I bought the car from the original owner at 150k they claim transmission was replaced at 75k by the local Volvo dealer which they verified. I did timing and serpentine belts, water pump, plugs, coils, and transmission flush (not the toyota fluid) immediately upon buying the car.

Flash forward to December 20 2012 I'm a mile from my house sitting at a stoplight. Starting in the past week the car has had some issues slipping from 2 to 3 (if i recall) and sometimes bumping into reverse. About 3 weeks before I hit a pothole and I noticed a moderate vibration at highway speeds peaking at 60-63 mph but went away at 70+. I start taking local roads to get to work and plan to bring the car into my mechanic for a probable shock replacement and my overdue upper motor mount replacement but for the time being I drive 35 to 40 mph with no vibration and everything is good.

Back to December 20 2012. Its 11:58 PM 2 minutes away from the supposed 12/21/2012 end of the world. Instead it is the end of my transmission. The light turns green and I ease into the accelerator and the car moves forward a couple of feet, slips, engages again and then slips giving me enough power to coast into a gas station. I try to run through all the gears, let it sit, turn off and on the car but I get no engagement. My friends come and we push my car home where it has sat for the past 8 months. This gives me a lot of time to reflect on the elegant design and superb fit and finish of the car especially since I can't use it to do things like go to work or school. To make things worse only the week before I basically gave away a ratty but solid e36 I was saving for lemons.

Here are 2 videos of what my car sounds like

Can anyone identify what could be causing my beautiful Volvo to make this sound?

In park I can rev the motor without the metal noise. That crunch noise you hear is when I select park. I cannot find anyone referencing this exact problem. Usually its people saying their transmission is slipping and they're told they need to rebuild or replace not a rapidly deteriorating failure. Is it possible my motor mount issue caused or played a part in the transmission problem? Maybe I could switch out the valve/solenoid rather than rebuild or repair? I haven't been able to get under the car nor have I had a mechanic look at the car as I had another car to use for getting around and I knew I couldn't afford the repair at the time anyway.

I really like this car and I don't mind putting time and money into repairs as I know how long these cars can last but after doing a lot of reading I don't know if its worth the trouble. I'm thinking about going back to BMWs because they are generally reliable and I'm more familiar with them or finally going Honda which I don't really need to be too familiar with as most of the time they just work.

I see transmissions on ebay for 400-600. I'd need to borrow some friends + their engine crane and some tools so lets say an additional $100 for a uhaul and beer.

Or I could do a manual transmission swap. What components and at what cost could I get the parts for a manual swap? Even if its more I'd be okay with spending the money to have a manual transmission v70 with a motor I know is in great shape.

My last option is to part out the car. How much could I recoup in parts if I sold them for more than reasonable prices on forums, ebay, and craigslist and then sell or scrap the shell? The average amount cash for cars people are offering is 4 to 5 hundred so I really don't want to do that.

For those who took the time to read all of this than you I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

What fluid did you use with the flush?

This sounds like something came apart in the trans. A motor mount isn't going to cause this or fix this.