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2001 V70 24T - TCM-012C Error On Very Cold Night

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's stylish, distinctive P2 platform cars sold as model years 2001-2007 (North American market year designations).

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packetfire
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2001 V70 24T - TCM-012C Error On Very Cold Night

Post by packetfire »

It's strange that I am the first to post about a "TCM-012C" error from a 2001 Volvo, given all the tales of woe and intrigue about P2 transmission issues, but here's the story, with pictures.

1) On Feb 13th 2016, it was coooold in greater NYC area. Like 5 F. It has not been this cold in quite some time.

2) Drove from the upper east side of Manhattan over to NJ to visit friends. No issues with car. Parked the car at noonish, and did not start it back up until 8pm or so.

3) Drove a few blocks, stopped at a stoplight, still no issues. Upon pulling away from the stoplight at a very gentle rate of acceleration, got the orange triangle warning in the center of the instrument cluster, and the text warning "Transmission Service Required". Also got a "Check Engine" light. When this happened, there was a brief (1 sec or 2 sec) noticeable feeling of "bike chain came off", where the engine was increasing RPMs, but the car was not increasing speed at the same rate - almost, but not quite as if the car had "dropped into neutral". But the car recovered from this.

4) The symptom did not repeat itself, even though I tried to recreate it, by doing a number of "jackrabbit starts" from subsequent stop lights. The car seems to to shift just fine, all the way home, including at highway speeds, and in stop and go traffic through the tunnel back to the City.

5) VIDA shows the tranny fluid to have been at 11 C, but then it promptly destroys its own credibility by also claiming a cabin temp 194 C and an ambient temp 242 C. If the ambient temp was 242, this would be above the ignition temp of paper (per Ray Bradbury's book title "Fahrenheit 451", which would be 232 F ) :roll:
Note the strange readings for some of the values at lower right - cabin temp 194 C?  I don't think so! Ambient temp 242 C?  Not likely!
Note the strange readings for some of the values at lower right - cabin temp 194 C? I don't think so! Ambient temp 242 C? Not likely!
6) The error cleared and the various lights went off when VIDA was told to clear the errors, but I wonder if anyone has seen anything similar with a car that was exposed to a rare cold snap, or can comment on the symptoms as described. I do not think that the misfire was the underlying cause, as it was a far older event in terms of "number of diag cycles since last failure detected", and the misfire did not prompt a CEL, and would have not been noticed if not for VIDA.

7) But the VIDA screengrabs below confuse me more, as they present a "conflicting opinion" from the ECM that the TCM error signal might be "faulty", and they also introduce an apparently unrelated "misfire" event from Cyl #1.

Any clues that anyone could offer would be welcome, but other than checking the tranny fluid level, replacing all the plugs, and replacing the #1 coil, I am unsure as to what I might do, other than wait and see if I get another such error.
Not sure what to make of this - why does the ECM claim that the error signal from the TCM might be "faulty"?
Not sure what to make of this - why does the ECM claim that the error signal from the TCM might be "faulty"?
ECM-3513 seems fairly clear, I am misfiring, and may need to replace plugs, or perhaps the Cylinder #1 coil.
ECM-3513 seems fairly clear, I am misfiring, and may need to replace plugs, or perhaps the Cylinder #1 coil.
1982 240DL: Drove it 32 years and 1.5 million miles (sold, even still had mint leather!)
2001 v70 2.4T: The most expensive $1500 car I ever bought ("Volvo Turbo" - what an oxymoron!) (sold)
2004 v70: Far less fatally-flawed v70 - It served well (sold)
2010 v50: Smaller, slightly sportier wagon. Its got a spoiler, so I upgraded with sway bars!

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Post by vtl »

Neutral control? Is that the "prominent" feature that killed transmission in so many early P2s? So you're saying your 2001 car made it to 2016 with neutral control still in?

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packetfire
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Post by packetfire »

I had to go read up on this issue, as I was not familiar with it.
I would not be surprised if the car still has "neutral control" software in it.
Can one tell the software revision with VIDA? I've never looked for this.

I assume that I should get the software upgraded, the fluid changed gently and gradually, and do the "adaptation".
Does anyone know of a source for the software in the area around NYC?
I am assuming that no dealer would do the "gradual" fluid change, and that all would attempt to do it under pressure from a pump.

What's the usual way to get the software upgrade while paying for something of tangible value?
1982 240DL: Drove it 32 years and 1.5 million miles (sold, even still had mint leather!)
2001 v70 2.4T: The most expensive $1500 car I ever bought ("Volvo Turbo" - what an oxymoron!) (sold)
2004 v70: Far less fatally-flawed v70 - It served well (sold)
2010 v50: Smaller, slightly sportier wagon. Its got a spoiler, so I upgraded with sway bars!

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