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GOLLY GOSH DARN Volvo

G

Gand1

Golden Member
110,000 miles on my 2002 Volvo XC and the tranny decides life is no longer important and cooks itself. Volvo in their infinite wisdom decided that a shit tranny that Chevy makes will work perfectly for the 01-03 XC's. Unfortunately, all these transmissions seem to have an intrinsic valve body/neutral disengage problem and if you don't catch it quick enough you cook a transmission.

Even better, Volvo agrees there is a problem and has released a bulletin about it but no recall. Grrr... so, if it breaks, the consumer gets all the responsibility of fixing a faulty part.

Even better better... Most mechanics in my area, if not all of them are not trained on how to fix a transmission. Volvo will not even give the dealership the special tools needed to work on them, and yes there are special tools. On top of that, Volvo will not give most repair places the programing ability to reprogram the transmission computer so it needs to be brought to the dealer.

So here are my options... Give Volvo dealer $5000 to pull out transmission and have a remaned one shipped from Volvo back and have put it in and program the tranny.

or, oh look, I found a reputable transmission place!!!! Woot me! Luckily this guy is trusted by all the mechanics in the area and has the ability to work on exotics! A Lambo is ahead of me in the repair line. :Q My mechanic recommended him to me, thank god. The repair is still gonna cost me $2200 but that's less then half what Volvo wanted and I'm getting a 3 year warranty on his repair!

I think this is the last fucking Volvo I buy.... :disgust:

Edited thread title, Profanity and "disguised" profanity are not permitted in signatures, titles and summaries.
Anandtech Moderator
gillbot
 
If you can find other instances of the same problem on an internet forum, I suggest that you collect the info. Have the car repaired and then open a case with Small Claims against Volvo since there is a TCB involved. Worked for at number of people where they got their money back from Mazda. Mazda initially refused to fix clutch issues even though they knew it was a problem and there was a TCB out for it.
 
I know you're angry right now, so I'll pretend I didn't hear some of the things you said.
Good luck with the repair, though!
 
Dunno why you don't like Volvo. Had a 94 Volvo 850 that had over 250k km before the tranny died. We currently have a 2000 S70 SE that has almost 210k km and the auto tranny is starting to act a bit weird. Good thing we know a shop that specializes with Volvo, and we're on good terms with them 😛.

Oh and if you didn't know, GM made our 2000 BMW 528 5 speed auto tranny. Wonder why the tranny is so smooth and good though, compared to GM's own offerings.

Off topic but...Was there something wrong with the Volvo gas pedal? I recall reading somewhere that there was a recall or something for the gas pedal for some Volvos back in the late 90s, up to 2000.
 
Having been a Volvo dealer master tech for 22 yrs until 2.5 yrs ago, I can tell you that no XC ever had a GM trans, just the 6 cyl S80s. You have an Aisin Warner trans. Was the ATF ever changed? If not, that'd be why the trans died, not due to anything else. Even though Volvos literature says that you never need to change the ATF, service people will say otherwise and especially with AWD as those trannies get hot.
As for $5K, someone's hosing you. Volvo doesn't train their techs to rebuild their trannies (for a variety of reasons) but has a very good exchange program. It's roughly a 12 hour job (for AWD) and that trans might cost about $2,200 and has a 1 yr warranty. You can also probably find a good used trans too.



 
Originally posted by: Gand1
110,000 miles on my 2002 Volvo XC and the tranny decides life is no longer important and cooks itself. Volvo in their infinite wisdom decided that a shit tranny that Chevy makes will work perfectly for the 01-03 XC's. Unfortunately, all these transmissions seem to have an intrinsic valve body/neutral disengage problem and if you don't catch it quick enough you cook a transmission.

Even better, Volvo agrees there is a problem and has released a bulletin about it but no recall. Grrr... so, if it breaks, the consumer gets all the responsibility of fixing a faulty part.

Even better better... Most mechanics in my area, if not all of them are not trained on how to fix a transmission. Volvo will not even give the dealership the special tools needed to work on them, and yes there are special tools. On top of that, Volvo will not give most repair places the programing ability to reprogram the transmission computer so it needs to be brought to the dealer.

