Irratic gear changes

[ThomasG]

Bit of both in this case. What was meant to be moving few sockets turned into new kitchen ring, section that was serving kitchen cut out from old ring..
Ceiling is like swiss cheese now

[Gazdkw]

Haha good luck

[ThomasG]

Update?

[Gazdkw]

Just as an update.

Changes are alot better and now I have no more slamming into gears.

It's getting better every time I drive it

Thank you all for the help. I will be doing aother Change in 1000 miles and then again in another 4000 then probably annually

[Gazdkw]

Well it's been 4 months or so since the last change.

The irratic changes have practically stopped altogether now. I get the occasional harsh change but it's very rare now. I still haven't done the change I planned to do after 1000 miles. I plan to be doing some repairs on the car in the next few weeks so I'll do another change.

I could do with vida to do the job properly tbh

[Polo on]

I have what I believe to be an identical car to that owned by ThomasG
Petrol non-turbo 2000 V70 Mk2 2.4l 170Bhp
but mine has only 183k on it today.

I bought it nearly 4 years ago with 137k on the clock, and noticed gradually some of the changes (especially downshifts) getting lumpy. Well last July they became really bad, so I did some research, found this thread and others similar and bought 20l of fresh oil (picture attached hopefully) JWS 3309
I did what I believed to be the Gibbons method and withdrew about 3l at a time, doing 6 changes over about 3 days. This was because I could only find a really small tube to fit in the dipstick hole meaning a 3l fill took...hours!


Having swapped 18l, I took the car out for a good run (I live near Oxford and my partner is near Cambridge - so a variety of roads and speeds are covered regularly), accompanied by my 'Gearbox oil change kit' so I could check level on arrival. This I did 2 hours or 73 miles later, on the flat, engine running, as described, and found I had to top up by about a litre. This didn't surprise me as I probably lost a bit at each fill. The oil was definitely hot and the old oven gloves came in handy getting to the dipstick!

The gear changes became progressively smoother. Not entirely that day, but certainly over the next month, until they were better than when I had bought the car. I was, as the youngsters would say 'well impressed'.

I have now done 4.6k miles since the oil change and before today had noticed the downshifts becoming clunky again. Today, returning from Cambridge, with cruise control at 70 on a straight going slightly downhill (Leighton Buzzard bypass), the gearbox seemed to get 'confused' and for a while whilst rpm's maintained a steady 2k, I had a box of neutrals! After coasting a while, I came upon a layby where I stopped the car. When I put it in Park, the revs stayed at 2k for several moments, rose slightly, then dropped to the normal 850 tickover. I shut the engine off to rest the old beast and re-compose myself.
After a 5 minute rest, I continued and all seemed well for another 15 minutes, then it acted up again, several times, however being better prepared, I seemed able to recover it by shifting from D to 4 and accelerating slightly.
I took 2 more breaks on the way home, part precautionary and part to settle my nerves.
Whilst I have discovered a method of temporarily overcoming the symptom, the beast is still ailing. The excellent Volvo breaker just north of the Black Cat roundabout on the A1 (coincidentally on the regular route to my lady) warned me when I told them of the issue last summer "one day you will be driving along and suddenly only have a gearbox full of neutrals, along with a towing bill to a scrapyard".
I am concerned their prophecy could be close to the truth now.

I would like to keep the car going as it serves me really well - it also has an LPG conversion which almost halves the running costs, actually making it cheaper than a diesel to run (plus has lower emissions than my MOT centre can measure). I have seen adverts for valve body control systems (£400) on eBay, and even other forum threads advocating simple disassembly of the system and cleaning the solenoids and oil passages. But I can't find a detailed description of how to tackle such a task. I can't see how the valve control system comes out even.

If I wasn't in the middle of a full house renovation, I would buy a similar car on eBay with the same faults for a couple of hundred (they appear to come up regularly across the country) remove the gearbox, and have a gamble stripping it down and rebuilding. Worst case, it goes to scrappie for £100 and it becomes another of lifes learning experiences.
Sadly I have no time or space, with a garage full of building materials.

Can anyone offer suggestions as to what I can try next? Anyone know how to remove/clean/swap the solenoids - or even which ones to do (I have never ventured into an automatic gearbox before, although that doesn't deter me).

Thanks in advance, and appreciate that without this thread the V70 would have gone to the scrappie last August, so the £70 in oil got me an extra 7 months use (quite cheap really - but I'm sure we can do better).

[Polo on]

Brief update:
I drove a 35 mile loop this morning on a variety of roads, and it basically behaved well, other than the occasional heavy downshift when slowing for traffic lights. When home I followed the usual procedure and checked the fluid level with a hot engine as I hadn't done this since August. I was surprised to find the level about 4 mm below minimum, and this could in fairness account for the odd behavior yesterday.
I have added 200 ml (as according to the dipstick that is the difference between min and max) and so should bring it within tolerance.
I will do another run in the week.

[ThomasG]

Glad to see your last post.

For last few hours I was wondering what to answer to your original query, topic being that wide.

One of possibilities that crossed my mind was indeed incorrect fluid level.

But also B4 servo cover (took me 45 minutes to change, and that's twice longer than it should)

Opening valve cover by itself is a whole days work (haven't done it, but I did research), and I wouldn't venture that way without proper garage, preferably with tiled floor (yes, these do exist) for when you drop that tiny screw or circlip or something.

[Polo on]

Thanks Thomas.
I will do some test driving tomorrow to see if it has improved, but I am tempted to order a B4 servo cover as I found some on eBay for £22.50 (official Volvo part) as it seems like a fairly easy job.
just found some videos on youtube by 'Peppermint' which anyone with similar issues should watch:
https://youtu.be/4BUJ2aEsecg

I have a garage with a pit (came with the house) and a hoist on an 'I' beam, plus a heavy duty hydraulic jack on slides over the pit...which is dank, smelly, moldy and I really don't want to drop that circlip!
I do have a kitchen and bathroom to tile - maybe if I have some leftover...

[Polo on]

Sorry I forgot to post last week, but I only had chance to go for a 2 hour run at the weekend.
Other than a few odd lumpy changes up or down to 1st the gearbox performed flawlessly.
Amazing that being only a small amount below the 'low' point on the dipstick can cause such erratic behavior.
Please it's gone now.
I will get the new Servo cover anyway.
Thanks for all your useful comments