General: Help!! have I bought a lemon?!?

[kwk]

As has been said, these boxes can have all sorts of problems due to lack of maintenance. When we used them with the Police, the local Volvo dealer recommended a gearbox flush every 30k. The Police never bothered because Volvo replaced the boxes under warranty. The fluid was always black even after a very short time but, they were used very hard
I run 3 Volvos but I would never buy a P2 auto. If you need a high mileage workhorse, buy a manual. Hope it gets sorted.

[volvoid]

take it back to dealer, when they tell you that they arent interested get it fixed yourself (recon box ?) and send them the bill. When they dont pay it use small claims process via county court. Trading Standards will give you best advice on this. Speak to them first !

[Simon Jones]

My XC70 (2004) auto is approaching 195,000 miles and the gearbox is fine with proper maintenance. There are plenty of cars with manual 'boxes that suffer DMF issues, so if you listened to the doom-mongers you wouldn't buy car in the first place.

Hope you get it sorted. If the car was explicitly sold without a warranty, or with a list of faults, or spares / repair, then I'm not sure what level of comeback you have on the seller. Worth checking online or with Citizens Advice.

[mpt]

Have a read of

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...-2JTB0mwuALYGA

and
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/advice/2...eturning-a-car

May help

[Aveton Gifford]

I could be wrong, but judging by your symptoms it sounds like you still have the "stop neutral" function on your gearbox, this means that when stationary for a few seconds the auto box automatically goes into neutral, and then when you accelerate again it goes back into drive, and it can do so with a hell of a bump.

If you keep the car, have the software updated and the fluid changed.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by PaulieOfArrod

Hi All.
Been driving 20 years. Just bought my first volvo, today. an S60 2.4 t s auto. Seemed fine on the test drive. After I picked it up though..transmission problem...

Originally Posted by PaulieOfArrod

.....it may come down to whether the fault was "reasonable" given the age and miles - and an engineer's report might be needed for this.

You say you bought the car and then after you picked it up there was a problem with the transmission. Could you define ''after I picked it up''. Would this be same day or quite a while after?

If the gearbox issue happened same day or next day,you should push for repair/replacement/refund.

Regards reasonable, it is entirely reasonable per se for a 12 year old car with 90k to have a gearbox problem. I am no mechanic, although I fear you may have been advised slightly incorrectly regards an engineers report, and the weight such a report may give to your case. Most engineers will suggest that it is perfectly reasonable for a gearbox to go faulty after nearly 100k miles. What may not perhaps be reasonable though is that the fault showed up same day or say next day. You clearly bought a car with a reasonable expectation that it would work and not develop a major fault within a short period, and that is the part you need to factor on regards your claim.... ie

''was it reasonable to buy a car for ''working condition money'' only to receive a car that didn't work properly within such a short timescale''

Speak with dealer, he needs to fix it, and needs to be given the opportunity. If he refuses, write to him outlining your intention to get it fixed elsewhere, setting out time limits for his response/action. If he refuses or ignores, fix car, go to court, issue proceedings and hopefully you will be reimbursed somewhat.

At the end of the day it could be a simple fix or something serious, so its best to try and find out first, and always best at first to chat amicably with the dealer/seller


Regards

[AndyJudge]

Agree you need to go back to the garage initially, even if just to put a marker in the sand.

It you involve a 3rd party in anything the garage will argue that they caused the problem (I've had this before).

Once the marker has been established & the garage agree there is a problem then you're in a better position in involve a specialist.

My Sister years ago had an engine failure on a car the night after she picked it up from a garage, they weren't interested in sorting it so we got a 3rd party to examine the car. When this happened the garage jumped on the fact that the 3rd Party could have caused the issue & tried to worm out of it.

Cue the AA & IIRC their legal team who used the evidence of the AA patrol report to quosh the argurement. Garage then spent months of arguing until they eventually got stung with a £10K bill for Legals,Storage inspections etc...

[PaulieOfArrod]

Thanks again everyone for your views. OK. a few more comments and clarifications:

I first saw it at 2pm yesterday. I took it for a quick drive twice round the block. It seemed fine, but me and my friend were mostly focussed on steering suspension, braking, and anyway, the knock didn't happen, I think it comes up only when warm.

I then returned at 6pm, paid my money and drove it away. They were closing up the dealership. Within 10 minutes of driving away the problem had become apparent to me.

The autotrader advert said "trade terms - no warranty", it also said "excellent condition - inside and out" and mentioned a few features (pretty minor) that the car just doesn't have or that don't function.

The issue I have with taking the car back to the dealer and not involving a third party is the distance. I will take the car back if we're talking about a refund, but otherwise to do a 3 hour round trip possibly more than once.

Quick question then: people are saying about oil changes and sludgy oil. Is the gearbox oil seperate to the engine oil on one of these? In my owners manual it doesn't mention or give any info on gearbox oil. Is this something I can easily have a look at myself?

The engine oil should have just been changed in the last service just one money ago.

Still waiting for the call back from the dealer..

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by PaulieOfArrod

I first saw it at 2pm yesterday.

I then returned at 6pm, paid my money and drove it away. They were closing up the dealership. Within 10 minutes of driving away the problem had become apparent to me.

The autotrader advert said "trade terms - no warranty", it also said "excellent condition - inside and out" and mentioned a few features (pretty minor) that the car just doesn't have or that don't function.

I reckon that would be one of the quickest notifications regards a fault ever! Perfectly reasonable!!

Any trader HAS to sell a product how the law states.

Me personally I would want a refund.

However, it may turn out to be a simple fix,you may feel the rest of the car may serve you well for the future. Speak to the seller, see what he has to say, and see what he offers; then take it from there.

Regards

[kwk]

The engine oil and auto transmission fluid are completely different.