Yesterday I was in a traffic back up in my 1999 V-70 with a 4-speed automatic transmission; 257,000 miles total. While sitting there, I shifted the transmission to neutral. When I put it back into drive, the car did not want to move. Nicely, the good citizens of Louisville, KY did not blow their horns at me during the minute that it took me to realize that if I mashed the gas far enough, the car would start to move. Reverse worked normally.

The car did not move forward normally. The RPMs would rise to about 2000, and the car would struggle to move, but it did move. When I took my foot off the gas, the car would stop as if the brakes were lightly on. Given enough of a run, it would get up to 50 or 60 mph, though it acted as if the engine was governed to about 2200 RPM. All the while it was doing this, the up-shift arrow on the dash was blinking. I was able to drive 10 miles to a convenient place to park it.

Because of the blinking up-shift light, it occurs to me that this could be a minor electronic problem, such as a blown fuse or relay. The only thing I checked was the transmission fluid level, which was full while idling in park. Anyone have any suggestions as to what might be wrong? If it is not something very minor, I am afraid it is time for this car to go to Volvo heaven.

The only other thing I can think to add is that for several years, on occasion, the car would “hunt” for the proper gear when travelling around 35 - 45 mph. I have guessed that this was an electronic throttle problem, but I don’t really know.

Thanks,
Charley

Hi,

How often has the transmission oil been changed or had service intervals in that 257,000 miles?

I’m thinking with that many miles that is possible that the clutch plates are going bad and possibly are peeling trash into the shifting mechanisms.
This is only a mechanical point of view, of course, as I know nothing about all the AWD vehicles.
I have only 240s.

Electronic sensing and controls are a big factor at this point, especially, if it’s giving a blinking light.
The computer brains are saying “ we are operating out of operational perimeters.”
Engine are RPMS not matching the vehicles speed is one for sure.

The computers in these cars are like having a spouse telling you something is not righteous, but they don’t make it personal. (:-)

Phil

Thanks, Phil,

You may well be right about clutch plates giving up. As for fluid changes, I don’t know much before 197,000 when I got it. Since then, I have done a rolling change, draining the sump several times and adding back the quantity drained with fresh fluid. If my calcs were correct, I changed out 92% of the fluid. The fluid on the stick did not look nasty as it did on my 940 wagon when the plates in it shredded.

Speaking of computer issues, I should probably see if disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it might reset something.

Charley

The blinking light means the transmission has gone into “limp home mode”. Its intent is to prevent further damage. Engine speed is limited. If you decide not to send the car to Volvo heaven right away, you might try flushing the transmission with the cheapest possible fluid and refill with the correct synthetic fluid for your transmission. Might work. Much cheaper than a transmission or new car. Hopefully my diagnosis is wrong! If you do a fluid R and R ASAP it might not be too late. Synthetic fluid can work wonders!

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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

Thanks jwalker,

Yes, you are right that it felt like it was slipping. Stopping, as if the brakes were on, when letting off the throttle was also an odd sensation. “Limp Home” does describe what I did with it (well not actually home, but back to my other car). I have some doubts that a fluid flush would take care of it simply because it was working fine one minute, and failed the next.

Charley

Charley, you are probably right.
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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

At least get it scanned, if you can.

Thanks Derek,

That would probably be the smart thing to do, but I have to weigh the trouble and possible fixes against the list of other things that I already know it needs.

There are changes to the condition. I went over to check it today after the battery had been disconnected since I left it on Friday (phantom electric bleed is one of the things on the list). When I started it up, the up-shift light was still blinking, but the feel of brake dragging was gone, the difficulty getting it to start moving was gone, and the feeling that the engine was governed to 2200 RPM was gone.

I did not get it out on the highway at a speed to see if it would continue on through all shifts and torque converter lock up. I only got it up to about 25 mph on the driveway.

I was going to check the fuses, but it seems that some aggressive wasps have taken up residency under the hood inside the left front fender, and they were quite adamant that checking fuses was inappropriate behavior.

Charley

Well, to wrap this up, I went over today, and when I reconnected the battery, the up-shift light was not blinking anymore. I guess it took a couple cycles of battery disconnection to reset the computer.

However, I had already made the decision to send the car to the Louisville, KY Pull-a-Part, and it left this morning. I figured no one would be willing to pay much for it given the work it would have required to bring it back to good condition, and keeping it longer would have required me to continue the insurance that expired on Monday.

So, if anyone near Louisville, KY needs any parts for a 99 V-70 wagon, it should show up on their lot soon. By the way, although this is a 99, it is an early 99 and does NOT have variable valve timing. Also, it is a non-turbo. And, I can give inside information on what parts might be good or bad. I will get another thread started dedicated to the availability of the car.

The Pull-a-Part phone number is 502-375-9375, and you can check their inventory on line to see when it is available. The car is white, has a broken right lower tail light lens, and the bottom rear corner of the driver’s side front door is slightly crumpled. The VIN # is YV1 LW55A 4X259 8838. Here is the P-a-P website that should open to the inventory check page: https://www.pullapart.com/locations/louisville/

Thanks all for the help.

Charley