Ooops, I did it again! A 03 V70 T5 comes home.

[Botbasher]

For what you paid it's worth it in parts alone and the way the exterior looks it's worth investing some cheddar with the wrench time!!

It's like my first girlfriend.... She looked good from far, but was far from good!!! There's a couple of spots that just ain't going away till it gets repainted!!

You're absolutely right though... And that was my exact thinking... I could triple my $$ right now or sink a few more $$ and have a really nice driver.

I'm going for the latter!! I just put a set of valves into the trans and am going to relearn it later this evening. That'll tell me where I sit on the trans!

K "suspense is killing me" S

[oragex]

It's like my first girlfriend.... She looked good from far, but was far from good!!!

+1

[Botbasher]

Well the patience of Job and information from you guys here paid off!!! No use playing the Lotto now because I used up all my luck on this thing!!!

It's been raining cats and dogs here since Saturday afternoon, so I I took the time and tore into the trans since the replacement valves arrived on Friday. The hardest part of getting the trans open turned out to be getting the pan out of the car with the hose attached. The union simply refused to let go (pretty normal from what I read), so I had to twist it till it was at the right angle and the pan simply fell out!! The real PITA though was during assembly... putting in the bolt for the dipstick/cooler hose. That one bolt took me 30 min and a real big load of colorful language! But I eventually got smarter than the bolt and won! Teflon tape is my super weapon!!

Once the pan was out it was easy to work on everything. Turns out, despite having an 03, that I have an "A" stamp valve body (car is actually data plated 02)... I was hoping but no joy!! So the "B" VB I got won't drop in... Wiring is too short.. so plan B. I took the valves I could off the B and rebuilt the ones I couldn't. Turns out that "rebuilding" the linears isn't that bad. I had already practiced on the damaged one, so I tore into these without issue. They were as expected. VERY tight and with a huge load of magnetic silt in them. A few minutes later and they were good to go.

So come Sun AM, I got it all back together and took it for a drive. I put anti-sieze on the fluid return line so that if I have to get back into it, it won't be that big an issue. I HIGHLY suggest doing this as a preventative. I PB'd it a week ahead and it still wouldn't budge without 2 HUGE wrenches on it.

So... the drive, Meh... It wasn't too different but it was a bit better. It still had some interesting behaviors though. Luckily my friend with VIDA was home, so I babied it to his place and he cleared the codes and set it to learn mode.

Driving away from his place.... My heart sank as it jerked into 2nd. I don't know why I expected it to be perfect right off the bat. A stop light or two later (and many thoughts of rebuilding the trans...) and 3-4 shift patterns in... things suddenly changed. Hmmmmm OK, so some more driving and more changes. The uncontrolled flares felt more like being on hold... not a shift, but not free to spin. A couple of miles and it started to feel like a normal trans. Then it turned odd... Instead of flares... Now I had really harsh shifting. Shift.. BANG! Then slowly it reverted to regular shifts. If I had to guess it brackets the problem while watching pressures and speeds. Long pauses... normal pauses... then no pauses... then a mid-point between. Not good... good... not good... back to good. It's how I'd troubleshoot/tune something, so it makes sense.

Still more driving and things are looking much much better! It's so rainy though that it's hard to get a long run without hydroplaning even at low speeds, so after about an hour I gave in and drove home.

My thought on why it still might have a hiccup or two is that it had SO far to reel this trans back in that it might take one more learning session to get it back to perfect. I think if I find a long straight stretch that I can start and stop at will that it would be much better for it.

WOW... That's the only words to describe the change. Wow!! I was able to get on it a couple of times and other than some odd plateaus during shifts (possibly torque limiting?? Still Learning??) it rowed all the way up without issues! Up shifts are smooth. Kick downs are great and it pulls hard till it's far faster than I want to go in the current conditions. 60mph comes up faster than you'd expect in such a big car! My 98 moves well, but it's got the LPT and it's loud, so you expect fast. This thing is quiet and quick! I'm understanding their appeal more and more!

