Cracked Transmission Housing!?

[amonti]

Well, I appear to still be in the XC90 club; picked up the vehicle today with a decent trade for the damaged one. Same colour, same everything - just a few more features. The BLiS system works well, and the Bluetooth handsfree is a nice option. We only gave up the third row of seating, which wasn't a huge issue for us. Drives very tight, and steering is improved over the 04. Just like people report on the forums, the acceleration is a bit strange - certainly not bad, but not the personality of the turbo either.

Huge thanks again to everyone on the board; I'll have to buy a replacement volvoxc.com sticker for this one!

[gstallons]

Good luck with your purchase...Hope you will be happy !

[amonti]

So far, so good - the idle vibration is...interesting, but not unexpected as per the forums. It idles quite low, which is good for fuel economy. The shift from 3-4 is right on the border of our speed limits, so I have to either speed up a bit, or switch to manual and push it to the next gear. Once it kicks in, it's pretty happy at 1,500 RPM or so. It also has an aftermarket remote start device - I'm impressed that someone was able to figure out the electronics to make it work (I thought that sort of thing in the XC series was practically impossible). Not sure when to flush the transmission, but without a dipstick, it's a bit more 'interesting'. The long-term reliability studies seem to indicate that this model is quite good, but time will tell.

Thanks,
A

[kutcht1]

What do you mean by "Not sure when to flush the transmission, but without a dipstick" If you did get the 2.5L as that is the same as I have, there is a dipstick. It is just down pretty low underneath to the left of the air box. It is a yellow top and not the easiest to get at or out. I would check out the condition of the fluid and in my book, if no issues currently, change it out.
TomK

[amonti]

What do you mean by "Not sure when to flush the transmission, but without a dipstick" If you did get the 2.5L as that is the same as I have, there is a dipstick. It is just down pretty low underneath to the left of the air box. It is a yellow top and not the easiest to get at or out. I would check out the condition of the fluid and in my book, if no issues currently, change it out.
TomK

AFAIK, the 3.2 I6 (which is the one I bought) uses the V8's 6-speed ASIN transmission, which doesn't have a transmission fluid dipstick. I read a thread on how to flush the 3.2 transmission that indicated there was no dipstick, and I took them at their word. Maybe I should double-check? Regardless, at my next oil change in the spring, I will pick up 2 cases (24L) of fluid from my local Toyota dealer (for both of my Volvos).

Thanks.
A