XC70: Gearbox Harsh Shifting 3-4 once warm

[KitCar]

Hi All,

Long story short:
Recently sold my faultless 2005 V70 D5 Auto as I spotted a reasonably priced XC70 which I'd always had a hankering for.

It was also a D5 Auto and had the same mileage (111,000) so it all made sense.

Test drove the XC70 and all seemed fine.

I drove the car home on an hour long trip and the pipe which joins the gearbox to the radiator to cool the oil came detached and emptied most of the gearbox oil inside the engine bay. Once the car reached temperature the gearbox began holding gears and then shifting very harshly. I drove it straight to a garage.

The garage rejoined the pipe and topped up the oil. Drove it the next day and fine when cold. very harsh shift between 3-4 once warm.

Took it to a better garage who recommended a full gearbox oil flush with the proper ASW gear oil from Volvo. Did this and it no longer held gears, changed at the correct rev but still the very harsh shifting between 3-4 when hot. Some harshness to the 6-5 downshift when overtaking on a motorway.

It could be the 3-4 issue was always present and I did not get the car warm during the test drive or could this have been caused by loosing and cooking the oil during the hour long drive home?

The person who sold it to me is a small scale autotrader car dealer and did not give me a receipt when sold so will not allow me to return it to him, nor provide a warranty. He did however refund me a small amount to help towards fixing it. Without legal action, I thought this is the best I could hope for so drew a line under it.

I have been researching and speaking to gearbox garages who tell me it's likely a faulty Valve Body, but it could be a damaged gearbox. I have already spent a lot chasing the issue so not sure what to do. I do not want to chuck good money after bad. Regreting selling my V70 big time!

I am getting an occasional warning message saying "Four-C sercive required" but probably unrelated.

Specs:
2006 D5 XC70 Geartronic
111,000 miles
6 Speed

What to do next? Any help appreciated.

[green van man]

Be aware that 4C is an expencive system to repair.

As for your auto box problems it's either rebuild or change, if you want piece of mind it's change with a rebuilt box.

Because I keep my cars a long time I avoid systems like 4C and nivomats as they are expencive to repair and during the lifetime of my cars will inevitably need it. Similarly I do not buy autos, don't like them full stop and volvo autos are usually running on borrowed time because very few change the oil at sencable intervals thanks to the mistaken belife that they are filled for life.
Even the manual gearbox volvo say no need to check oil level unless signs of leakage.

I change mine every 2 years along with brake fluid and power steering fluid to avoid problems caused by poor lubrication.

Paul.

[tonys1966]

i love driving autos,far far better thn manuals-however i dont own one at the moment as frightened off by the costs of "proper" rectification when they go wrong-about 3k in many cases with the cooler/convertor etc

bmws in particular show their age via the auto boxes,hunting between gears ,harsh shifting etc,volvos seem a little better perhaps because they are driven a little more sensibly -who knows

fwiw the harsh shift could be the valve body,but you can interrogate the system and check the operation ,there is an expert on the range rover forums who provides very useful info