reverse won't engage; neutral acts as a drive: v70 xc 2001

[bg2128506]

I was about to order the part at one dealership for $197. Called another morning another dealership and it was $108 (first one is really bad, I was their customer for a while). But when I was describing the service department guy why I needed it for, he talked me out of buying it, saying it would unlikely help and I would waste my money. In the end he even advised an independent Volvo shop (a dealership employee!!! - I love them now).

The shop was nice, owned by swedish native guy plus two employed mechanics. They scanned the Volvo with DiCE, pulled bunch of codes and nothing on the transmission or the neutral position sensor. Karl (the owner) told me it would be highly unlikely it was a sensor; rather a transmission, per my colorful story. He said what they could only do was to install Volvo factory rebuilt tranny for $5k. They charged me nothing for scan; advised a transmission shop though.

The shop is nice on yelp, **** hole from outside, family owned since 1963. The guy listened to me, and very soon concluded that was a mechanical problem indeed. He quoted about $2900-$3300 to get it done (he had several cars in including newer Volvo XC).
So my better half is against investing any more money into this Volvo. I pretty much agree; I do not know what the transmission will last after $3300 job.

[Astro14]

Fair enough...now, at least, you can be certain of your course of action, and with the miles that you have on it, I would not spend that kind of dough either...

[bg2128506]

astro14, I am very impressed with the job you done on replacing the valve body, twice.

I researched the cars market, and volvo wagon still meets our requirements the most, likely year 2004 for being reportedly most mechanically reliable. But there are very few on the market though.
Yet my 2001 has plenty of life in it, the engine runs great, the rest is minor, except for the transmission. Do you think that replacing the valve body could help, given the symptoms? Can there be other problems with the transmission, besides the valve body? Technically, the job looks that I could do it, with the level of details you provided, if I find where to get that transverse engine lift.

[Astro14]

Given both the miles on your trans and the issues that it has, there is a lot of risk in doing the valve body. Simply put: it might not work because other components are worn/damaged. If you do it yourself, it's about $700 in parts/supplies, including about $500 to get someone (and there are a few) to rebuild the body. Your time, and your $$, might be wasted on a trans that has gone beyond saving. I can't really guess how likely the valve body is to solve your trans issue. While the valve body fix worked on both of mine (and 40K later on the XC, it's still operating perfectly) I don't want to give you false hope...your mileage, and the magnitude of issues, would lead me to conclude that this trans is not worth saving.

I still think that I would try the position switch first, in that case, you've only put an hour and $100 at risk...and if the issues are significantly improved, well, then the internals (bands, etc) might not be too bad, and it might be worth a try...

If you really want to keep the car (and I understand why you might, our 2002 is still a great looking and driving car at 161,000), then take a look at the cost of replacing the trans with a rebuilt one (I would not go used...50/50 chance it's got problems), what your car is worth wholesale with the trans problem (not much) and how much a clean 2004 would cost. Might just be cheaper to go with an '04 that is working well...