Newly purchased 06 XC70 tranny fluid swap

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 12 Mar 2025, 17:06

So I posted the other day about buying an 06 XC70 that had some transmission issues. I figured I’d start a new post about swapping out the fluid today.

06 with 188k miles. I got 12 quarts of mobil 3309 delivered yesterday so this morning went out to do the ol drain and fill method to hopefully replenish the old fluid and perhaps have a nice driving Volvo. As luck would have it, that was not the case. At least not yet.

I opted to do the drain the pan/refill through the dipstick tube method and upon my first drain I got right at 4 quarts out. I thought that was odd as most people seem to get a little less from what I remember reading. Either way, I let it drain for a good 20 min or so on ramps so it was level and not elevated more on the drivers side. The fluid was black and looked more like the motor oil out of my old powerstroke than trans fluid. I was hopeful that this could resolve my problem. I replaced the 4 quarts and started the car up. I did this with each drain/fill I did today. Which was 3. Made sure to go through all the gears, holding in each one for 20 seconds or more, then backed out of the shop, into drive down the driveway and then hit the road. Made a small loop in my neighborhood that includes a very steep hill and the trans seemed to jerk and slip and do some crazy stuff. No strange noises that I heard.

Come back and do this again and more of the same except this time the trans seems to slip more. Mildly disappointed at this point. The trans fluid still looks terrible with this flush and fill with little to no improvement in color, smell or taste. Haha.

Third go around and the fluid looks a bit better but still very dark. At this point I’ve swapped out 8 quarts and I’m a bit baffled as I figured it would be clearing up. The dipstick, although I wasn’t paying attention to the level, was noticeably more red. So now I have drained 12 quarts and put 11 in just in case because I don’t want to overfill it. The fluid still looks pretty terrible being drained. Dipstick is looking pretty good however. On this drive the trans jerks going in to gear from park and neutral. Slips pretty bad and can’t decided if it’s gonna change gears or not a couple times in 1st. 2nd slips some as well as third and fourth I wasn’t really giving it any gas. Also when I first started the car I went to reverse for 20 seconds-neutral for 20 seconds and when I went to drive at 8 seconds it made a pretty discerning noise that I can’t really describe. Lasted about 1 second. Kinda like a screeching metallic noise. The drive was pretty jerky and I decided to be done with this thing for the day.

I did notice a whining noise in 1st gear a couple times. So maybe the AOC? I think someone mentioned that or maybe I have my acronyms wrong. I’m pretty much ready for whatever as far as repairs go. Replace trans or valve body or rebuild or whatever has good results for the symptoms I have. I’m not in a huge hurry either. Just wanted to see if anyone has any insight. Like, should I try swapping more fluid? The level at the end of everything was right on the min hot mark and looks good on the dipstick but I’m sure if I drained it the fluid would be pretty black. Maybe I didn’t drive enough between each change? Only about 1 mile. But it stopped pulling all together after about 2 miles on Saturday so I don’t want to stray too far from the house. Any help is greatly appreciated!

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 13 Mar 2025, 06:32

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention. Should these cars hold on a hill? If I stop on a hill in drive, or any forward gear, it will roll back like a manual with the clutch in. I didn’t try it in reverse but was surprised at how much it rolled when I took my foot off the brake on a hill.

ignatz · Post by **ignatz** » 13 Mar 2025, 07:27

I'd look for a used transmission. The one in your car might be too far gone. I also would have tried a couple of fluid changes, but you didn't really see any real improvement.

Post by **matthew1** » 13 Mar 2025, 08:01

Try driving again today, and again tomorrow, etc. What do you have to lose?

If I recall, 3x drain/fills = 82 or 87% replacement, something like that. I did the math 20 years ago. So more is not useful at this point.

My mind couldn't help thinking "Stop/neutral!" But that's long gone by 2006 model year, so not that.

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 13 Mar 2025, 08:41

Ignatz, I am really not opposed to more changes. I did 11 quarts. I thought that the capacity of these was something like 8 but I’m more than likely wrong haha. And I have looked today with no luck. eBay has a couple.

Matthew1, is there that much fluid in these? I can grab some more fluid and keep going.

I did try driving today. Made it about a mile and it stopped pulling. Pulled into a driveway and sat for about 7 minutes. Fired up and moved so headed toward my house but only made it about 500 ft and it stopped pulling again. Another driveway, another 5 minutes and same thing. It did this one more time then when I restarted it I put it in manual mode and kept the revs up around 3k rpm and made it home but not all the way up my driveway. Shut it off for about 1 min then on up and into the shop.

This makes me kinda wonder if it’s not the filter but like Ignatz said, may have done too much damage at this point. I’ve got to run out in a bit so will see if I can find some more Mobil 3309 locally. If so I’ll do a couple more drain and fills. Thank you for the help!

Post by **matthew1** » 13 Mar 2025, 08:49

My point is that any more drain/fills would have minimal effect.

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 13 Mar 2025, 09:08

Ahh I gotcha. I read that I should keep going haha. It is strange to me that with that amount of drain/fill the fluid is still so dark. Either way, I’m gonna keep an eye out for a hopefully good used one for the time being. I appreciate it!

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 13 Mar 2025, 09:49

I found a good used trans out of the same year model XC 3.5 hours away for 400 bucks. Gonna start pulling mine this evening and go get that one in the morning. Not looking forward to it but I would like to get this car going because aside from this transmission, the radio and the wipers getting stuck in the up position it’s pretty legit lol. Perhaps I can document the repair with pics but I’m pretty terrible at taking pictures once I get going.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 13 Mar 2025, 10:10

I made a long term post about my drain and fill experience here:
viewtopic.php?p=654976&hilit=drain+fill#p654976
Full trans fluid volume is about 11 Qts. I think you need to change more times to get clean fluid. But I see you are moving on to a swap. I was concern for your old transmission that it was jerking and slipping. I think it is beyond fluid change help.
volvolugnut

ChattownXC70 · Post by **ChattownXC70** » 13 Mar 2025, 11:50

Volvolugnut, read through that post just now. Very informative! I trust the trans is still performing well. As much as I didn’t want to admit it I was hoping I could coax this trans back to life but I think the damage has been done. I will hopefully have the other trans in soon and I will keep this one around. Perhaps pulling apart and investigate the issues/rebuild at some point.