Gearbox service
 

Hi,

I'm planning on doing a drain & fill of the transmission's on my car (S80) & my Dad's V70 (both P3 shape). Both cars require JWS3309 fluid, which I'm aware of.

Would you recommend doing a drain, filling it back up & driving for say 1,000 miles or so before repeating the process. Or, would you just advise draining & filling all on the same day until the fluid becomes its original colour?

I understand that you can only get around 3L out of the transmission at a time via the sump, due to fluid being trapped within the internals.

I'm going to get one of the 20L drums on Ebay made my Mannol, as that'll do both vehicles.

Thats what they say, i think it may be 500 but i cant see 1000 hurting any

500 miles will give you a full mix. 15 miles will give you a 99.99% mix.... it’s more important to cycle through all the gears a good few times than sit on the motorway for a while.

When you drain, circulate for 2 mins then do again it does not mix the fluids. I have experimented with it.

Drain, then drive 200 miles and redo.

On the TF80 transmission, worthwhile to also check you have the latest software installed.

I'd just like to clarify what I meant - it's more important to cycle through the all the gears several times whilst on a good drive, not sat parked on the drive...

I thought the same.

Lets say the existing fluid in the transmission was very dirty. How many times would you need to repeat the process to get the fluid clean would you say?

This would be based on doing drain & fills over a period of time with 200-500 miles in between each fluid change.

Also, would it be okay to reuse the rubber washers/o-rings that go on the transmission drain plug whilst doing these drain & fills, but replacing them with new ones on the final drain & fill when the fluid is clean? Otherwise, it means replacing the o-rings every single drain & fill... seems a bit of a waste of o-rings when only doing 200 miles or so in between changes.

Didn't the/an E European guy publish a video plus bottles which of the 5 (IIRC) changes he did, showing the change in colour. It's out there somewhere :)

ETA
Yep, he did, and it is :)

https://youtu.be/EAb9p8Wph-M

I actually did it. I put 2.7l of fresh fluid in, circulated through park, R, N and D a couple of times and dumped. Put came quite nice red fluid. Job done hey! Then I went for a 100m drive and it was filthy again.

The fluid will not circulate the box you do need to drive a decent distance.

I've watched that video before. It seems though that he's pouring litres upon litres of fluid into the transmission, cycling through the gears for a short while & then draining the fluid again... this doesn't allow the fluid to mix properly.

I'm not critizing the video, as its very clear & well put together. I suppose I'm offering my opinion, or it may be considered constructive criticism.

The chap in the video isn't bringing the car for a long drive in between the drain & fills. Even if he didn't go for a long drive on the day he drained the fluid for the first time, he could have done a few hundred miles over a period of time before draining it again & then repeated the process with a few hundred miles in between each drain/fill until the fluid was clean.

Pouring fluid into the transmission, cycling through the gears whilst the car is still on axle stands & draining it after a few minutes seems pointless to me.

I changed mine at 75,000 and it was very dirty. I used 12l.

When I did it I removed the engine under shield and left it off whilst doing the dumps. I reused the washers etc through tout the process then fitter new. It was all fine. I intend to do it at 150,000

I haven't done this job so can't comment with any experience, but from a general engineering point-of-view I'd say if you're going to change O-rings, best do it at the first dump / fill rather than the last. Reason being that they have been under compression for a number of years, when you undo them you may find they have degraded and reusing them may lead to leaks. But if you change them first, the small amount of time between the refills shouldn't harm them, and I would have thought they can be re-used.

I replaced my geartronic oil at 54k using the dump and fill method using 12 litres. The oil that came out didn't look that good and was probably overdue.

I had another change at 90k by a specialist who replaced the oil using their machine, they also updated the software.

My recommendation would be to have a specialist carry out the work as this will give better result with less mixing of new/old oil and new software.

Regards, Steve

I did have the gearbox oil changed on my car (S80) by a Volvo Specialist last year, but they only do drain & fills (no flushing machines). I was told that it'll be fine for another 45-50,000 miles, but all they did was drain 3L out & put 3L of new fluid back in, reset the level (no mention of software updates on the Invoice). I imagine the fluid won't be very clean doing a single drain & fill, so this is why I want to do it again.

The garage charged just shy of £150 including labour if I recall correctly for a drain & fill of the transmission fluid. I figured I can do the same myself in my own time & save a fair bit... I'll buy the fluid (a 20L drum of JWS3309) & new rubber o-rings for the drain plug. Then I won't be paying the garage for labour & their charge for plugging in diagnostics.

I have a VIDA laptop, but I can't do any software updates. I'm presuming DIY'ers don't bother with that? Its a 2007 car (mine) & my dad's V70 is a 57 plate... I doubt there's many new software updates on older vehicles like these, or is there? :confused_smile:

You don't need VIDA to do this. The Volvo process is to use VIDA to check the fluid temperature when you check the level, reset the fluid cycle counters and clear the adaptation memory. Providing you replace the same quantity of fluid that you drain, you should be okay, I've done this numerous times, but there is benefit in clearing the adaptation memory if you have VIDA.

Software updates are worth doing IF you and issues to start with - if after changing the fluid and it's been driven a few hundred miles to re-adapt you are happy with how the gearbox is operating - there's likely no need.

I don't think resetting the adaptions is 100% necessary.

The transmission adapts itself anyway, over time.

Resetting the adaptions just makes the transmission "learn" how to shift with the new fluid quicker, but it'll do that itself if you don't reset the adaptions anyway (albeit, slower).

I have Vida but you don’t need it. The level is set (from memory) at 50/60 C.

It took my XC90 20 mins to get to 50C and then sat stable for 25minutes and didn’t rise.

I tried driving without adaptation reset and with abs didn’t notice a difference.

Re reusing the washers. It’s a good point to replace but I certainly had no leaving and fitted new washers on the last drain.

There is no need to take this to anyone or to have a specialist do it. Once done once you will be able to do it in 30 minute intervals, possibly 15. I understand Toyota fluid is to same spec and much cheaper.

I would avoid using a garage that flushes the box with a machine (i.e under pressure) this has been known to cause harm to the valves etc.

You don't need to pressure-flush it anyway - the proper method (Volvo approved) is to disconnect the pipe from the intercooler and let the box pump the oil out of the torque converter and internals by itself (aka Gibbons method).

It's not 100% necessary but it is the best thing to do if you have that option - it will mean the gearbox adapts quicker.

If you have the time, the full adaptation process is definitely worth it.

I thought flushing machines operated under gravity and the 'boxes own operation, as opposed to being pressurised themselves. Am I mistaken?

I would put the Gibbons method above the drain and fill option and flushing if you are not comfortable with going that route.

The flushing problems generally relate to machines that backflush the transmission. Forward flushing in the same direction as the oil flow seems to be a safer option. However this is a topic where data and results are difficult to come by.

The AWTF80SC seems to be a fairly robust transmission which should last with a periodic oil change.

Steve

The garage I use just does drain & fill. They didn't disconnect the pipe from the intercooler on mine for sure.

No, I wouldn't pressure flush it.

I'll reuse the washers in the first instances, but replace them with new ones on the final drain & fill.