Greetings- I would really appreciate an experienced look at this repair scenario:

I noticed my 1998 V70AWD is hesitant in shifting, and decide to take it in for a look before I move from NY to DC. It's not slipping out of gear, mind you, just not anting to shift up or down as it should - I'm thinking an actuator or something like that.

Against my better judgement, I brought it to the dealer, and was told "the transmission is shot"... no further explanation. I did not want to bring it to the shop, but I am a soldier and had to report to a new duty station in just a few days. When I asked, he just said "we hooked up the computer to it - it says it's an internal malfunction... long story short, it cost me about $2000 for a used transmission (allegedly w/38K on it). After the tranny was installed, the dealer clled me back and said "More bad news." It seems the reason the transmission wasn't shifting was because the turbo was seized up, so the engine wasn't throwing enough power to the tranny for it to shift. So I ask him "If it wasn't getting enough power, then how do you know the tranny was bad?" to which he just said "the computer said so."

Having moved to DC, Five weeks and over $3000 in repairs later, I flew back to NY to get the car and it seemed to be running fine, except for the fact that on day two, my entire cooling system purged all over a parking lot. I brough it back and the dealer fixed it fast, but told me it was a "non-related" problem... just a coincidence, despite the fact that he had run a pressure check on the cooling system while he had the vehicle, as I had asked him to (to trouble shoot a persistent coolant smell.)

So... Here is my question- How many times and how badly was I screwed here? What do you think the proper recourse is for this kind of situation? I should tell you he discounted the repair bill by 15% (resulting in a total $3200 repair bill) because I had to wait so long, but he had already told me he was discounting it by 10% for being active-duty military!

I am really re-thinking my love of Volvos.