Hard downshift gears 2-1 help please

[Pasta1]

Hi new to Volvo ownership & the proud owner of. C70 2003 with the B5244t7 engine and I think it’s an aswin auto gearbox.
Recently it has developed a hard downshift just before stopping from gears 2 to 1.
The gear change up is perfect with no faults but when the car is hot gears 2 to 1 especially in traffic has become really annoying. It has 110k with good history, will a transmission fluid change using the Gibbons method solve the issue or does it sound like the gearbox is caput!
Any advice welcomed, I love the car & want to solve the issue before I leads to something worse.

Anyone else had this issue?

Many thanks

[volvo again]

First thing I would check is the fluid level...also check the colour of the fluid, a change wouldn't do any harm, especially if it hasn't been done for a while, despite what Volvo say

[richmac]

Hi,

In addition to the oil, hopefully solved with this link to a thread on an excellent website that you'll come to know very well.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/fo...ic.php?t=26578

The 3 mounts to check in order:
1. Torque - under the engine.
2. Pad - behind the right wheel arch liner.
3. Top - the bracket from the bulkhead to the top of the engine.

Lots of good videos available for these.

BR,

Rich.

[Pasta1]

Great will look at these videos and get under the car asap, thanks for the reply’s that’s given me some hope for the old girl!👍 will report back with details as soon as I find out!

[JohnM 855 T5R]

A harsh downshift is almost inevitably caused by a sticking solenoid / valve or worn valve body inside the gearbox. To replace the valve block (an expensive component) requires a gearbox stripdown at ewhich point you might as well bite the bullet and have the gearbox fully reconditioned
However, all is not lost. A gearbox flush and fluid replacement often improves things considerably and I'd start there. A proper flush and refill should be done by an auto transmission specialist and typically costs around £300 to £350 which is a whole load cheaper than strip and recondition (typically in the £2500 range).

Regards
John

[Volvo6]

I had a sort of similar issue on my auto V70R, doing the valve body alone was around £1000 I think and restored the shift quality, but a few years later ended up doing a full rebuild since it started slipping when cold, I think due to clutch wear - this was around £3.5k.

Unfortunately if filter and fluid change / flush doesn't solve the issue there isn't much that can be done other than take the box apart, which as noted already, is never cheap!

[CNGBiFuel]

Fluid should be pink, and £500 says it isn't... you're heading for trouble. These boxes are under-cooled.

This has been my hobby-horse forever. I've banged-on and a few of you have listened. If you catch it early (roughly 90-100K), with fresh fluid at the correct level with a Magenfine filter you'll stop the crud collecting in the solenoids. Add a cooler or change fluid every 30K, you'll see 300K out.


If not, some do it earlier, but... with brown fluid most are on the way out at 150K, some (2001-2002 cars) at 120K. You might get to 180K, it's only the lucky few that see over 200K. The heat kills these boxes.

The solenoids catch crud and cause flaring. This mashes the friction-rings which produces more crud. With no filter and too much heat, goodbye box.... Flushing helps and will band-aid the issue, but if you've not listened and allowed the flaring stage, crud has got to the solenoids/valve-body. If you've allowed this for more than a 1000 miles likely it's too late. Clean solenoids etc. Maybe a recon-box. If you've not thrown a Magnefine on by now this gets expensive.