This is my first post on MVS and as a relatively recent convert to being a Volvo owner since testing my Subaru Forester through 360º rollover while on slippery roads at start of 2018.
Rather than hitch hike or hijack an existing thread, I thought I would start my own thread which I will attempt to keep alive for this car.
A good friend offered me a deal I found hard to refuse in accepting a good looking 2005 model XC70.
I was impressed how comfortable this car is and how well is seemed to handle.
But, it came with a few troubles, and as is scattered throughout this forum and other Volvo forums, it suffers the transmission bug.
When cold, it drives absolutely beautifully, silky smooth shifts from start to top gear.
The problem starts only once the transmission becomes hot, and that coincides exactly by the time I drive from my place out in the country to the small city some 30km away, which takes around 30 minutes.
As soon as I hit start stop traffic, I can start to notice the shifts are hard and then, before too much longer, the typical issues of no lockup generally from 2 to 3 gear at first and then on downshifts under load.
By the time I get out of the city and climb a few hills, it becomes more painful and the only way to gently get it back home is to drive in manual mode and feather the accelerator so that lockup occurs while no throttle.
I have setup a dedicated little laptop to run VIDA in VirtualBox under Debian GNU/Linux.
I have the DICE hardware and have it all connected and talking quite well now and think I have mastered this disaster of a program enough to keep me out of trouble I think.
So, details about the car from VIDA:
Total distance traveled: 173733km
Engine type: B5254T2, standard 5 cylinder with turbo
Gearbox: AW50, though on the transmission is is labeled as a 55-51SN
Before I purchased the vehicle, I know and have the details of it being down to the Volvo dealer in south of the state for a 'diagnostic full systems test', and fluid drain and flush with what they call as 'reset adatations', yes, spelling is obviously not their strong point, so I wonder if how they go with VIDA ?
At the bottom of the invoice from the Volvo dealer, they say acouple of things:
- 'Carried out software updates as required.'
'Road tested and found transmission still thumping into gear, internal ware? Suggest a replacement second hand or new transmission.'
This was done at 159569km, which is just over 14000 km ago, in late 2017.
Then, again, the car was taken to another mechanic, who apparently knows Volvos and again, the transmission fluid was flushed with 'treatment' and replenished with new fluid. I have no idea what the treatment was, but might be able to find out.The new ATF they put in was product Titan ATF-4400.
I checked up the specs for this ATF and it appears to meet the specs required, JWS3309 and Toyota type IV.
This was done only some months after the previous flush mentioned above.
So, after much reading here, and being in contact with Mike, aka precopster, he advises me to do a drain and fill using an ATF he uses and has good experience with, Nulon fully synthetic AFT. I buy a couple of 4 litre packs online for around $38AUD per 4 litre, which is far cheaper than what I could buy it locally for.
Now, before I go on, some time ago I noticed that the level of the fluid was reading high, very very high, and this was while the engine was running and up to temperature. On the yellow dipstick the words read after the level marks, 'do not overfill / 0.2 litre between min and max'
Well, the level was just after the word between and before the word min. I thought I had checked it earlier just after getting the vehicle and that it read okay, but I can not be sure now and really it doesn't matter, it was reading way too high. So I drained some out by siphon from the dipstick tube.
Doing this really did not make any difference to the issues, maybe worse as the transmission was getting hotter quicker with less fluid.
Also, another issue was that the air conditioner was not working, so I had that checked and recharged. Now nice cool air from air conditioner.
But, doing that also stopped the radiator fan from operating all the time at a high speed, which I though was not correct at the time. So, fixing the air conditioner also fixed the problem with the main fan now working correctly it appears.
But in doing this, the main fan only operates as needed from ECU, and thus engine coolant temperature is probably higher, and thus, transmission oil temperature is now probably higher. Which in turn has made the transmission issues come directly after 30 minutes of driving and when I hit the start stop traffic in the city.
I guess you can start to see the picture here ?
So, in my thinking, I was wondering, if the engine coolant temperature sensor is not within spec, say was reading low, then the engine and then transmission would run hotter.
So, my first question is, what is considered normal engine running temperature and where does your needle on the DIM indicate ?
Mine sits exactly at the half way mark, so needle is at 12 o'clock, is this about right ?
I have checked the data in VIDA, and it reports engine coolant temperature of around 87ºC, varying between 85ºC to sometimes around 100ºC from what I have seen.
So, the fault codes.
After a trip to the city, I usually need to connect up the laptop and run up VIDA and reset the 'Transmission Service Required' message.
The error codes I have, apart from a ECM-120D, are ECM-5130 and TCM-002F.
I understand the ECM-5130 being that the ECM has received a code from TCM for DTC, which is the TCM-002F.
The TCM-002F code is 'Lock-up function Slipping or not engaged', which I guess is the SLT solenoid ?
Now, getting back to the ATF I bought on Mike's advice. today I did the well talked about drain and fill.
Drained the amount that came from the transmission sump and flushed out a little more with clean fluid down the filler tube.
Then, plug back in and re-filled 2700ml, just short of the required 3600ml as would be normal. The transmission was still a tad too high before, so my calculations suggest 2700ml, which seemed to put it spot on while cold and checked again at warm. Next will the hot check.
Some photos:
First photo setup, followed by a sample on paper towel of the new ATF against the old fluid. Quite a different colour.
The last is the filling of the new ATF using Nulon ATF with a sample of colour differences between what came out to what was going in.
The old stuff certainly appears to be okay, not quite cherry red, but also, not too brown, and the smell was okay from what I could tell.
Yes, that 'Jacobs Creek Shiraz' sure was a good drop
Next is a short drive. We are going for a bbq not far away in a few hours. So hopefully this will give me an idea of any differences.
My idea is probably to do another drain and fill in the coming week or two and then monitor it from there.
But basically, as it has been, I can not take this car for any extended trips at all, which is not what I need or want from a car.
We want to go camping before the summer ends and other get away trips, and my road bike is really only set up for me
I know this has been a long post, but I wanted to put in as much info as I can at this stage so any body that might be able to shed further advice will have a better idea of the situation. Appreciate the time many of you folks put in to helping others on here, and I am looking to being able to reciprocate the help. My area of expertise is electronics and embedded hardware and software.
Von Baron
