Has anyone actually had issues after a gearbox service?

[RDesign4Life]

Originally Posted by Lancee

Hi, thanks for the great reply. However the "allegedly" is a little ambiguous ?!

Allegedly meaning so we are told it does but how would you ever know in reality? Subtle adaptations over months or years of driving are not going to be noticeable to the driver anyway.

I wouldn't trust a Volvo main dealer to do a fluid change as they clearly have little interest in doing it and even less knowledge of how to. Their approach is to leave it alone and if you're unlucky enough to have a catastrophic failure they will then simply offer to replace the entire transmission which will not be economically viable for a car that is 10 years old or more.

If I get mine changed it'll be with a company who has an EDT machine, has done it before and is not frightened of automatic gearboxes such as these guys...

https://hortoncars.com/#services

https://youtu.be/TNXHxKhwpxY

[MacV50]

Find yourself a local gearbox specialist and they'll gladly do the fluid change for you.

I had the same rubbish from two Volvo dealers on this and the Haldex service. Took mine elsewhere and had them both done. No issues in the 20k or so that I've done since

[dave c59]

Just done mine - what a difference! So much smoother and got rid of the bump going into drive. Mine had done 136k on presumably) the original oil - three drain and fills later and a huge improvement. the stuff that came out was like mud.
I did my old s60 some years ago using the Gibbons method - a week or so later I ended up with a £2k gearbox rebuild, so wasn't going to do that again.
From what I've now read the drain and fill method is much gentler and doesn't upset the solenoids as much as a pumped flush-out.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

Back to the OP's question - has changing the fluid caused problems - I would say, based on reading these threads for 10 years and my own experience - they only time you would have a worse gearbox following a fluid change is if that gearbox was worn/faulty to start with, and the thicker contaminated fluid was masking the symptoms.

As has been pointed out Volvo do not claim the box is sealed for life and recommend changes if it is used as a taxi, towing etc. - Clan has previously shared the Mk1 XC90 service schedule in another thread which states this.

Also building on earlier comments, the TF80 is used in a raft of other vehicles including Jaguar, Land Rover, GM/Saab, Toyota and Audi/VAG/Skoda. Most if not all of those have trans fluid changes in the standard service schedule.

That's a bit of a grey area though. Anyone reading the owner's manual (if anyone does nowadays) would just say to themselves "My car is fine, I don't tow or use it as a taxi", so they leave the trans fluid alone because the manual says it only needs to be changed if its used for these purposes. The same applies when you phone the dealer... the majority of them say "You don't need to bother servicing the transmission".

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

That's a bit of a grey area though. Anyone reading the owner's manual (if anyone does nowadays) would just say to themselves "My car is fine, I don't tow or use it as a taxi", so they leave the trans fluid alone because the manual says it only needs to be changed if its used for these purposes. The same applies when you phone the dealer... the majority of them say "You don't need to bother servicing the transmission".

Yep that’s quite correct, as a private owner you could have a car with 200k + miles on it with full main dealer history and it would never have had a trans fluid change, which isn’t right….

[Sotosound]

Over six years of ownership, I have had a couple of partial fluid changes and one full fluid change for my V70 D4 with its 8-speed automatic gearbox.

I've encountered no problems at all, and there was no reluctance on the part of my Volvo specialist - Horton Cars - to do the work.

My only suggestion is that if you get the work done then get it done by someone who is happy to do the work.

Any garage wherein they're reluctant won't be experienced in the work and they won't be properly motivated, either. Indeed, they might not even be tooled up for the job, which they need to be, so give them a miss.

[rxtian]

I got the dealer to do the drain & fill of the gearbox with the cars service a few days ago. They even double checked I was still insisting when I dropped the car off!

I understand the suggestions to find somewhere enthusiastic to do it, but the only willing place I found said they would use their own fluid and not the Volvo stuff so that was even more of a red flag. I called the dealers within an hours drive and got the same reluctance so persisted with the local one for convenience tbh.

Anyway I'm very pleased with the result - the car is smother and more responsive so it seems by 70k even without towing or taxi work the fluid has degraded.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by rxtian

Anyway I'm very pleased with the result - the car is smother and more responsive so it seems by 70k even without towing or taxi work the fluid has degraded.

I changed the gearbox oil on my Ford Ranger (which has a manual gearbox) last weekend, it had done 120k. Even the wife noticed how much smoother the gear shifting was...

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by RDesign4Life

If I get mine changed it'll be with a company who has an EDT machine, has done it before and is not frightened of automatic gearboxes such as these guys...

https://hortoncars.com/#services

https://youtu.be/TNXHxKhwpxY

These guys are closer to you and are engineers, they will sample the oil before consulting with you the next steps and what they recommend.
https://austrin-engineering.co.uk/services/

I had them analyse the gearbox oil on my three year old Ford torque converter gearbox. I will have it changed this year at four years. I also changed the manual gearbox oil on my S60 when it reached four years, will probably get that done again soon. Not because there is a problem but because oil does have a finite life.

[rxtian]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

I changed the gearbox oil on my Ford Ranger (which has a manual gearbox) last weekend, it had done 120k. Even the wife noticed how much smoother the gear shifting was...

Damn I also have a manual ford ranger…