V50 D3 Automatic, New geabox at 50K?

[MikeyP]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd share my experience of the gearbox problem I have and ask for advice/comments.

Two years ago I noticed the gearbox hesitating after releasing the brake during a start from stationary. This happened mostly when the car was hot and in trafffic.

I mentioned this to the service people at Waterhouse in Chelmsford who carried out a software re-learn at 43,400 miles (£200). This improved the situation for a while but the problem has now returned.

I mentioned it again to the same garage when having the car service this year and they informed me that the gearbox would need replacing. After telling them I could hardly believe this as the car has only completed 51,000 miles.

I have an engineering background and I have always felt that the automatic fluid should be changed, but after emailing Volvo cars about this they responded by saying that if the fluid needed changing I would get a warning on the dash which I haven't.

The upshot of this is that Waterhouse have been in contact with Volvo and quoted £5898 to replace the gearbox! But as a goodwill gesture between Volvo and the garage, they will do it for £4329.06.

I will not be taking them up on this and I am flabagasted that Volvo only expect their gearboxes to last around 50k miles!

Sorry about the ramblings, but any adivice or comments would be appreciated.

P.S. I have had this car from new and it's always been serviced at Volvo main dealers.

[Whyman]

Might be worth talking to an automatics gearbox specialist who may have experience of your gearbox and may be able to give a more realistic quotation.

Is yours the Ford Powershift gearbox? If yes then google it and see why our Australian cousins miss the f out of their description

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by MikeyP

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd share my experience of the gearbox problem I have and ask for advice/comments.

Two years ago I noticed the gearbox hesitating after releasing the brake during a start from stationary. This happened mostly when the car was hot and in trafffic.

I mentioned this to the service people at Waterhouse in Chelmsford who carried out a software re-learn at 43,400 miles (£200). This improved the situation for a while but the problem has now returned.

I mentioned it again to the same garage when having the car service this year and they informed me that the gearbox would need replacing. After telling them I could hardly believe this as the car has only completed 51,000 miles.

I have an engineering background and I have always felt that the automatic fluid should be changed, but after emailing Volvo cars about this they responded by saying that if the fluid needed changing I would get a warning on the dash which I haven't.

The upshot of this is that Waterhouse have been in contact with Volvo and quoted £5898 to replace the gearbox! But as a goodwill gesture between Volvo and the garage, they will do it for £4329.06.

I will not be taking them up on this and I am flabagasted that Volvo only expect their gearboxes to last around 50k miles!

Sorry about the ramblings, but any adivice or comments would be appreciated.

P.S. I have had this car from new and it's always been serviced at Volvo main dealers.

yet Again volvo's "sealed for life" on autoboxes means more £££££ for volvo when the box dies



as said , find a Proper auto gearbox specialist near you and get Their professional opinion
IF it is within the realms of repairable At a cost You are ok with,, Also ask them about When to have the ATF changed,,

ignore the "sealed for life" from volvo ,, as in reality that means "run the box as is till it dies, at a silly low mileage then pay us £££££ for a new one"

[MikeyP]

Hi, No I believe it is the Aisin Geartronic box. Many thanks for your interest, sorry for posting it in the wrong place, I'm not a frequent user of the Forum.

Mike.

[cumbrianmale]

Thread moved

[12V50D3Auto]

Mine has 220k miles and is ok. I changed the GB oil for the first time last year and it's been going great (the gearbox not the car (Ive another very recent issue and thread)) id be very reluctant to take their advice and just seek as above a gearbox specialist as they are a popular box used in other brands.

Definitely try changing the oil first though, a good indy would do it without question... never understood the reluctance to carry out an oil refresh. Some reports say it should be done every 40k.. I guess they only mean remove a bit and add a bit if following that maintenance schedule. Amazing car though hope I can sort my own fairly quickly .

[AndrasL]

Hello,

I probably have the same Aisin transmission as you. I had the same issue; sometimes it would hesitate after i let go of the brake. Additionally when slowing down it had some rough down-shifts from time-to-time.

I took it to a Volvo service for software update. This fixed the issue for the most part (no more rough down-shifts). They did not re-learn the gerabox, only updated the software (took about 30 minutes total).

Additionally I bought 12 liters of Aisin transmission fluid and made several fluid changes (simply drain the fluid, then fill it up again). I reset the transmission fluid change counter after this (via Vida).

I have no problems with it since.


"Sealed for life" is nonsense. The software is designed to compensate for the deteriorating fluid, but the internals still suffer from it.


Before you buy a new transmission, I strongly recommend to:
1. get a software update
2. make a complete transmission flush (or several changes, as I have done)

At worst, the gearbox will start to slip, but in that case it was junk anyway.