I'm still going to change the fluid 2x more. What came out this weekend was not bad, but not what I'd like to see after putting in 10qts. I coffee filtered the exiting fluid and there was nothing in the filter from suspended. I'm sure the bad stuff settled out as there was an interesting paste in the corner fo the pan! Think I'll get a couple of big neodymium magnets and slap them on the side of the pan. Be far more effective than a single weak magnet in the plug!

So the short of it is that for some parts, some fluid and some elbow grease, I took a beater and now am looking at a vehicle worth at least market value. My buddy who's a Volvo aficionado keeps drooling over the interior (Man, what my Dad wouldn't give for those seats and door cards, he says!) I'll keep an wary eye on him for a while and sort out some of the minor issues, like gummy sub-frame bushings and a front end rattle that may be the same point, but for the moment it looks like Sven is a runner!!

Going to take a bit more to convince the GF though. She's turned her nose at him and is convinced he's going to break down if I drive it with her in it. Never should have told her the price!! Sigh... Damned if you do... Damned if you don't!

Cheers!!

K "relieved" S

[Botbasher]

The AW55-50SN Saga continues... SURPRISE!!! Not!

I finally got my VIDA in the mail and like a giddy school boy with the latest comic, I stole out into the garage hoping to talk to the car that has caused me so much fun lately!!

Come to find out that of the 3 laptops I own, exactly none of them would load VIDA. Plan B!!! I have several more laptops at work... they won't mind if I borrow one, right?? Luckily I found that my R&D Lab Laptop worked so I only have to lie to myself and the IT lady if she comes looking for it and in 3 years that has been 2x!! I'll play the odds!

So last night I was able to sit down and chat with Sven! We talked about many things. I taught him that when I roll up the passenger window, I'd like it to stay up and not to roll it back down for me. That was a big one with all the rain we had!! You'd go to crack the window and suddenly it was wide open with a monsoon behind it!

We talked about 24hr clocks (throwback to my medic days) and Service Reminders. He showed me how to read AC Pressure and to operate individual components. It was a great learning experience!!! Although he did disappoint me a bit when he refused to turn off the door chime when asked!! We'll have a chat about this later I am sure!

So then we got down to business. I did the TCM Adaptation Reset again and took him for a drive. Things didn't really change much... there were some low RPM shifts that left a lot to be desired no matter what I did... so I read a bit more about the TCM and found that there is a much deeper "learning" that you can do with it. The Control Module Adaptation!!

Yeah... that sounds like what I need to do. Little did I realize though just how hard it would be. Let me explain...

I still have an issue with the BCM that has the Yellow Triangle of Surprise lit up constantly. I thought that process might override that... it doesn't, so you have no idea when it "likes" the shift. I was able to see the shift on the screen, but the ! never changed. Additionally I was running the Reset and failed to stop that process, so I literally drove around in a circle for 30 minutes with absolutely NO progress. Only after I turned off the car and restarted the CMA did anything change. Note to others... Start the CMA from a turned off vehicle!! Check!

The last part was finding someplace that I could drive at 1000rpm for several hundred feet, a couple of hundred times, without bothering anyone or speed bumps to deal with. Luckily the local HS Parking Lot provided a nice, semi flat area that I could make a pass in one direction and then turn around and make another. Only a couple people looked at me funny! Hey look Kids... Big Ben... Parliament!!!

Once I figured out that the Reset was blocking the CMA, things went a lot better. The change was instant and dramatic. It is REALLY hard to hold the pedal still enough to hold 1000rpm when the trans wants to jerk into gear. After 3-4 shifts though, things were smoothing out and I progressed into the 12, 14, 18 and 2200 RPM shift programs.

I am sure I could do better (and I will do it again once the BCM is fixed) if I knew what it liked, but it drives respectably at all but VERY low RPM where the shifting is a little abrupt from 1=>2. At anything above 1400rpm the shifting is smooth and clean. It did have a long pause between 4=>5th last night, but it was at 80mph+ and I'm not sure if it did it or I was letting up when it decided to shift. Either way, we'll have another session when the BCM is done!

So now I can move on to the tid bits (sub-frame bushings, rear springs..) with some confidence as the trans gets more and more miles on it. I've got 500 miles on it and don't see any issues so far... knock on wood. I'll dump/fill a few more times as the miles accumulate and see just how good it can get!

