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Hi Bill,
You should have seen the look on my face when I discovered that the transmission fluid in my 99XC was fried. My first response was at 15K miles on the car this should not have happened! To me something was very wrong!
Next I made an appointment with my dealer to have the fluid change and had a long talk with 2 factory representatives. I came to 2 conclusion after my discussion with the factory representatives.
1) Volvo used an ATF oil that did not meet the specification of the transmission and that the ATF used to flush my transmission by the Dealer did meet the specification and no damage was done.
2) I felt deep down (my little birdy) that I was being Bull S to by 2 individual who were covering up a problem that Volvo want to avoid at all cost.
So I drove the car for another 8K miles and started to see Volvo’s new and improved AFT (an AFT that was suppose to meet the transmission specification) turning brown and smelling burnt! At this point I made the decision to throw Volvo into a tree shredder and proceed on my own.
I installed an after-market transmission oil cooler. You know the type you can buy at your local car parts store design for trailer towing. And I also installed a paper filter (Fram PH8A) with a magnet attached to the side of the can. I did all this at 23K miles. Now I have 39K miles on the car and the transmission fluid is as rosy red as the day I last did a flush (23K miles back on January 15 2001). Problem Solved!
The reason I did not chose to go with Mobil 1 was I though it would be a waste of money if the transmission burned the Mobil 1 and the Valvaline semi-synthetic was heavier in weight (thicker) which solve some of the shifting problems I was having with the car. Both Valvaline and Mobil 1 claimed to have the same high temperature resistance. So I decided to take the cheaper road.
However, my 96 BMW 328i just passed the 50K-mile mark and I had the transmission flushed and used Mobil 1. At 50K miles my BMW AFT looked almost new (a deep red color).
Good Luck,
Steven---
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