I re-wrote this post because I think that I gave way too much information to read. Bumping back up with the hopes of a reply.

I have a 86 Volvo 240 (automatic) that I was going to attempt a simple "flush" of the old transmission fluid by disconnecting the upper transmission cooling hose (at the radiator) and doing a one quart in, to one quart out, fluid replacement.

My "problem" is this... When I disconnect the upper transmission line from the radiator, and start the car, fluid pumps equally from both the radiator and the line. I started the car twice (for about a count of two seconds) and the oil continued to pump from both ends. When I did this same flush with another vehicle, fluid only came out of one side with suction (I presume) on the other side.

This doesn't seem right, and I don't think that this is normal. I'm thinking that maybe the filter is clogged up? Hoping that isn't more.


Thank you in advance for any advice or insight.

 

Rewrote my original post for more clarity...hoping for a reply.
Hope that it's O.K. to do this.

Thank you.

 

I have performed this same exact drain/refill method using the upper cooling line on my 86 240. All the fluid came out of the radiator fitting at about 1 qt. every 40 seconds, nothing out of the metal return line.

I would pull the pan next.

 

Thank you Bubba240,

I was afraid that answer might be the one.

Down comes the Pan. I never thought that I'd be hoping for a clogged filter.

Strange, the car shifts and runs flawlessly.

I appreciate your help and advice. Thank you for the reply!

 

Transmission. Automatic AW70 and ZF

 

Thank you for the link, Bubba. I found a lot of good, useful, information there.

Ordered a filter and gasket kit - I'll post the final results after the filter change.

Hope to find a filter full of.....lint.

Thank you again.

 

I had the exact same issue when I tried to flush my transmission on my 92 240. Mine shifted with no issues but I did notice that I had a slight low pitch whine/whistle at idle coming from the transmission. I dropped my pan and found this.


Here is an up close picture of the junk on the filter.


After I replaced the filter and cleaned the transmission pan which also had alot of nasty junk in it. I filled it up to the proper level and when I did a flush to get the old fluid that was in the lines everything went the way it should with fluid coming out the top of the radiator with nothing coming out of the top line that was disconnected.

 

Thank you zero324.

This is good news. I never thought that I'd be hoping for a clogged filter.

I'm grateful that you had the foresight to take pictures. I really appreciate you posting these....thanks too, for the account of how yours acted before and after the clean-up. I hope that I have the exact same results.

Do you have any idea what caused the build up in yours?

Thanks again.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

Just something to remember here. When you pull the pan or flush the system there is still contaminated fluid in the torque converter. You can't get all of it out because there is no drain plug for the torque converter. The best way I found was to do a 5-6 quart flush by removing the rear transmission cooler line at the transmission. Start it up and run it and pump out 3-4 qts. Turn it off and fill it up and do it again. Now pull the pan and replace the filter. Fill it up and do the flush again. I use maybe 10-15 qts and by then most of the torque conv. fluid has pretty much cleaned up.

 

I believe mine was caused due to neglect by the previous owner. My 92 240 wagon had right at 500k when I purchased it from the second owner who had the entire service history from the first owner who sold it when the car had 395k. The second owner only had records of one brake job, oil changes and a neutral switch replacement. The father of the second owner told me that she only got service work done when something went wrong.

When I purchased the car the OD didn't work and had a few electrical issue. I highly recommend not driving a 240 from Athens,GA to Charlotte, NC which is right at 200 miles with out OD. That probably didn't help matters with the transmission by doing that but for as cheap as I got the car for I can't complain.

 

Well, just a quick update.....
Finally had a chance to drop the pan, but the filter seems to be completely clean.
This is probably bad news.
I'm still letting the transmission drip clean before inspecting it further. Maybe I'll see something then.

Filter screen looks brand new at this point.

 

The story is getting worse....

I did find a little dirt, but it is on the WRONG side (transmission side) of the filter. I also found a small fiber that is about 1/8 inch long that appears to be brass.

In other bad news, the filter didn't have any sort of gasket between it and the transmission. I'm sure that this is wrong.

The filter certainly didn't have enough to impede the flow of the fluid.

I somehow got the wrong filter at the parts store....I have to return it for the proper one.

My plan is to replace the filter and gasket, somehow flush out as much fluid as possible, and run the slop out of the car. I'm hoping that the filter and gasket will catch the dirt and things will make themselves right.

I know that this isn't very likely, but there's probably not much else I can do.


Update next week sometime.