So here are my options... Give Volvo dealer $5000 to pull out transmission and have a remaned one shipped from Volvo back and have put it in and program the tranny.

or, oh look, I found a reputable transmission place!!!! Woot me! Luckily this guy is trusted by all the mechanics in the area and has the ability to work on exotics! A Lambo is ahead of me in the repair line. :Q My mechanic recommended him to me, thank god. The repair is still gonna cost me $2200 but that's less then half what Volvo wanted and I'm getting a 3 year warranty on his repair!

I think this is the last fucking Volvo I buy.... :disgust:
Click to expand...

More Toyota than GM if anything...
 
Originally posted by: geokilla
Off topic but...Was there something wrong with the Volvo gas pedal? I recall reading somewhere that there was a recall or something for the gas pedal for some Volvos back in the late 90s, up to 2000.
Click to expand...

The '99 and '00 S70 cars used a first-generation electronic throttle (the '98 S70 still used a conventional cable linkage). The electronic throttles had a strong tendency to die somewhere between 60,000 and 90,000 miles so Volvo issued a "hidden warranty" for the electronic throttle modules and many people had their electronic throttles replaced under that.

ZV
 
"so Volvo issued a "hidden warranty" for the electronic throttle modules and many people had their electronic throttles replaced under that."

Actually, Volvo knew all about the probs with those things for years until a class action lawsuit was won and Volvo then had to fix the problem for free with a 200K mile warranty. When I left Volvo, the cure was finally fixed with a simple software DL, rather than replacing the ETM.

Volvos electronics (like most other Euro cars too) got far too complex and troublesome starting with the '99 S80s on up. I won't own a '99 on up Volvo nor any AWD Volvo. The best Volvos were those before '99, own two myself, '94 945T and '95 855T, both modified and both can easily be kept going for ages w/o too many hassles.
 
Originally posted by: EvilHorace
"so Volvo issued a "hidden warranty" for the electronic throttle modules and many people had their electronic throttles replaced under that."

Actually, Volvo knew all about the probs with those things for years until a class action lawsuit was won and Volvo then had to fix the problem for free with a 200K mile warranty. When I left Volvo, the cure was finally fixed with a simple software DL, rather than replacing the ETM.

Volvos electronics (like most other Euro cars too) got far too complex and troublesome starting with the '99 S80s on up. I won't own a '99 on up Volvo nor any AWD Volvo. The best Volvos were those before '99, own two myself, '94 945T and '95 855T, both modified and both can easily be kept going for ages w/o too many hassles.
Click to expand...

Point, but I was simplifying. 🙂

And I agree, there's a reason why I chose the '98 S70. That and the fact that the '98 I have has the nice ProLogic stereo with Dynaudio speakers. 😉

ZV
 
Originally posted by: EvilHorace
"so Volvo issued a "hidden warranty" for the electronic throttle modules and many people had their electronic throttles replaced under that."

Actually, Volvo knew all about the probs with those things for years until a class action lawsuit was won and Volvo then had to fix the problem for free with a 200K mile warranty. When I left Volvo, the cure was finally fixed with a simple software DL, rather than replacing the ETM.

Volvos electronics (like most other Euro cars too) got far too complex and troublesome starting with the '99 S80s on up. I won't own a '99 on up Volvo nor any AWD Volvo. The best Volvos were those before '99, own two myself, '94 945T and '95 855T, both modified and both can easily be kept going for ages w/o too many hassles.
Click to expand...

Would you happen to have any insight on fixing speedometer issues in a 1990 740 wagon? The connection in the rear differential was re-soldered at a Volvo dealership shortly before I bought the car, but it's always worked intermittently and seems strongly related to moisture levels. I'd though maybe it was the ABS speed sensors, but wouldn't expect that to be intermittent.
 
Originally posted by: geokilla
Oh and if you didn't know, GM made our 2000 BMW 528 5 speed auto tranny. Wonder why the tranny is so smooth and good though, compared to GM's own offerings.
Click to expand...

I can't say that I've ever run into a rough GM transmission. The only one I've known that had problems was in ~94 Bonneville with > 300k miles.

 
Naked... my apologies.... I love the car still though! Volvo needs to clean up their act a bit more before I can be convinced to continue buying their product though. This is my fourth.


I prolly got my forums messed up from reading too many on the make of the tranny...most likely from the hate I was spewing!

I'll let you guys know how the fix went when I get her back.
 
Originally posted by: Gand1
Naked... my apologies.... I love the car still though! Volvo needs to clean up their act a bit more before I can be convinced to continue buying their product though. This is my fourth.


