V70R 4 speed autobox problem.

**stribo** · Friday 19th December 2014, 21:16

Since buying the car we had the gearbox oil changed, a few days later the problems started. First off, if the car is in drive and stationary it judders, almost as if the engines misfiring, secondly, when in 3rd, the car will only rev to about 3K revs, then feels again like it's misfiring, won't rev any higher, and won't change up, however, if you floor it, it'll kickdown, take off like a scalded cat with no sign of a misfire, and will rev round to the redline. Third problem, if the car is put into 3rd on the selector, the car will light the winter button, and the arrow comes on on the dash, although the car drives fine in 3rd. If L is selected, again the winter button light comes on, along with the arrow on the dash, but it whirrs quite badly, and although drives fine, is noticeably more noisy when stationary, than when neutral is selected. Lastly on full lock there's a clonking (speed related), and slight juddering.
I'm fairly sure it's goosed (and have already bought another gearbox) but has anyone else had any of these symptons, and what was the problem?

**claymore** · Friday 19th December 2014, 21:36

Might be worth spending £15 on sea foam trans tune before changing the box, and when you say you did an oil change, did you do a proper oil change with the correct oil? I'm doing the S60 over Christmas I'll be doing the complete flush and change until the oil is all clean.

Another thought, there is a big bolt on the top of the gearbox which looks like the filler plug hole, but it's the brake band bolt, I've heard of a few people ££££ing up the box by filling the oil through that hole and not through the dip stick hole.

**AndysR** · Friday 19th December 2014, 21:59

Does the car have a sports and economy mode or is it winter mode only self learning box?

What was the oil like that came out the box, what is the oil like, colour and smell, in the box now and what oil did you use as a replacement, when you did the oil change and renewed the oil did you check the level with the engine running and the oil fully up to temperature?

**AndysR** · Friday 19th December 2014, 22:00

Originally Posted by claymore

Might be worth spending £15 on sea foam trans tune before changing the box, and when you say you did an oil change, did you do a proper oil change with the correct oil? I'm doing the S60 over Christmas I'll be doing the complete flush and change until the oil is all clean.

Another thought, there is a big bolt on the top of the gearbox which looks like the filler plug hole, but it's the brake band bolt, I've heard of a few people ££££ing up the box by filling the oil through that hole and not through the dip stick hole.

That's the 5speed adaptive boxes on the later 2.4's as far as I know..

**Ettienne** · Friday 19th December 2014, 23:20

Funnily I've changed oil on all the auto boxes now.

The first 2, 4 and 5 sp fill through the dipstick

The 6 sp has a large bolt to fill through and it's much easier.

It could well be broken, but correct fluid helps, what did you fill it with? Iirc should be dextron 3

**Ettienne** · Friday 19th December 2014, 23:21

Colin don't forget to reset your oil change counter on the ECU otherwise it may drive like a pig.

Also your gearbox adaptation to speed things up

**stribo** · Friday 19th December 2014, 23:30

It was done buy our Volvo indie, and it was a flush, and refill, I trust that they would use the correct fluid/oil.

**AcidicDavey** · Saturday 20th December 2014, 00:35

Btw, the arrow on the dash is meant to illuminate when you select 3 or L, it's to show that you're not in D without looking down.

Mine also lights up the winter mode button when in the above gears.

It is also quite normal for an auto to feel 'a little' (and I mean just a little) rougher in D at idle on the brake than in neutral. Mind, by the sounds of it your's is sounding like it is more than a little rougher!?

The full lock clonking is probably AWD related sadly.

**stribo** · Saturday 20th December 2014, 00:54

Originally Posted by AcidicDavey

Btw, the arrow on the dash is meant to illuminate when you select 3 or L, it's to show that you're not in D without looking down.

Mine also lights up the winter mode button when in the above gears.

It is also quite normal for an auto to feel 'a little' (and I mean just a little) rougher in D at idle on the brake than in neutral. Mind, by the sounds of it your's is sounding like it is more than a little rougher!?

The full lock clonking is probably AWD related sadly.

It's coming from the front left side of the car, I'm thinking the diff's had it.

**Harvey** · Saturday 20th December 2014, 08:05

Originally Posted by stribo

It's coming from the front left side of the car, I'm thinking the diff's had it.

Drive shaft CV joint ?.

**Ettienne** · Saturday 20th December 2014, 08:17

Originally Posted by stribo

It was done buy our Volvo indie, and it was a flush, and refill, I trust that they would use the correct fluid/oil.

That you sure even my maindealer just drops what's in the sump! 3 litres or so, plus it's incredibly easy to do.

Yours is easy to take the feed pipe off to, to speed things up.

Just check the oil colour, but I'm sure you'll sort it.

**AndysR** · Saturday 20th December 2014, 11:34

As above the yellow up shift arrow will illuminate in any of the forward gears other than drive and will also come on if the gear selector is in drive and winter mode is selected. It's been a Volvo thing since the 200 series cars were produced to inform the driver that up shift to top gear has been prohibited. It is also the gearbox ecu's way of informing the driver that an electrical gearbox fault exists, if it's not on whilst in drive then the ecu will be unaware of any electrical faults relating to the gearbox.

I'd be checking the oil level, colour and condition first but the transmission may not be your issue. That said the line pressure within the box is varied by the gearbox ecu, it increases line pressure the harder the throttle is depressed to decrease gear change speed, the reason it's reduced at lower throttle applications is because it allows the transmission to shift in a smooth and more comfortable way for the occupants of the car, you may have noticed that gear changes are more swift under full/kickdown throttle when compared with light/medium throttle and this is normal.
If the line pressure is not sufficient enough the fault could replicate the issues your experiencing and maybe as a result of a faulty gearbox oil pump or the wrong fluid has been used...