I have ranted en passim at length recently about Volvo's inability to fix their auto boxes, a problem of their own making due to inadequate oil capacity and a totally deficient/non-existant maintenance schedule.
What? Oh, really. You'd already noticed?
Having scoured the market and found no one I felt able to trust, plus having been quoted between 1100 quid and three-and-a-half-GRAND to fix/overhaul the gearbox, me and a matey decided to flush the gearbox and replace the fluid. 8 litres of ATF-U later and the box was shifting better but still with a massive 'flare' between 2nd & 3rd, a big jolt when it finally dropped in, the most horrible downshift when braking to a halt and a great clunk when selecting reverse.
At this stage I wanted out of the car, nothing whatsoever to do with Volvo ever again and was about to sling it in somewhere like CarCr*p for a Passat estate or summat and ££££load more debt. Saner heads prevailed [Big Shoutout 'THANKS' to Robbie and Dave] and I started to do some more research, trawl the net and mither the arse off people.
The symptoms pointed to valving as the problem as there was no slippage. (The clue being the big jolt when 3rd gear finally engaged) so the search began for a valve body, ovloV being a non-starter at over 1400 quid! Sussex Autos looked more than reasonable at around 375 ex VAT but my Jewish blood was searching for an even cheaper solution! Three months after the flush the fluid in the box was still clean so that seemed to be an indicator that the bands and clutches were ok.
As I was about to plonk down the plastic for a valve body my natural caution (meanness) kicked in and I decided that if I had to take a risk with this job - and nobody was giving a definitive diagnosis - then I wasn't risking the thick end of half a bag plus a day's labour! If you opt for a valve body change the TCM software must be reloaded so I rang a Volvo specialist locally, told them I was having the valve body changed and fresh fluid and would they kindly quote for a TCM reload, software, etc.
75 notes and an hour later I have a gearbox that shifts under load, doesn't clunk, doesn't flare and behaves pretty much as it should.
For now, I'm declaring - RESULT!
I'M OFF FOR A
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