I prolly got my forums messed up from reading too many on the make of the tranny...most likely from the hate I was spewing!

I'll let you guys know how the fix went when I get her back.
Click to expand...

I forgive you 😛
Do you have an ETA?
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: geokilla
Off topic but...Was there something wrong with the Volvo gas pedal? I recall reading somewhere that there was a recall or something for the gas pedal for some Volvos back in the late 90s, up to 2000.
Click to expand...

The '99 and '00 S70 cars used a first-generation electronic throttle (the '98 S70 still used a conventional cable linkage). The electronic throttles had a strong tendency to die somewhere between 60,000 and 90,000 miles so Volvo issued a "hidden warranty" for the electronic throttle modules and many people had their electronic throttles replaced under that.

ZV
Click to expand...

Is there any way to check whether my S70 got this fix? If I didn't get this fix, how much would it cost to fix it? It's not like the throttle is dying or anyway, but safety first. Besides, if it was suppose to die between 60k to 90k miles, then ours probably shoulda died a long time ago.

Originally posted by: Gand1
Naked... my apologies.... I love the car still though! Volvo needs to clean up their act a bit more before I can be convinced to continue buying their product though. This is my fourth.


I prolly got my forums messed up from reading too many on the make of the tranny...most likely from the hate I was spewing!

I'll let you guys know how the fix went when I get her back.
Click to expand...

You know why Volvo is like this now? I blame Ford. Ok, that's not right. Ford only bought Volvo because Volvo is one of the safest auto manufacturers in the world. But on a serious note, it seems to me that our S70 has more problems then our old 94 850.
 
Originally posted by: geokilla
Is there any way to check whether my S70 got this fix? If I didn't get this fix, how much would it cost to fix it? It's not like the throttle is dying or anyway, but safety first. Besides, if it was suppose to die between 60k to 90k miles, then ours probably shoulda died a long time ago.
Click to expand...

I would say that you probably don't need to worry about it if you've got over 100,000 miles and it's still OK, but PM EvilHorace since he's actually been a Volvo tech and I haven't.

Originally posted by: geokilla
You know why Volvo is like this now? I blame Ford. Ok, that's not right. Ford only bought Volvo because Volvo is one of the safest auto manufacturers in the world. But on a serious note, it seems to me that our S70 has more problems then our old 94 850.
Click to expand...

Actually, the S70 was all-Volvo. Ford didn't start contributing engineering until the S80/S60/S40 cars and their variants. The problems, like everything else with cars today, stem from too many electronic pieces that provide opportunities for little things to go wrong.

ZV
 
My 240 was awesome till 270,000 miles, my 940 was great till it got rear-ended, my 850 was meh, seemed it lived in a swamp for a bit.... problems kept cropping up... it was weird. The XC except for the tranny has been great. Should be done next week.
 
Would you happen to have any insight on fixing speedometer issues in a 1990 740 wagon? The connection in the rear differential was re-soldered at a Volvo dealership shortly before I bought the car, but it's always worked intermittently and seems strongly related to moisture levels. I'd though maybe it was the ABS speed sensors, but wouldn't expect that to be intermittent.
Click to expand...

The only probs I've ever seen with those was the wiring to the sensor and I'm sure that's still your problem. Has nothing to do with ABS on that car.

Is there any way to check whether my S70 got this fix?
Click to expand...

What year S70? If '99 on up, it's a recall and any dealer can run the VIN and tell you if your car gets it. It's money for them but free to you.


As for Volvo's problems, they use to be a nice little car company and made great, dependable, durable cars but since Ford took over, their electronics got ridiculous.
Having been with Lexus for the last 2+ yrs, I can tell you that Toyota isn't anything like that in comparison, their modern electronics just work, no software, no BS.
 
Originally posted by: EvilHorace
Would you happen to have any insight on fixing speedometer issues in a 1990 740 wagon? The connection in the rear differential was re-soldered at a Volvo dealership shortly before I bought the car, but it's always worked intermittently and seems strongly related to moisture levels. I'd though maybe it was the ABS speed sensors, but wouldn't expect that to be intermittent.
Click to expand...

The only probs I've ever seen with those was the wiring to the sensor and I'm sure that's still your problem. Has nothing to do with ABS on that car.
Click to expand...

Yeah? I was suspecting that somehow moisture was completing a bad connection, but haven't been able to find it.
 
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