Advice on automatic please

[speedyG50]

Update...
Car now running A1. All sorted...... err touch wood, but it's late now. Will try and report back with some photos tomorrow, after work.
Thanks all for comments and advice

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by speedyG50

Update...
Car now running A1. All sorted...... err touch wood, but it's late now. Will try and report back with some photos tomorrow, after work.
Thanks all for comments and advice

Congratulations - pleased that your efforts paid off and that you have now successfully resolved the issue. Thanks for the feedback. Regards, John.

[speedyG50]

First off, a big thank you to all who commented and offered their advice. This post is relevant to automatics where the car is displaying similar issues. I first noticed the car wasn’t changing gear correctly ie at the right revs. Checked the fluid levels exactly as per the manual. Then I had a noise similar to a slipping fan belt. Later the car wouldn’t change into any gear. Switching the ignition off, waiting a minute and switching it back on, got the car going for a short time.

The noise got isolated to the auto tranny sump and not in the tranny itself. Additionally, checking the fluid level showed that it stayed almost the same when the engine was idling and when it was switched off. You would normally expect the levels to change, so indicative of ATF not moving freely.

If you have had similar issues then I hope this will be of use, because a number of people told me to get a new tranny or just dump the car. However as the car has only done about 65K I was fairly confident that it couldn’t be anything major.

I also had some very good advice from a mechanic who used to work for Volvo. He told me that he had read on the USA Volvo forum, that a poster had had a number of 240’s with similar issues and that in each case a blocked or gunged up tranny filter was the cause.

I decided to follow that route and although I am certainly no mechanic, this simple check could save you an awful lot of money in garage fees alone. My total outlaw was £4.50 which was 1 washing up bowl, a bottle of engine degreaser, a pack of disposable paper kitchen towels and a pack of coffee filters.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/838gqhjl3...ZJl9_2Jia?dl=0

First off drain the sump into the washing up bowl. Let it drain for a good 24 hours and jack each corner alternately to get as much out as possible. Decant the old ATF into a large container, you might have as much as 3.5 litres. Use the coffee filters to start filtering the old ATF. This can be a slow process, so to speed it up have a few on the go at the same time … I had six filters into six different clean containers.

Next disconnect the ATF filler pipe from the sump (photo). The pipe screws into a 22mm nut (photo) fixed to the side of the sump. The pipe has a flange on it and may not pull out that easy, in which case, unbolt the pipe from the casing about 24 inches above where it enters the sump (see photo).

Now remove sump. There are 14 bolts. Remove all except one on each corner, this is because there is still ATF in the bottom of the pan and you don’t want to spill it all over you. Support the pan with one hand and remove the remaining 4 screws. Gently lower the pan and try and tip it slightly away from the open hole where the filler pipe entered. Once lowered safely into the washing up bowl, you can empty it…..about 0.5 of a litre.

Next the filter (photo). One bolt (of 5) is almost under one of the two oil pipes, but I used a small bicycle spanner to release it and then undid it by hand. Expect more ATF to drip out.

I cleaned the sump with the paper towels, then used degreaser, then warm soapy water and a good final rinse. The filter was cleaned by squirting plenty of degreaser through the mesh, then warm soapy water and a good rinse.
Both must be properly dry before re-assembly. By the time you have done this , your filtered ATF should be ready.

Re-assemble in reverse and pour in your filtered ATF.

A couple of points. If you are careful, you can re-use the gaskets. Also the reason for filtering, is that if this simple check doesn’t resolve the problem, you haven’t wasted any money on buying fresh ATF about £11.00 a litre (which I did). Also a good 3.5 litres stays in the torque converter, so it’s impossible to completely refresh the fluid in one operation, anyway.

I was delighted with the results as the car performs better than ever. I propose to run the car for a while, then drain and coffee-filter again. Maybe even another drain and coffee-filter after that. Only then will I put in fresh ATF when I am reasonably confident that the whole 7.5 litres (approx) has been through the coffee filters. It would also be worth dropping the sump again and cleaning the tranny filter, prior to a refill of fresh ATF.

[Stephen Edwin]

That's a good result.

The process sounds wonderful fun. Enough to put you off drinking filtered coffee.

[speedyG50]

Can't edit post above, but should have included the following as a credit to Laurens.
The coffee filter idea came from a great guy named Laurens, over on the volvo 240 fan club, which is a facebook page. Plenty of tips and great posters there too.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/39009263248/