2002 transmission flush on a 2002 and don't know cars maintaince history.

[grabby]

I have been reading on the boards here about flushing transmissions. I recently purchased a 2002 v70xc. it is nearing 100,000 miles. I asked our volvo mechanic about the flush and he said unless you know the history of the car (which I don't), then introducing a flush at this point if it hasn't been done may actually create problems where there were none. Any thoughts?

[Iroll_]

I have been reading on the boards here about flushing transmissions. I recently purchased a 2002 v70xc. it is nearing 100,000 miles. I asked our volvo mechanic about the flush and he said unless you know the history of the car (which I don't), then introducing a flush at this point if it hasn't been done may actually create problems where there were none. Any thoughts?

I was in a similar position except with 179k. I did several "drain and fills" with Toyota T-IV fluid which is he same fluid Volvo uses but costs $6.00 per quart instead of $30.00 per quart.
I would avoid any service or place with the word "flush"; you want a gentle renewal of fluids.
Since I have completed my drain and fills, the transmission has been very happy.

[tmcmilli]

I agree on several drain and fills. Shortly after I bought my 2002 with 156K miles on it, even though it shifted just fine, I was spooked after reading on here especially about 2001-02 transmissions. I didn't have a detailed service history of the car so I took a case of Mobil 3309 to the local independent mechanic to do as thorough a drain and fill as necessary. When I dropped by to check on the car, he showed me the old fluid he drained out the first time, and to my dismay the fluid actually looked like really spent used motor oil! I couldn't believe my eyes and I thought oh no I am in deep doo doo. Not only was it not red, it looked almost black like motor oil that had been let go too long. BUT, ever since he flushed a whole case of transmission fluid through it, it has continued to do well. It didn't introduce any changes in how it shifted and for some strange reason in spite of apparently having been neglected it had always shifted fine even before I had it flushed that first time. I had it flushed again about 4 months ago with about a half case total this time, which was a bit over 30K miles later. It still shifts well. Actually in the interest of full disclosure, there was this one circumstance where it used to shift a bit strange in one gear sometimes. Only under one particular set of conditions, on one stretch of mountain road that I drive a couple of times a month where the car wants to hang around in between 3rd and 4th gear, sometimes it would downshift from 4th to 3rd when it didn't really need to downshift, and the RPM would jump up to around 3K. It wouldn't come back out of third when it should have, until I relaxed the throttle. It's kind of like it wanted to stick in third. And this would never happen except on this one mountain road with maybe a 6-7% grade. Note: I drive other roads with the same and steeper grades with no problems. It's just the way you come out of this one turn at just the right speed and a certain amount of throttle would trigger this. Weird. So anyway after this latest round of flushing that issue seems to be all but cured.

So I plan to just keep driving it and having the transmission serviced at least once every 30K miles and see how it goes. I can't spend my time worrying about it wondering how long ultimately the transmission is going to last. And for now it's shifting perfectly for a car with a little over 200K miles. I might get the occasional clunk when I take it out of park into reverse but that's my fault if I'm in a hurry and I don't wait for the RPM to settle to the normal idling speed right after starting it up before slipping it into reverse. That's only happened a few times and I can tell I shifted too soon. It's not a habit of mine but I slip up occasionally. If you take care of the transmission flushes going forward, that's all you can do and just baby it as you drive it. At the end of the day, my perception from my experience is that doing multiple drain and fills has done my car a world of good.

[Tamarillo]

I was in a similar position except with 179k. I did several "drain and fills" with Toyota T-IV fluid which is he same fluid Volvo uses but costs $6.00 per quart instead of $30.00 per quart.
I would avoid any service or place with the word "flush"; you want a gentle renewal of fluids.
Since I have completed my drain and fills, the transmission has been very happy.
$6 a quart! That's $30 for a 5 quart can. I think a quart is roughly a litre. My Toyota dealer charged me NZ$100 for a can, that's about US$60.
You should see what Volvo NZ want for parts! Over double anything in states, sometimes many times over double. It's often worth me paying the crazy freight charges and import duties as it's still less than half price.
Consider yourselves lucky, when it come to prices you pay that is, though it must be maddening driving on the right.

[JRL]

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