

You keep saying that this is forcing the tranny to do something it's not designed to do. I think a look through the owner's manual is in order - as I've already said, Volvo specifically recommends this use.

- S

[misha]

Sommerfeldt...you have a switch behind a gas pedal for 2nd kickdown which provide downshifting to lower gear as possible.
"Normal"kickdown is achieved when you nail the pedal to the floor BUT NOT activating the kickdown switch which is behind gas pedal.This way transmission downshifts ONLY one gear lower.
The switch is there to provide a fast shortcut to sport mode when trans is in eco mode.When you select sport mode....hiting a 2nd kickdown doesn't make a difference since transmission is allready IN sport mode.

So....there are 2 levels of kickdown. Get it?

[Sommerfeldt]

So you're saying that every downshift is a kickdown, and that the switch is for an "abnormal" kickdown? I've never heard of anyone using the word and/or function "kickdown" like that, and it's the first I hear of "levels of kickdown". There's dowshifting, and there's kickdown.

You trigger a kickdown, with a kickdown, since that's the name for the device which triggers the likewise named function (that's not sarcasm - that's from the dictionary). Using that word as you describe, with "levels", is just illogical.

- S

[misha]

Call it what you like,that's the way it is.
Btw...precopster has rebuilt and dismantled more auto transmissions than most of us had ever seen in our life.
If you don't want to accept the facts from me,you should accept the facts from him.
But.....you know everything and you know the best.

It will come the time,eventually,when you will understand what we were talking about.

[Sommerfeldt]

Well... I have a gnawing feeling that Volvo has built, rebuilt and dismantled more transmissions than even precopster has seen in his life. Oh, and also, they wrote the book on these things - literally. So I'll basically go with what the people who actually designed and made the transmission says it was made to do, and use it like they say it's supposed to be used. I've never had a singly transmission issue on my 850s (one a T5-R) or the S70 (also a T5, like my current 850), and I've always driven them by the book.

I'm not saying I know everything, or always the best, but seeing as the owner's manual, Volvo and the lack of any shred of evidence to contrary seems to support my view on this occasion, I'll take the liberty of saying that you're wrong on this one. Also, you're free to keep talking about "kickdown levels", of course... just don't be surprised if people snicker at you when you do...

- S

[tryingbe]

I have a permanent fix for any automatic transmission related problem.

[misha]

Well... I have a gnawing feeling that Volvo has built, rebuilt and dismantled more transmissions than even precopster has seen in his life. Oh, and also, they wrote the book on these things - literally. So I'll basically go with what the people who actually designed and made the transmission says it was made to do, and use it like they say it's supposed to be used. I've never had a singly transmission issue on my 850s (one a T5-R) or the S70 (also a T5, like my current 850), and I've always driven them by the book.

I'm not saying I know everything, or always the best, but seeing as the owner's manual, Volvo and the lack of any shred of evidence to contrary seems to support my view on this occasion, I'll take the liberty of saying that you're wrong on this one. Also, you're free to keep talking about "kickdown levels", of course... just don't be surprised if people snicker at you when you do...

- S

Feel free to do whatever you want with your car,it's your right.All of this were advices for prolonged life of auto transmission and keeping it from failing prematurely.
Everybody pays for their own mistakes.If you want to take advice...take it.If you won't...do not.
It's your choice.