BTW it's easy to miss fluid that is severely degraded. The colour test is very hard unless you use something very very stark white to check it.

I like to wipe the dipstick with a piece of bright white and thick computer printer paper. It will more accurately show the colour of the fluid and sometimes little black flecks.

I bought my car thinking the trans fluid was fine also, but when I flushed it soon after I found the fluid was as BLACK AS BLACK CAN BE when I pumped it out of the trans. Sort of like the effect of multiple layers of saran wrap - one layer looks completely colourless and transparent, but if you fold it into a couple of layers it takes on an obvious colour (usually blue-ish?).

Anyway you might be surprised how crappy that fluid actually is once you get it out. I was appalled at the thought of running that black fluid through my transmission, and it looked fine when I wiped it off the dipstick. That's when I picked up the computer paper trick.

If you put the fluid in a small transparent bottle (glass jar, plastic water bottle, etc) and hold it up to the light it should look like brand new fluid and be red all the way through.

If the fluid has been in there for more than 50k miles I can guarantee it's used up.

Plus new fluid is pretty much the only way to clean up the malfunctioning solenoid (as diagnosed by KlausC). AutoRx (in the trans) would be a good thing to think about too. There are some write-ups about this on this board and others.


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1998 V70 AWD->FWD->AWD Turbo 220k+