Automatic gear box specialist Kent/SW london please

[jandanjan]

Right I have got an on going problem with my automatic transmission posted on the V70 tecnical section. People have been very helpful and I have spoken to Stuart SW Autos. It has been seen by PArkside Orpington where I live who had it diagnosed over the phone by another mechanic and then told it would be £4115 to fix. I now want to take my car to an AUTOMATIC EXPERT - someone who really knows their stuff and preferably with Volvo Automatics - Parkside do not have an expert there.

My car is not showing up any diagnostic code and a great guy in America did send me details on the possible cause being coolant leaking into the ATF so I will get this checked out and my brother (who is an excellent mechanic but lives in the Netherlands) has said I really need to take it to an expert who really knows automatic gearboxes to get a second opinion.

While I have been told by brother not to drive it unless really necessary (altohugh Parkside didnt bother saying this) I am happy to travel 1 - 2 hours
if I can find someone who may be able to diagnose or help - dont forget there are no codes showing so the mechanic will need to know by cause and effect of driving the car - so any ideas would be greatly appreciated....

Car is Volvo 2000 (new shape) 2.4 T with only 48K on the clock full service history......its is juddering in gears but not all the time, never when first cold, and the ETM was cleaned in December and the ECU and ETM have the latest upgraded software in them .....

Thanks a lot

[jandanjan]

Well Gravesend Transmission, Unit 1 Bentley St Gravesend Industrial Estate

www.transmissionskent.com Ph: 01474 564060

Fantastic service lots of great advice - and its not the automatic transmission so back to the drawing board for my loss of power and judder but these guys were very helpful and extremely knowledgeable - highly recommended indeed

Jan

[imac]

Any fault codes?

Have you changed the oil in the gearbox first, before you go and spend potentially thousands replacing what may well be a perfectly good gearbox?

[jam-gt]

Are you also getting a longer delay than normal when you put it into gear.
I would book your car into your local volvo dealer and let them check it out on their equipment, it might cost most a bit more but is probably worth it.
I have a 2000 model T5 with 158k FVSH and mine is doing the same as yours with the juddering only in one of the low gears, I have mine going into local volvo garage for an oil change and softwear upgrade [£197]to hopefully cure the problem as it is £3000 for a new gearbox or about £2000 for the control panel for the auto box.
According to one of their mechanics the autobox's are made in Japan and aren't the greatest.

[Chris_Rogers]

Re Jerking this thread may be of interest:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=44825

[jandanjan]

The car spent 3 days at Volvo with no fault cosed and they finally diagnosed gearbox failure and quoted £4115. Discovered later they didnt know what was wrong with it but decided to call someone who diagnosed it over the phone. Took it to Gravesend Transmissions after a reference from SW Autos and the owner took me out for a test drive and decided it is not the gearbox so we are now looking at throttle issues or the ETM which has only been cleaned and not replaced. Volvo Parkside dont really want to know so I will take it to my local independant next week. It only occurs when trying ot hold speed not when excelerating.

IF you need a new gearbox dont use Volvo but try Gravesend if your nearby - I discovered that a lot of the volvo dealerships do not invest in training technicians in automatics and send the cars elsewhere to have new gearboxes so you pay twice over and can find it a lot more reasonably priced elsewhere.

Cheers

Jan