turbomoose Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Second owner of my '97 850. Has 121K on the clock. ATF doesnt smell burn, and isnt brown... but isnt pink either. Wondering if I should take the risk, and flush the fluid. I am terrified of the side effects. I have never owned a Volvo before... just Passats and those have been transmission killers. Which is why I own the Volvo now. The car is absolutely immaculate, and the previous owners were a middle aged couple. So I dont think it was abused, but Im not sure if the ATF was ever changed. Car doesnt show any signs of slippage. But Id feel a lot better with M1 Synth ATF in there, mainly to lower ATF temps.what's everyones opinion on this one? Thanks gang, I really appreciate the advice!! B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottieottie Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Second owner of my '97 850. Has 121K on the clock. ATF doesnt smell burn, and isnt brown... but isnt pink either. Wondering if I should take the risk, and flush the fluid. I am terrified of the side effects. I have never owned a Volvo before... just Passats and those have been transmission killers. Which is why I own the Volvo now. The car is absolutely immaculate, and the previous owners were a middle aged couple. So I dont think it was abused, but Im not sure if the ATF was ever changed. Car doesnt show any signs of slippage. But Id feel a lot better with M1 Synth ATF in there, mainly to lower ATF temps.what's everyones opinion on this one? Thanks gang, I really appreciate the advice!! ←Hi, Your best bet is just to change it, you can get the flush kit from IPD and a lot of peeps like Mobil 1 fully sythetic ATF. Volvo doesn't ever specify an ATF flush on the maintence schedule but that doesn't mean it wouldn't benefit from one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay13 Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 ATF doesnt smell burn, and isnt brown... but isnt pink either.With that mileage it's been flushed already or the fluid would be black, and if it's not pink or brown I don't understand it has to be one of those or inbetween the two, either way as a new owner, I'd flush it, and I'd use a good synthetic, like Mobil 1 or Redline D4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noho Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 i just flushed the atf on my recently bought 95 850 turbo. it was almost black, i suspect the previous owner never changed it. so i was a little apprehensive too before doing it, but so far so good.what i suggest is changing it first with a cheap dexron III fluid before putting in synthetic, kinda see what happens first. also, do not put too much new atf. if you overfill with the new atf, it will take longer to warm up the transmission and you'll feel like your gear is stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jens94850 Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 Definitely do the flush. You'll think you have a new transmission. Mine has 280k plus and fresh fluid has kept it crisp (and I tow with it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLS Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 Flush. I cleaned my transmission with Auto-Rx before the flush. 122,000 miles and good operation. I run synthetic Dexron-III ATF in my '96, and get a lab analysis to determine the time to flush.Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted May 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 Well gang, Im paranoid because Im coming to Volvo from a VW Passat. Owned two with automatics mated to the VR6 engine. Horrible problems all the time. Needless to say, Im done with VW's.I am a firm believer in using good quality products. I plan to use Mobil 1 ATF. It may be a bit more expensive, but a $3k transmission is worth it in my opinion. Thanks SO much for all the awesome advice, I feel much better about flushing it. A lot of people say that flushing a tranny with high miles is a sure thing to killing the tranny. I think if it's going to die, its going to die. Just hope I dont hurry its death along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartT5R Posted May 27, 2005 Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 I recently flushed mine at 200k KM, it was all black and i started getting bumps in the drive, when i stopped at a red light and wanted to go again the gear wouldn't kick in directly but with a big bump.Now i don't have any problems with it, it's smooth as hot butter O yeah, it's easy to do yourself, you just neet a see thru hose, a can for the old fluid, and 11 to 15 liters of Dexron III. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LeoNYC Posted May 28, 2005 Report Share Posted May 28, 2005 Take it from a person who has a 98 s70 with 47k miles . I did the flush I used the IPD kit and I bought some Shell brand dextron III. Costco sells 12 quarts for 12.99 you cant go wrong. When I changed it Icant tell you how dark it was almonst like maple syrup. MY wife was complaining on how she has to push real hard on the gas to make it move. Now its a different car moves quick when you hit it.I would just go with a conventional atf first. -Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickis4me Posted May 28, 2005 Report Share Posted May 28, 2005 I had ATF flushed with 15 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic on Dec. 2003 @ 110,000 miles for my 97 850 GLT after I learned how to do it at home from Bay13 maintenance section (Kudos for Bay13).http://www.volvospeed.com/Repair/Transflush.phpI used clear plastic tubing from Lowes and 4 milk jugs.It was clean and easy to do. It definitely improved shift quality (a lot less bump during 1-2 shift in heavy throttle) and I wished I did it sooner. Today, after year and half, I have 138,000 miles on the odometer and it still shifts smooth. I recommend Mobil 1 synthetic ATFs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatlin Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 Wondering if I should take the risk, and flush the fluid. I am terrified of the side effects. ←Well gang, Im paranoid because Im coming to Volvo from a VW Passat... A lot of people say that flushing a tranny with high miles is a sure thing to killing the tranny.←Hey, TurboMoose -- I don't understand. Why do you think that doing the ATF flush is going to harm your transmission? What's the risk? What are the side effects? Assuming it's done correctly, the flush going to help your transmission (compared to the continued use of old ATF). I'm trying to understand your perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLS Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 Lots of folks with American cars only flush the ATF when they notice a transmission problem. The clean fluid seems to make the problem worse and they then have to buy a transmission. The fluid flush gets the blame, not the already-bad transmission. Volvos seem to be immune to this particular situation--the flush seems to help them.I've never heard of anyone who regularly flushed their transmission having anything except longer transmission life.Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Hey, TurboMoose -- I don't understand. Why do you think that doing the ATF flush is going to harm your transmission? What's the risk? What are the side effects? Assuming it's done correctly, the flush going to help your transmission (compared to the continued use of old ATF). I'm trying to understand your perspective.←I bought a used Passat (Passat #2) last year for fun really... this spring I went to change the ATF just like I always had on my other Passat (Passat #1) somehow the tranny had a temper tantrum and died. I've never had a problem with Passat#1. I know VW's quite well as I have never owned anything else, and have always done my own work. When I had Passat #2 towed to the dealer for a diagnostic they said it was because of the ATF change. Somehow "gunk" that was keeping things sealed up inside the transmission was washed away and caused it to be useless. I never bought this story. The car had 71K on it, original fluid & filter. No sign of trouble. The drained fluid was black, burnt smelling and the filter had tons of brass colored shavings in it. It was a time bomb to say the least. But I still never figured out why it would just die from draining out the contaminated fluid, replacing the simple filter and refilling with the required ATF. ...Thats why I was worried about doing this on the Volvo.Now, I've always heard guys talking about how its "bad" to change the ATF on a car that has high mileage and has never had the fluid changed. Never thought it would hurt a tranny till this Passat....I have since changed the ATF on my Volvo a few times. Didnt notice any difference at all. It was always smooth as cream even under pressure. Im just glad to own the Volvo now, Its been a sweet dream compared to the nightmare my Passat was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geevs Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 TurboMoose,Count me as another positive testimonial in ATF flushing and refill with Mobil 1. I used a home-made kit similar to the ipd flush kit. Just download their simple instructions on how to do the flush.Make sure you measure the correct ATF level while the tranny is fully warmed up/hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbomoose Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 I used the directions in the Haynes manual... same as IPD. I need to buy that kit. I like keeping my ATF changed at every 3rd oil change (every 15K) And I used Mobil 1 ATF. Feels a lot better knowing what's going on under my hood. Now all I have to worry about is my RMS... *ugh* :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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