My transmission began leaking a few days back causing a small smoke screen while idle. I took it to a local transmission "specialist" who wanted to tear it down completely in order to get me a quote ($279 just to take a peek!) Today, it is leaking like a red river while idling and dripping all over the front portion of the exhaust. It shifts perfect as long as it is full of fluid, of course, but it has never showed any signs of wear prior to the leak and shifts strong.

What to do? What should I expect to pay?

86 245 "Ballena Azul"

I think no, I have the same problem, my tranny consumes more than 1 qt. by week, I think that ia seal or something like that. The problem was, the oil cooler was broken. The first step is clean all area (wait until the car is not warm), then road (your car of course) about 5 km and inspect were is the AT fluid.
hope this help U.


Edwin

240T 1983

No cliches from me.

It's leaking on the exhaust: It is likely to be leaking from the transmission cooler lines. On the 200 series, they are held against the bellhousing by a bolt-on bracket that eventually chafes through the lines after a period of time. What ends up happening is that the fluid dumps directly on the exhaust since the line (or lines) are sliced wide open.

There isn't much on that side, aside from the transmission pan and cable. But that wouldn't leak onto the exhaust.

The trans cooling lines are around fifty or sixty dollars apiece, pre-bent, at the Volvo dealer. You can also effectively put a coupling in that gets rid of the bad section.

Bottom line, have it fixed. If it isn't leaking from the trans cooler line, it could be leaking from somewhere else in that general area. A leak that big is certainly easy to identify. That is too much money for just an "inspection". People expect to pay $$$ for transmission work, so shops charge a fortune to do simple things (sometimes simple things, I should say).


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Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

I agree with everyone that suggested the transmission cooler line. I have an '82 240 and fixed mine over the weekend. The line was worn through from rubbing on the clamp and frame.

I cut out both sections of line under the clamp, about 1.5", then installed transmission line hose with hose clamps. It works great and cost me less than $4. Much easier than putting a whole new line in.

Of course it could be coming from several other sources, I still have some tranny leaks but very minor in comparison to the leaking line.

You can usually get away with replacing it with hose. if you do that, use double hose clamps on each end for safety. The line is low pressure, but very high flow. In other words, it dumps a big quantity in a hurry.
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Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

FIND your leak origin. As stated..your tranny works okay when it has fluid in it. You have a leak somewhere. Clean it off and start it up, then look for the leak. Could be something very minor, like a cooling line or a seal. Let us know what you find.

where exactly is it leaking? It seems to me that your mechanic wants to buy his wife a nice valentines day present. $300 just to take a peek? You can buya used tranny for that much and it still might not solve your problem. Could it be a leak in one of your cooler lines and its spraying on the exhaust? Is it leaking from the tailshaft bushing? I cant picture in my mind if a leak at the tailshaft would spray on the exhaust? I think you first need to crawl under there and see exactly where the leak is and then you will be able to get some detailed help here on the board.


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'82 DL - 153k, '93 945 - 101k

A large flow leak usually comes from a fluid line (transmission, gas, brake, etc) and not just a bad seal. My 240 drips tranny fluid from a bad seal, whereas it sounds like you just have a perforated transmission line - a fairly easy fix...definitely not the end..

Jay
84 245 GLTi 221k

I agree. Anyone who owns an old car should have a pair of car ramps available.
Anyhow find a safe way to get under your car and have a good look.

You've got to find out where it's leaking from. Worst case, it's from the front seal. In that case the tranny has to be removed. See if you have rubber hose connection between the cooler lines. Some cars do, and I would suspect that first since it's getting on the exhaust. Other common leaks is the rear seal, not so expensive to fix.

Most likely, you have a cracked cooling line between the transmission and radiator. There's a bracket at the engine/transmission joint which holds the 2 cooling lines loosely, and will wear through them eventually.
Take it to a real mechanic, who can either repair or replace the line, depending on his judgement and skill.
You are unlikely to have an actual transmission problem.

I agree with mcduck, sounds like it could be one of your transmission cooler lines. Should be relatively cheap to repair.

These trannies (AW70) last a long time. BTW - how many miles?