We have purchased a certified used 1998 V70 AWD. How often are you supposed to change ATF in these cars? It looks fairly brown and begins to smell unfruitful.
I can't find anything in the owner's manual about ATF changing intervals. Dealership told me "...these cars have sealed transmissions, you don't change ATF in them..." What about all those famous stories about bevel gears / driveshafts / other AWD mechanism parts? Is there some sort of a technical bulletin available? Does anyone know how to get in touch with the factory representative for the southeastern region (TN) if I need to? There are other things that the dealer has overlooked prior to purchase, but ATF seems to be one of the major ones. Other V70 AWD owners - feel free to post whatever comments you may have, especially about the AWD drivetrain. THANKS !!!

Alex Pozdniakov
Chattanooga, TN

Thanks for your posts, everybody! Information has been extremely helpful, I still have a few things to settle with the dealer where we bought the car, they did not even do CPO pre-delivery service yet. Updates will follow, the car goes in for a 25+ point "TO DO" list this Thursday. Thanks again!

Alex

Just did the trani flush per the procedure on Bay13 and it was a "piece o cake".
If you just bought the car, I would push the dealer into doing it as you probably have "hard" shifting. Mine did until I changed the fluid---its like night and day.

Hi Alex,

Volvo is now recommending that the AFT be inspected and or replace if needed every 15k miles. If your cars’ ATF is brown and smells burned have it flushed/drained and add Synthetic AFT oil. Note, there is a 24mm bolt located at the bottom of the transmission. You can do a drain and fill yourself. It is no more harder then changing the Engine Oil.

Second there is a Service Bulletin (Volvo SB# 44300040011) on changing the Transfer-case Gear oil in some 98 AWD/XC. Verify that the gear oil has been changed or you have a car that does not require the change. If the car does not require the change get it in writing form the Dealer. It may come in handy in the future if there is a failure.

And make sure that you maintain all tires to be the same size and brand/make and you won’t have any problems with the AWD components. And If possible stay off the space saver spare.

Good Luck,

Steven---

I change mine every year, in every car I have had, (Mercedes, BMW, etc)

Along with brake fluid, power sterring fluid, Coolant, and filters. I'd rather drive the car than have it at the dealers, even if under warranty...
One thing about European car mfg'rs. They teach PEVENTATIVE maint...

It makes sense to me to have things replaced prior to the car breaking down..That way I can plan the expendatures, rather than be surprised...
But I am anal.....

Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!

And no you are not "Anal" and you are not alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steven ~:-)

Bay 13, done by a regular guy here, [http://www.volvospeed.com/bay13.htm]
shows the correct proceedure on how one can flush their ATF. With your trans, regular ATF is OK but Volvo has a better, very expensive synthetic ATF which is best for AWD auto trannies. The stuff sells for about $15 per liter bottle and Volvo suggests 16 liters of the stuff to properly flush it and fill. There's a SB or tech-net note which describes the proceedure and lists the PN but a dealer parts guy should know what fluid you need if you wish to go that route (a very expensive trans flush but the best fluid you can use for it).

Now.........as for all the horror stories here about XCs, you will keep your car (hopefully) troublefree IF you make certain to always keep 4 of the exact same tires all around. That means that if your blow out one or have two that are more worn than the others (from lack of proper rotation) that you always replace ALL 4 at a time, never just one or two. Costly? yep but better than the consequences of AWD component failure as none of those parts are cheap.
Try to never use the POS spacesaver spare either as if you read your owners manual on that, if you go faster or more miles than what it says, you will damage the angle gear and Volvo most likely won't help you even though it's certified. I don't know what a person would do if they were on the road and needed that in an area w/o a tire shop nearby or if it was after hours, pull over and spend the night?

Hi Ron,

When I need to replace the original Conti tire on my 99 XC I bought a matching rim and purchased 5 non-directional radial tires. This way I have a full size spare tire and I can now do a 5-tire rotation. That POS space saver spare is waiting in my garage for the day I trade in my 99xc.

Steven---

I recently bought the 98 R wagon AWD, and changed the tranny fluid asap. It is cheap maintainance, and should be done every 30k, according to Volvo. I change mine yearly, along with engine coolant. Also have the brake fluid changed, again cheap to do, but will extend brake system parts. The comments about the viscous coupling's failure are a result of people not reading the owner's manual. Simply do not have different tire / wheel sizes, all must be the same size / type. And as my mechanic says, if you abuse the system something will give, typically the viscous coupling. Like Forest Says "Stupid is as stupid does"
My car & I don't read Consumer Reports, and we are doing just fine, actually all 3 Volvos are doing fine.
92 740 wagon 96k
94 850 tubo 120k
98 R wagon 45k

Enjoy
Spence

Avpman,

Congrats on your purchase and please don't be discouraged reading the previous posts. Some people have had bad experiences with their cars and think all of them have the very same problems. Although Consumer Reports (who I never rely to btw..) lists them on the "cars to avoid", a lot of people are still happy with their '98. All depends on the quality of service (dealers) and I believe you are just unlucky with yours so far. Go to another one if you can in order to get a second opinion. And since when a '98 has a "sealed" transmission.. this is plain BS. There is a TSB on AWD transmissions to replace the factory ATF to synthetic one which should correct the harsh shifting, which I presume you might be getting at this point in time. Do yourself a favor and insist to get it replaced ASAP. A brownish color accompanied with a bad smell isn't what we're looking for in terms of Xmission longevity. I have a 2000 XC and have had that TSB performed at 25,000Kms. So far so good now at 60,000Kms and the car has performed flawlessly since then. Hopefully you enjoy your car as much as I do with mine. Looking forward to hearing the outcome of your issues.. Hang in there and don't give up!!

"...these cars have sealed transmissions, you don't change ATF in them..."

At least with the "normal" SVC 70s, you can and do change the ATF. My dealer changes the ATF on automatic cars (I have an manual) about every 30,000 miles. And I think my dealer is pretty bad. Amazingly, the Official Volvo 850-SVC 70 maintainance schedule does not specify ANY ATF changes. As for the AWD/bevel gear, I don't believe it is servicable. You just change (replace) the entire bevel gear as a unit. The dealer will (happily) take Visa, Mastercard, American Express.....

Actually, if you have the 100,000 mile warranty and you don't think Volvo will try to weasel out of a claim, you could wait for the transmission to melt and then treat your new transmission the way your original transmission should have been treated.

There is a bulletin, of sorts, on the Volvo AWDs, in that Consumer Reports has, and has had them on their "Used Cars to Avoid" list.

-Punxsutawney Phil

Alex, in the manuals I got with my new XC, the full maintenance schedule is in a separate warranty and maintence book. That may be what you need to determine the ATF changeover schedule. If you don't have that, you may be able to access it on line. Go to Volvo's official website, to the Owner's Circle. Register. There will be fields to identify you year and model. Once that was done in my case, I had access to the full maintenance schedule on line. Try that to at least see if it gives you more detail than the operation manual.