2007 Volvo V70 transmission fluid change

[edo77]

Hi,

New here ... have a question about the need for transmission fluid changes on the above car. The manual says it doesn't need any for the lifetime of the car. Lots of people on various internet car forums seem to suggest otherwise. My reason for asking: my wife today put her faith in a mechanic at a local lube shop who said she needed one, as the "fluid is brown". (She's kicking herself for agreeing to it in retrospect). The transmission seemed to be working fine before this, and is fine now..

So my main question: does a flush do any harm ? Of course the invoice said nothing about the specifics, only a flush for $99, and another line indicating one unit of Coastal S/B ATF (no charge).

I'll be giving them a call tomorrow to discuss it further, including their business practice of pushing for more than what a customer originally comes in for, but I want to come a bit more up to speed in the meantime, from folks who don't have any skin in the game.

Many thanks!

 

[RLGL]

I'll be giving them a call tomorrow to discuss it further, including their business practice of pushing for more than what a customer originally comes in for

Very normal in the industry, including recreational.
It is up to the customer to be aware of the service intervals for the vehicle and to respond to the offer for services. The shop has no way of knowing the history of the vehicle in question, unless they are the only one on the planet.

 

[Rifter]

It can wreck a transmission, ive seen it happen, ive also seen it go fine. Basically it can go one of two ways. Either transmission was pretty clean and there wasnt much particles/metal/dirt in the fluid or pathways in the trans so swapping it out goes fine and is a good idea. Or transmission was dirty with lots of particles/metal shaving built up in the fluid/transmission and doing a flush/swap can break loose some of that debris and then bad things happen to your transmission after.

Personally on a new vehicle i change fluid twice as often as stated in manual, to ensure its always clean and debris free, if manual does not have a service interval i do it every 100,000kms(60k miles).

On a used vehicle i dont know the service history on ill drop the transmission pan and inspect it, if it looks fairly clean with little debris ill have a trans flush/service done at a shop, if it looks dirty at all ill just drain as much fluid out as will gravity drain and top up with fresh fluid, this will actually change less than half the fluid as there is alot in the torque converter and inside the trans which may or may not gravity drain out, but will still help.

Remember that the car companies say it has no service interval ONLY because it will last well past 100,000kms(warranty length for most vehicle drive trains) before getting to bad and damaging the transmission, and they are more than happy to sell you a new transmission for $5k as soon as your car is off warranty and it blows up on you from lack of changing the fluid.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Hi,

New here ... have a question about the need for transmission fluid changes on the above car. The manual says it doesn't need any for the lifetime of the car. Lots of people on various internet car forums seem to suggest otherwise. My reason for asking: my wife today put her faith in a mechanic at a local lube shop who said she needed one, as the "fluid is brown". (She's kicking herself for agreeing to it in retrospect). The transmission seemed to be working fine before this, and is fine now..

So my main question: does a flush do any harm ? Of course the invoice said nothing about the specifics, only a flush for $99, and another line indicating one unit of Coastal S/B ATF (no charge).

I'll be giving them a call tomorrow to discuss it further, including their business practice of pushing for more than what a customer originally comes in for, but I want to come a bit more up to speed in the meantime, from folks who don't have any skin in the game.

Many thanks!

That is a common business practice. Don't expect much give there. Upselling. Your only real recourse is to find an honest indie mechanic that doesn't do it. Ask around at church or something.

There's no such thing as a "lifetime" fluid - only a car that hasn't been driven far enough yet. ("Lifetime" for most purposes is 10 years / 120k miles.)

Different manufacturers have different intervals - recommending that people flush transmission fluid every 30-60k miles; but that's a conservative estimate in most situations (especially for commuter vehicles with a lot of highway miles.) If you drive it easy, 100k isn't impossible; just go by the color/condition of the trans fluid.

Flushes do not do any harm to a working transmission. The caveat is that some people will do a flush to "fix" a wonky or worn-out transmission (fresh fluid sometimes helps early symptoms of wear) - when the transmission inevitably fails soon after, they blame the flush. People who believe this little urban legend will frequently say it's because the flush dislodged gunk or metal particulate. (This is possible, but very, very unlikely if the flush is done properly.)

 

[Rifter]

People who believe this little urban legend will frequently say it's because the flush dislodged gunk or metal particulate. (This is possible, but very, very unlikely if the flush is done properly.)

The possibility of "done properly" by a minimum wage lube shop monkey is very small compared to a properly trained mechanic, remember that.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The possibility of "done properly" by a minimum wage lube shop monkey is very small compared to a properly trained mechanic, remember that.

Well, yeah.

Like I said: "Your only real recourse is to find an honest indie mechanic."

Jiffy Lube et al will destroy anything they touch and charge you for the privilege. Dealers are usually alright, except they charge +50%.

 

[edo77]

Thank you - each of you - for the quick and helpful replies. It turns out my wife did the follow up call to the lube shop, and they indicated (corroborating what dave_the_nerd and Rifter said) that they had never heard of a vehicle NOT needing a transmission fluid change. Also that they used 12 quarts of Coastal S/B ATF in the flush. My wife also called up a local independent dealership specializing in Volvos, and his main concern was in whether they used Volvo ATF fluid. I checked out Coastal online, and they said that it's used for many vehicles, including Volvos. For what that is worth.

So - I will let it lie here. I suppose there is a risk with the Coastal fluid, but it seems that there would have been if we did nothing also. Her Volvo is at 149K, and she just picked it up used 6 months ago. So perhaps this was a good thing, all in all.

Again - thank you!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thank you - each of you - for the quick and helpful replies. It turns out my wife did the follow up call to the lube shop, and they indicated (corroborating what dave_the_nerd and Rifter said) that they had never heard of a vehicle NOT needing a transmission fluid change. Also that they used 12 quarts of Coastal S/B ATF in the flush. My wife also called up a local independent dealership specializing in Volvos, and his main concern was in whether they used Volvo ATF fluid. I checked out Coastal online, and they said that it's used for many vehicles, including Volvos. For what that is worth.

So - I will let it lie here. I suppose there is a risk with the Coastal fluid, but it seems that there would have been if we did nothing also. Her Volvo is at 149K, and she just picked it up used 6 months ago. So perhaps this was a good thing, all in all.

Again - thank you!

You should probably make friends with them.

Technically, the fluids should be made to the same spec (viscosity, temperature resistance, etc.) and it shouldn't matter, but too many mechanics swear by the name-brand transmission fluids to ignore that. Probably worth a follow-up visit at the Volvo specialist one of these days.

 

[HarryLui]

http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/2007/2007_V70/07v70_10.htm#pg216

Manual says fluid needs to be JWS3309, Coastal Full Synthetic is .

 

[angminas]

You may find this interesting or useful. It discusses the dilemma of when to change transmission fluid.