Gearbox issues 1999 V70r AWD
 

I am on my 4th 1999 V70R AWD, three of which have been Laser Blue. The latest one was a Japanese import and I'm having gearbox issues. I am a woman of many talents but not one of them involves rebuilding gearboxes.

My local Volvo main dealers, Rybrook Chester, aren't interested in helping me to repair a classic Volvo and would rather I bought an XC90 from them and even charge to read a fault code. I use local Volvo experts Mereseyswede in Liverpool who have advised that I need to get the gearbox reconditioned. They have used a Liverpool firm in the past but said to avoid them as they didn't do a good job.

Can anyone point me in the direction of help, ideally in the North West of England?

Mackies which are in Glasgow, and Bristol Transmissions in Bristol are probably 2 of the best in the country.

Thanks Rudi. Neither is near and it's a question of whether the gearbox will get me there. I need to think on this.

What is the issue exactly?

If its hard gear changing, then an ATF fluid change may help. If its actually losing drive, then its likely to be the pump and that usually doesn't last long once it starts to fail.

I had a P38 Range Rover autobox fail a few years ago - I had to get it trailered to a specialist for them to overhaul it. Might be an option for you? Just make sure you agree a price beforehand - that gearbox refurb cost over £1500, and it was quite a few years ago.

Thanks for your reply.

The problem is twofold, in that is sometimes over-revs at slow speed gear changes. It feels as though it's not going to find a gear but eventually it does - sometimes with a 'clunk'. My local (non main dealer) Volvo specialist suggested that it needs a new gearbox but advised me to choose carefully. It's happening more frequently, meaning that I can't trust the car to get me from A to B.

Do you have any recommendations in terms of people who can fix this - and do you feel that a transmission fluid change is a viable option?

My 5 speed was in need of some TLC by around 140k, hard, jerky shifts etc. Fluid change helped a bit but having the valve body changed by a local Volvo specialist restored the shift quality pretty much back to new.

Unfortunately a few thousand miles later it started slipping when cold and although it was fine generally eventually had it rebuilt by these guys for around £3k. Crucial Automatics.

Any good auto gearbox specialistic should be able to do the job though.