We had a supposedly trusted mechanic work on our 1993 240 volvo. We asked him to do a flush on our transmission as it hadn't been done as part of the work. He sent me a video going on about how clean it was the filter nice and clean everyting in fantastic shape. Put volvo dexron fluid back in. Upon getting the car back it wasn't going into overdrive. Immediatly upon getting it back........... I was told it was going to feel different. sound different as I had new motor mounts put in. " Drive it like you stole it nothings wrong." It continued to have problems shuttering, vibration not feeling like it was going into gear. After having the exhaust lowered , new exhaust put on etc we found the guy had put on the wrong motor mount making the tranny hit the bottom of the car....... Had to motor mount put on the correct one.......... same issue not going into 4th.... I took it to two different tranny shops who checked the fluid and said my 4th gear pack inside the tranny is toast. Fluid is burned. So my question I guess is can this just happen like this with a fluid flush and refill where you lose 4th gear at the snap of a finger or did the mechanic screw something up?

Hi,

Please explain the part about this person being a "trusted" mechanic?
You must be operating under some sort of past experience with him or someone else's to come up with this statement.
How long have you had this car?
Did you get it "used" recently?
How many miles on the car? Is it on it first, second or third hundred thousand mile stretch?
It sounds like you were at the end of one of those above.

Does this fellow wheel and deal in a lot of these cars or just older cars in general?
What made him so special for you to like him and doesn't he road test his work?
The rest of the story also smells fishy to me too!
Let me write one and see if it flys or stinks!

First of all,
Why does or why would any mechanic document a routine maintenance service procedure in such a way? Especially on any one particular item, that obviously now has a bigger issue?

Secondly, how long did you leave the car in his possession for all this work to be done?
Had you ever had any other long term work done by him before this?
Do you ever drop by to chat or even stay there, whenever, you had work done there before?
Too many people, "drop it and leave it" or are "shuttled away."
Nowadays, it means the mice will play or work-it-into the APPOINTMENT and charge some hourly scheduled rate, irregardless of what they really did out of some 26 things on a numb nuts list!

Lastly, If you fit into any of the many scenarios above, consider this, Your transmission apparently went into someone else's car!
A Transmission failure comes with warnings signs, long before they really do!

These transmissions are used in lots other cars besides Volvos.
It appears to me that the transmission mount was more wrong than your engine motor mounts were but it's like a tripod, it will try to sit whichever way it can down with equal pressure.
Mounting devices are always different to make the same transmission or engines fit a different body support systems.
Maybe you got the wrong or shot-out mount on the replacement transmission in the bargain too!
Very possible that video you got was a sales pitch to another shop that had this bad boy!
No matter, Your puppy is long gone!

Very possible he slid out yours and put it into another clients of his or another shop.
You got that video, that was meant for another person to see!
It's was an accident and he might not even know he did it until too late!
ONLY because of not changing the contact page! I've done it between family conference messaging.
Yep, He was selling it!
They only know it's hanging there from anybody car and I bet the video is all under your car that has nothing to identifying it to be your car per say, he thinks!

But that is not always true and if the car goes into another state or is salvaged from another state, there are numbers to be found about that nobody's but law enforcement knows about with their locations on a build file.
I know this as I did this with a car and they put it up on a rack for about 45 minutes. It was inspected to give me a clear title that says salvaged and accurate. Otherwise, you have to show receipts for any item not matching build information. Things are serialized and have casting stamp clocks!
They have been tightening up in many ways against fraud due to flooded cars and their parts for years too!
Mine was just owner to owner with insurance companies "totaling" or should it be said, "stealing cars!"

How long was it before you picked up the car from the time stamp on the video?
That shows a time line and opportunities!
You might have to resort to negotiation with him and the Better Business Bureau's advice in your town or state, if you can prove any of this!
If he intends to stay in business, he will cough and turn his head a few times over this video if you play coy and hold your cards close to your chest!
Some large metropolitan areas have a division of police for this stuff too!

I sure hope you still have the video with all the close up scenes, of that, "so clean and in such fantastic shape" to nearly be call new transmission.
If the video shows the transmission NOT TO BE exactly the same oily spots and marks that you have in there now, then you got him with his own evidence.

It's stuff like this that gets criminals spotted for their dumbness!

Good luck!

Phil

So a simple fluid change would not immediatly make one lose 4th gear as long as that white wire and solenoid was good? This is the most important thing I need to know. We've owned the car for the last 100,000 miles. It has 200,000 on it. We've had it for 10 years or so. I have and email with my tranny numbers from volvo to make sure the right fluid was put in it which it was. I will be checking to make sure we have our transmission in our car as the mechanic did have our car for a long time............way to long.

Ditto to Phils good writeup of the situation. This story smells in a number of ways; More than odd that someone would have the time or inclination to film a repair. A motor mount replacement is an easy but dirty job. Cant imagine using the wrong mount. The warning about the car driving different makes no sense. I fear this story is not going to have a happy ending. Getting a crooked or incompetent shop to fix their mistakes is near impossible. Also, I have had a few transmissions repaired, and never been happy.

I suggest you consider saving the 1500 dollars plus that you would spend on a trans rebuild, watch for a bad looking but good shifting Volvo for sale, ( so you can verify a good trans ), and pay to have the trans swapped from the Junk Volvo.
Sell the rest for parts. In the meantime, have the trans fluid changed or flushed again, NOT BY "TRUSTED MECHANIC", and drive it as a 3 speed until you can find a good used trans. ( in a car that you can test by driving). You might could do that for $1500, if you are patient. Also verify the OD lockout is working. Easy to do. Hope this helps.

Check your
overdrive solenoid for operation..If it failed. Then the overdrive (4th) will Not engage.

That was my first thought as it was fixed and repaired right before going to this "trusted" mechanic but it was tested at both transmission shops to be working correctly. My husband had replaced the white wire and put in a brand new solenoid. It literally ran fine in the process of taking it to the mechanic for a bunch of new stuff. (shocks, struts, new water pump as ours leaked a little, fixing all the leaks, new motor mounts and tranny mounts ( which he messed up as noted ) The instant we got it back driving down the hwy to home it didn't go inot 4th gear. The oil in the transmission which now has less then 200 miles on it was supposedly new. It's all burned smelling. The tranny shops are saying my transmission needs to be completely rebuilt. That's why I'm wondering if a simple flush and fluid change can wreck a transmission within a 7 mile drive. Heck it;s maybe 2 miles before you are supposed to be going 50 mph. So within a couple miles with new fluid? Boom toast?