1995 855T possible bad tranny.

gdict · Post by **gdict** » 27 May 2013, 14:21

So, I'm helping a girlfriend out with her 1995 turbo sedan. I have had the same car in a94 for ten years now, so I know my way around them pretty well, but I'm stumped.

Someone else was driving the car, so I have only a third hand account of what happened, but basically the water pump blew out and all the coolant leaked out. The car was towed to a shop and when they went to move it to work on it, they told us the transmission would not engage reverse. The car had no apparent transmissions issue before this. The engine seems to run fine, so it should be no problem doing the water pump and timing belt, etc., but we don't want to spend that money if the tranny is shot.

right now, if you shift into R, it won't go. What's crazy is that it drives in N and D and so on. Yes, it drives in Neutral! I cycled the shifter a bunch of times, still the same. Fluid level is fine, albeit pretty dirty. I checked the DTC's and got 114,322,323. From the tranny trouble shooting guide, it basically says that 322 and 323 indicated a mechanical failure and to replace the transmission. I reset the codes, drove the car a short distance and the codes did not come back. I'd lke to try to drive the car more, but cant with the bad water pump. I'm in a conundrum of whether to fix the water pump in hopes of an easy tranny fix or just bail out.

Any ideas? Is thing thing ready for the scrap heap?

Post by **precopster** » 28 May 2013, 02:18

It may be interesting to find out if the car was towed nose up or down as some of the towing boys might see a Volvo and immediately think it's a RWD and put the nose wheels on the ground. If it were towed any length of time nose down there's your answer.

Sounds as though the clutch packs are seized with one another. Another reason to suspect the tow company....

gdict · Post by **gdict** » 28 May 2013, 12:39

I thought of that also, but it was apparently towed on a flatbed.

In what ways would heat transmitted from the trans oil cooler to the tranny possibly cause this?

Post by **precopster** » 29 May 2013, 01:42

Check the fluid and see how burned it looks. It may be worth trying new fluid but something tells me this is no ordinary problem.

I have a '01 XC 70 with 5 speed trans that has no reverse and the gearbox loads the engine in Park and Neutral. Cory from Reamman Autos advised me the 1st gear and reverse clutches are probably fused together.

As your symptoms sound very similar it seems likely it's a similar issue.