AW55-50SN woes-easy to repair? Topic is solved

[vtl]

External filter gets only a part of ATF that is circulating inside the transmission, by design. All that escaped gunk will be flowing through the valve body, that's why transmission is dying later. The colder the ATF, the higher is the pressure, the lesser amount of ATF is diverted by the ball valve to the cooler.

Just be aware.

[renns]

Hopefully the repeated flushings via dipstick hole will clean things out well enough. Time will tell.

[renns]

The job is now complete, and the car is back on the road, with 100 km of driving so far. It shifts fine when warm, but has does still have some random flares when cold. The horrible transmission howling sound on startup is now completely gone. I had to reset transmission codes twice in the first couple km's of driving, but no further codes have been set since. Hopefully this 'fix' buys us enough time to source a suitable replacement vehicle. Many thanks to those adventurous souls that posted this information.

[renns]

A quick update: The odometer has now rolled past 700 km since the 'fix' described in this thread was applied. The transmission has settled down nicely, with flare issues gone. Considering the car was not drive-able, and destined for the recyclers a couple weeks ago, the transformation is amazing.

[precopster]

I missed this journey as you posted. Well done!

[renns]

Well over a thousand km's now, and am starting to have faith in the old girl once again. We've been shopping for newer replacements (Venza, Murano, RX-350...), but the XC70 is hard to replace - Luxury, loads of interior space, 3500 lb towing capacity, AWD...