So now I'm off to see a man about a BCM reprogramming!!! Wish me luck!!!

K "shifted" S

[JRL]

It has to relearn for 500-1000+ miles AFTER the adaptions. Drive it for a while some more.
Yellow flashing in the adaption process mean that shift is good and move on to the next gear

[Botbasher]

It has to relearn for 500-1000+ miles AFTER the adaptions. Drive it for a while some more.
Yellow flashing in the adaption process mean that shift is good and move on to the next gear

Is that after the Adaptation Reset or the big Control Module Adaptation??

It's really difficult to call it good or bad at this point but the mileage makes sense.

I can stand on it and it rows the gears perfectly... but do 20mph in a parking lot and it chunks the 3/4 upshift. It's really odd because 5 minutes later and it glides smoothly through all gears at 35, but then hits 5th really hard on the freeway. Try them both again and it's a totally different result.

JRL... you missed the part where my light never flashes because I have a BCM error holding it on all the time, so there's no way for me to tell when it likes it. At min I got it tolerable till I can get the DSTC loaded onto this new BCM and clear the error. Till then I have to hope it pays attention in class and learns good!!

Cheers!

K "smooth" S

[Botbasher]

The Yellow Triangle of Surprise is taunting me!!!

I was able to spend some time with Yagger last evening (and into the wee morning) and through the magic of the internet, he reprogrammed my BCM and I now have DSTC!!! Woo flipping Hoo!!! I took it out into the driveway and stomped on it... tires spun, gravel few and DTSC lit up like a pinball machine! AWESOME!!! BUT......

My little yellow friend remains. I thought that it would go after the big BCM DTC was cleared, but it remains... steadily glowing... harassing me... shaming me!!

The only two errors in the DIM screen are regarding the phone (on-call is disabled) and a "Bulb failure - Position light" warning. Would either of those toss a Yellow ! of Annoyance? I will have Yagger work on the phone after I refill the Fun Fund...

... but the "Bulb failure - Position light" throws me. I have checked every light on the car and other than a missing fog light (whole assy gone) there isn't a light missing/burned out on the entire car. Will the wrong bulb set this code? Is there a better way to determine which bulb is setting the error, or is this like Xmas lights where you have to go down the entire strand to find the ONE that took out the entire string?

I'm going to break this question out into it's own topic as I am sure that I cannot be the only one to ever experience this and won't be the last!

Cheers!

K "lit" S

[Botbasher]

Place keeper for my next big project... The Sunroof!!!

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=49994&p=414872#p414872

[Botbasher]

I am looking to Borrow or Buy a ECC for my 2003 V70 T5. I have a CCM-000C error code that I have confirmed is in the Module (motor works on another plug). I've also confirmed via VIDA that the knob does tell the computer to change... there is simply no output on the blue line to the pass damper motor.

Does anyone know something I might be missing?

Here is what I'm looking for...

CCM Module - DSTC - Heated Seats

ECC.jpg (62.7 KiB) Viewed 879 times

I know it's in multiple cars but I couldn't tell you exactly which ones. Hoping someone has a spare or a pull that they'd be willing to part with or part with for a short term to help me confirm the issue (I'll cover shipping).

Thanks in advance!

K "hope the passenger likes it cold!" S

[Botbasher]

Now that some of the bigger problems I was facing (Trans... ABS... DSTC...) are a fading memory, I am turning my focus onto more aesthetic issues.

I was walking up to Sven (GF named him) the other day and noticed that he looks like a throwback to 70s muscle cars with a severe nose down rake.

I realize that the perspective in that pic is a little skewed, but you can see that the rear is a whole lot higher than the front. It is not this way on my 98 v70, but I do not know if it has been molested. I have looked at user photos but it's hard to gauge with the context of the cars condition. There are not too many OEM photos to look at either.

So is this rake normal? H&R (an most other suppliers of sport springs) state a 1.2" drop FRONT & REAR. If I do that, my front will rub and the back will look about normal?

Is there something going on with this car that I need to correct 1st or is this just a 03 V70 dilemma? Nothing looks out of place in the rear, but I've only just had the tires off... no detailed inspection.

K "lifted A.." S