Revival of this thread because its time to revive the beast. Since getting the '97 on the road, I haven't driven it anywhere haha!
I did go over the car, and so has Berry Motor Group the last time it got serviced (yonks ago), and I have a bit of a list:
Front Suspension Knocks
RHF Strut Top Broken
Both Inner Tie Rods Faulty
Both Lower Control Arm Bushes Split
Water Pump Leaking From Welsh Plug
LH Puddle Lamp Not Working
LH Mirror Power-Fold Not Working
RH Parker Light Not Working
RH Fog Light Not Working
Lower Drivers Heated Seat Element Torn
Drivers Power Window Mechanism Worn
Transmission Issues
I dont even know where to start. I feel like getting the transmission sorted and a timing belt + water pump is priority, which of those two takes absolute priority though?
Really keen on getting the transmission fixed so I'll re-explain the issues in detail. The transmission works well in the cold, all of the below problems only occur when it's warmed up.
THE PROBLEMS:
-Big delay and a thump moving into drive or reverse. The delay can be quite long sometimes and leaves you hanging, the thump isn't exactly comfortable either.
-When coasting, the car will sort of drop into neutral (or at least it feels like it), and when accelerating, it will rev up and not engage the gear in time. This sometimes leads to me revving the car to 6000rpm, and getting a big big thump into gear. I do believe this is occurring in 3rd gear and only 3rd gear.
-Actually I think when it was really really hot once and running on crud tranny fluid all of the gears thumped around, but I cant say that has happened recently
-Sometimes if I'm overtaking, I'll put my foot down and the gear (again 3rd), engages but sort of only half way, and it slips, revs, kinda moves kinda doesnt, and then the biggest thump in history occurs and we have a 3rd gear.
-It often slips and revs changing out of third and into fourth as well, I don't think I get a thump with that one though.
VIDEO OF THE PROBLEMS HERE!! (Finally managed to catch them!!)
WORK ALREADY DONE:
-I have had the transmission fluid changed once at Swedish Wreckers, April 2014
-I had the fluid changed again by @tmovlovs, as well as the B4 Servo Cover and transmission re-adapted, September 2014
-That last service fixed: An occasional thump into second gear, and a thump into first gear when stopping. All other problems listed above persist, although not as bad with fresh fluid.
WORK I'M THINKING OF DOING:
-Doing many, many fluid changes to get that fluid nice and red again (it's still black, it's always been black)
-Fitting an external transmission cooler that ADDS to the radiator cooling system, to help keep the transmission cool. Note, this car will be towing so a cooler is a good idea regardless
-Taking the car to a Volvo dealership and performing any and all software updates to the transmission
I HAVE BEEN ADVISED PREVIOUSLY:
-That performing a software update on the transmission is kind of irrelevant, because the car didn't have these issues when it was new, aka, its not just software (and that is a fair point)
AND THIS IS WHERE I GET MOST CONFUSED:
-Okay so, apparently the thing that fails the most in these transmissions is the Valve Body, Correct?
-With the valve body, i seem to have a few options:
-- @tmovlovs gave me two choices with my valve body, the first one I believe was some way of cleaning out the current solenoids, giving it new fluid and away we go. This was the cheapest method at about $800 labour inclusive. He gave me another choice of, if I recall correctly, replacing the solenoids? I can't remember but he needed some special tool to do it and he didn't have it, but that cost $1000, and sounded hopefully more reliable for $200 more.
-- the guys up at Swedish Wreckers we're going to fit another Valve Body to this car, I believe it's not a new one, rather a refurbished one, or perhaps even they refurbish this one and refit it, that was about $1600, it's probably the same thing that @tmovlovs will be doing for $1000 in all honesty
-- the guys down at Berry Motor Group gave me a few options, firstly fitting an entirely different transmission, a good one from another car was also about $1600. Replacing the valve body on this car with a brand new one was about a $4000 job, and a new transmission from Volvo was like 8 grand (no thanks!).
So, I get confused because:
--Berry tell me theres no point reconditioning this valve body cos that never works, the boys up at Keilor East beg to differ on that, so whose right?
--This is a car with 116,000 kilometers on it, I feel like the transmission is good enough to be saved and I don't really want to fit another transmission to it, especially if it has higher miles on it.
--What's the point in fitting another transmission when, quite likely, it too will fail down the track?
--Will a brand new valve body work? Like is that a good long term, bulletproof solution? Did Volvo fix the problem with the valve body's or will I be back to square one in a few years time? Same goes for a new transmission from Volvo.
Ideally, what I want, if money wasn't a factor, is a PERMANENT solution, something that won't fail now, tomorrow, next week, a year down the road or hell even ten years down the road. I want this fix to last.
I have considered replacing the transmission with a later model (>03) but Berry tell me it's impossible because the connectors for it are different.... Wellllll.... Tbh after driving mums XC I've kind of been considering changing most of the stuff to >03 parts anyway, cos it drives much nicer. So surely if I replace the engine and transmission and all of the connectors, I can use a later transmission?
But then apparently later model transmissions aren't trouble free either (and I have to say I've felt mums do ever so slight bumps every now and then so time for a fluid flush I think!)