While we are at it; it is a good idea to also change the power steering fluid and brake fluid, if you did not do so before.


EDIT: if you choose to change the fluids, be extra sure to buy the right replacement, because a wrong one will cause issues. For Aisin TF-80SC transmission, use "Aisin ATF6". "ATF6+ FE" is not good.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by andy_d

yet Again volvo's "sealed for life" on autoboxes means more £££££ for volvo when the box dies



as said , find a Proper auto gearbox specialist near you and get Their professional opinion
IF it is within the realms of repairable At a cost You are ok with,, Also ask them about When to have the ATF changed,,

ignore the "sealed for life" from volvo ,, as in reality that means "run the box as is till it dies, at a silly low mileage then pay us £££££ for a new one"

Volvo have never recommended or said or published that at all .... They do recommend the oil is changed if the car is used arduously or for towing or taxi work , and the gearbox computer software has a routine which monitors the usage and puts up a message Transmission oil service required if it is deemed to need one .

It is always wise to keep the gearbox software up to date it is continually being altered as years go by ..

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Clan

Volvo have never recommended or said or published that at all .... They do recommend the oil is changed if the car is used arduously or for towing or taxi work , and the gearbox computer software has a routine which monitors the usage and puts up a message Transmission oil service required if it is deemed to need one .

It is always wise to keep the gearbox software up to date it is continually being altered as years go by ..

Yes, but many don't use their car for these purposes. So by Volvo basically saying "Only change the fluid if your car is used as a taxi, is used arduously or does regular heavy towing" is misleading.

What they should say in addition to their statement about the recommended transmission fluid changes if the vehicle is used as a taxi etc is "The fluid should also be changed at x miles, even if the car isn't used arduously, or for heavy towing etc".

**Not word for word obviously, but you get my drift.

Many people are assuming that their transmission fluid never needs to be changed, even if they only use their car to pop to the shops a few days a week. This is wrong on Volvo's part, but I'm not pointing the finger at them alone, as many other manufacturers use the "sealed for life" term too.

The other side of this is you'd assume that people would know that parts in vehicles that require fluid to keep them operational need to be serviced at some point in time. For example, you wouldn't (or shouldn't) drive your car for years on end without ever changing the engine oil. Then again, the marketing blurb that Volvo & other manufacturers use ("sealed for life") doesn't help, as it makes people think otherwise. Although, they shouldn't believe it.

Oh & your point about Volvo's displaying a message if the transmission fluid needs changing, I'm yet to see that. Yet, the fluid that comes out of some cars could be mistaken for bitumen because its so dark... They aren't used "arduously" either, just for normal driving & not doing laps around Silverstone.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

Yes, but many don't use their car for these purposes. So by Volvo basically saying "Only change the fluid if your car is used as a taxi, is used arduously or does regular heavy towing" is misleading.

What they should say in addition to their statement about the recommended transmission fluid changes if the vehicle is used as a taxi etc is "The fluid should also be changed at x miles, even if the car isn't used arduously, or for heavy towing etc".

**Not word for word obviously, but you get my drift.

Many people are assuming that their transmission fluid never needs to be changed, even if they only use their car to pop to the shops a few days a week. This is wrong on Volvo's part, but I'm not pointing the finger at them alone, as many other manufacturers use the "sealed for life" term too.

The other side of this is you'd assume that people would know that parts in vehicles that require fluid to keep them operational need to be serviced at some point in time. For example, you wouldn't (or shouldn't) drive your car for years on end without ever changing the engine oil. Then again, the marketing blurb that Volvo & other manufacturers use ("sealed for life") doesn't help, as it makes people think otherwise. Although, they shouldn't believe it.

Oh & your point about Volvo's displaying a message if the transmission fluid needs changing, I'm yet to see that. Yet, the fluid that comes out of some cars could be mistaken for bitumen because its so dark... They aren't used "arduously" either, just for normal driving & not doing laps around Silverstone.

I have yet to see the words "sealed for life" in any volvo service publication over the last 45 years , please enlighten me ..

Volvo use the very highest quality synthetic transmission oils and it does not get changes and there have never been any case i know of where poor oil has caused any problems with a transmission . There are many 30 + year old 850's etc still with their original transmission oils and still the brown colour it was when new .

Autos are different , most are still running around with original oil if a little discoloured . If it were mine I would change it around 54000 miles to be safe , a fair compromise . much less often if the car was doing 54000 miles a year . There is also a routine in the gearbox software to monitor the likely oil quality and put a message up if the gearbox computer calculates that the oil may be poor due to slippage etc .. I too have not seen this message .

If transmission oil change was part of a major service like it was before the 1990's and synthetic oil , it would double the cost of the service , so this is also a factor of course .