Jump to content
Volvospeed Forums

Transmission Sluggish; 62k Mi.


AReed67

Recommended Posts

2001 S60 2.4T auto.

My transmission has been a little strange since I purchased this car about 3 months ago. Once I found out that it tries to shift into neutral at every stop, that cleared things up a bit, but now shifting is still a bit jumpy sometimes.

I believe there is a software update for the transmission available, and I know you can disable the neutral-shifting if you want through another patch.

My real question is, I know the original owner kept up with maintenance, and I bought the car at 58K miles, and now it's at 62K mi. Should I have the transmission flushed? Could the sluggish or jumpy shifting be caused by a need for new fluid? How can I check this?

Do you say:

Software upgrade?

Neutral kill patch?

Tranny flush/refill?

I do not have a volvo warranty, so things like this get expensive pretty quickly. I believe the local dealership wants $120 for EACH software upgrade ($17 software, and the rest is labor). I assume the transmission flush would also run about $100 from a service shop (not the dealership).

I need to look for the best value, rather than doing all 3.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

New transmission software makes a big difference in how the car feels. Gear lock up doesn't occur so quickly as the old software so you get to keep the engine RPM up to provide good torque. Getting rid of stop on neutral will give the car a little more vibration at stop. Response maybe slightly better but I didn't notice as much as others say they did with stop on neutral removed.

The software update was ~$25 + 1/2 hour labor for me ($70 total). The new software includes all the updates (removing stop on neutral + new shift profile). Dealer said there was a chance the new software may require adaptation after uploading (a 1.5 hour procedure to drive + teach the new software how to shift smoothly) They didn't know if this was necessary ahead of time. My car didn't need this adaptation procedure.

Flushing the fluid will cost $300 at the dealer. Mainly Volvo dealer cost for ATF is nearly $20/qt. $70 DIY using 12 qts of mobil 3309 (can't find at local auto store, need to find distributor + ship) My Volvo independents uses OEM stuff so they also pay the high prices for Volvo ATF.

I did both. The new transmission software made the biggest difference. The car drives much better in auto mode. However, it didn't get rid of one problem I had before and introduced another problem

- I have the infamous Geartronic flare manually shifting from 2-3. This is still there. But the flare is gone in auto mode mainly because the tranny doesn't try to lockup to 3rd so quickly.

- I now have a intermittent harsh down shifts if I drive in manual and forget to downshift or put it in auto when coming to a stop. For example, driving in 4 or 5 and not downshift or put it in auto when coming to a stop. You can feel the transmission shift down one gear at a time. I suppose the old transmission program probably just put it in neutral? If I put the tranny in auto while decellerating toward a stop, this never happens.

FYI. My car is at 93k miles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Same here. Software update did the trick. And thanks to this bord actually got me a superb deal on my XC70.

I stumbled across the car while looking at another at a lot and the dealer (non volvo) thought the tranny was shot) due to the stop neutral.

$70 software update at volvo solved the issue.

Still has the 2nd to 3rd surge at times but not bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...