ATF Change

[gorj]

There seems to be much discussion in the forums about changing the ATF on an XC70. My 2013 XC70 3.2 is just about to reach 50K miles. I have always tried to change the ATF in all my Volvo's about every 50K miles. So today I changed the ATF. The standard line from Volvo is the ATF is good for a lifetime. I consider that to be poor advice. There is much going on inside an automatic transmission with clutches, bands, drums, valves, gears, bearings, etc. and all of them are dependent on the quality of the ATF. As in any mechanical device there is friction that causes heat which over time tends to break down the lubricant of these devises. Also, due to the nature of the clutches and bands some of the their surface material finds its way into the lubricant. Thus it seems prudent to replace the lubricating media - the ATF. Here is a photo of the old fluid - the dark on the right - by the new fluid - the light colored on the left. I should send this to Volvo!

[apersson850]

Similar to my experience, after an oil change in the gearbox after 120000 km. Volvo do indeed recommend gearbox oil changes for cars doing regular and heavy towing, as well as for cars where Volvo maintains a drive line warranty (like those with taxi agreement here in Sweden). So when Volvo takes the penalty if the gearbox breaks down, they insist on oilchange, but when it's the user who has to pay, they say it's not needed.

[TrueNorth]

Can you share which ATF you used? 3309 or AW-1 and how many liters did you end up using?

[gorj]

I used Mobile 3309. I used a little over 7 liters in two changes. I drained about 3.5 liters and then refilled the same amount, then drove the Volvo about 500 miles and then drained and refilled again.

[gorj]

I have contacted Volvo about this issue and they replied with a "we are looking into it and we will back with you." That was two months ago! Have yet to hear from them. I think they are to interested to pushing the sales of their new XC90 to be concerned about an ATF issue!

[2008XC70]

I just buy Mobile 3309, Aisin Warner 3309, or Toyota Type I-V, whatever is on sale at the time, it's all exactly the same. I do a drain and fill every other oil change, so every 15k miles, about 4 quarts to keep the fluid nice and bright red. About every other fluid change, I order that silly inner bolt/o-ring as it tends to strip over time. They could have just gone with a dipstick and simple drain plug, but NO!

[TrueNorth]

I just buy Mobile 3309, Aisin Warner 3309, or Toyota Type I-V, whatever is on sale at the time, it's all exactly the same. I do a drain and fill every other oil change, so every 15k miles, about 4 quarts to keep the fluid nice and bright red. About every other fluid change, I order that silly inner bolt/o-ring as it tends to strip over time. They could have just gone with a dipstick and simple drain plug, but NO!

Thanks for confirming that 3309 can be used instead of AW-1. I still don't understand why Volvo is doing this... Speaking of transmission oil change, anyone changed(or know what is the interval to change) the oil in the rear transfer case?

I plan to change my transmission oil this summer.

[TrueNorth]

Thanks for confirming that 3309 can be used instead of AW-1. I still don't understand why Volvo is doing this... Speaking of transmission oil change, anyone changed(or know what is the interval to change) the oil in the rear transfer case?

I plan to change my transmission oil this summer.

After spending last couple months going through further research, I finally changed my ATF last week. Now the car's up shift and down shift is very smooth. As others have indicated this is a must for our Volvos, despite what the dealer told me no need to change. I didn't do anything to the ECU and the car drove without an issue. While doing my research, I also read that the fluid in angle gear gets very dark, so I changed it as well.

Below is some of my notes that I like to share.

My car: MY 20111 XC70 3.2 non- turbo with 113,500 KM

What ATF fluid to use. The short answer is which engine is in the car. I spent a lot of time researching this question on the internet and what I can say is that the fluid depend on which engine is in the car: B6324S4 or B6324S5. From what I could determine, the change from xxxS4 to xxxS5 happened somewhere between MY2010 and MY2011. In my case I used VIN decoder from several internet sites to be sure. I also phoned the dealer to confirm as well. It turns out my car's engine is B6324S5, which calls for AW-1 fluid. Now, what is AW-1 fluid? Again further research, it turns out AW-1 is JWS3324 or NWS9638 also known as Toyota ATF WS.
For cars with engine B6324S4 it uses JWS3309 which is the equivalent of Toyota ATF Type T-IV. All this information can be found on AISIN ATF datasheet.

For my ATF flush, I used 8 liters of Toyota ATF WS fluid. I changed 4 liters using drain and fill method, drove it for 100 km and drained it again using Gibbons method. If I have to it again, I would use the Gibbons method because it is less messy and simpler(in my case). I took some pictures that shows what I did:

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Angle Gear fluid change. According to my research, many XC60 owners reported the angle gear fluid is darkest compared to AOC haldex and rear differential fluid. So, I decided to change the angle gear fluid. I used Castrol Syntec gear oil SAE 75W-90 which is a fully synthetic oil and it meets API GL-5 spec. Below are some pictures I took. I used small pvc tubing to remove and fill the small hole on angle gear.
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[TrueNorth]

Angle Gear fluid change. According to my research, many XC60 owners reported the angle gear fluid is darkest compared to AOC haldex and rear differential fluid. So, I decided to change the angle gear fluid. I used Castrol Syntec gear oil SAE 75W-90 which is a fully synthetic oil and it meets API GL-5 spec. Below are some pictures I took. I used small pvc tubing to remove and fill the small hole on angle gear.
7730

More pictures of angle gear flush...
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