I performed the automatic transmission flush & refill method (described in threads here and in the IPD flush kit instructions) on my 1995 850 non-turbo wagon with 160k miles. The old fluid was pretty dark even though it looked ok on the dipstick. I used a can of BG Quick Clean and almost 16 quarts of the Mobil 1 synthetic fluid before the fluid looked really clean pouring out of the top cooler line. (At nearly $8 a quart it sure wasn't cheap!) After it was all clean and back together I took it for an easy drive...

As I pulled into a driveway apron at a pizza place my plastic bumper scraped the ground pretty hard, I went in got my pizza. As I returned to the car I noticed the smell of ATF (it has that unmistakable smell, eh?) I figured it was the smear/residue under the hood. As I pulled down the street I looked back at the parking space I just left I saw a large bloody puddle and a streak following the path I took out of there... (Oh-no!) Oh, yes... I was roughly 300 yards away from an auto store and I used my momentum to get to the parking lot of the Advance Auto Parts store. (spewing fluid all the way) My lower hose clamp failed and was gone and the hose was loose! I hadn't touched the lower line, I guess it was just a frikken coincidence and the bump on the curb knocked it loose.?!!??%^$#@ And about $120 in fluid all over the street, and... i was "that guy" fixing his car in the store parking lot! cripes!

Anyhow... to my question.

The store was out of Mobil 1 and in my haste I refilled the tranny with ATF, not the Mercon fluid my manual recommends. It is nearly a week later and I have just NOW realized (while taking out the trash/recyclables) that I refilled with the wrong fluid. Any guesses or advice on what I may have done to my tranny?

 

What kind of ATF did you use?
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Hey now,

How far/many miles have you put on the car?

Have you noticed any difference in the performance? Shifting when taking off or passing? Any "new to you" noises from the transmission?

Aweek is a long time if you put on lots of miles.

If you haven't noticed anything different in the way the car feels or runsthen I would suggest, strongly, that you get what you need(flush and fill)back into the transmission as soon as possible.

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[IMG]local://upfiles/14053/762F10A6E5E342EAA99BF45BC2B4D941.jpg[/IMG]

 

in my haste i put ATF4 into it. the fella at the store was as helpful as he could be (albiet slightly misdirected) and helped me jerk together a "clamp" to get home. this week i may have put 150~200 miles on it and just tonight was when i did a double take as i was tossing out the empty bottles into the recycle bin. OY! the shifting is slightly "stronger" from 1st to 2nd (like using a clutch slightly aggressively) but seems mostly normal otherwise.

 

^What's it say on the bottle? Dexcron what?

 

I would suggest that you drain and replace the fluid with the proper fluid as soon as you can. If I remember correctly, ATF+4 was designed with special friction modifiers in it for Chrysler cars since the mid to late 90's

 

>(Oh-no!) Oh, yes...
This pinned me onto the floor on all fours, a great job indeed.

>albiet slightly misdirected
however greatly misguided you.

ATFs are not interchangeable and you MUST use the specified fluid. The 850s use Dexron-III/Mercon. Synthetic fluid is a waste of money on these gearboxes. I would flush the gearbox with generic Dexron-III/Mercon (I used to use Coastal because it was the cheapest), and I would do 2thorough flushes. I believe the Coastal fluids are about $2.50 each, unless they went up due to the skyrocketed oil price. It may be too late but is still a good trial before you buy a used/rebuilt tranny.


JPN

 

I buy Dexron III at Wal Mart by the gallon when they have it. I think it's like $13.00 a gallon. Can't remember what brand it was, but it was a brand name.

 

i re-flushed with Dexron/Mercon today (got it from wal-mart, beat the advance auto price by more than a buck a quart) and the ATF4was pretty cloudy and dark coming out. I pushed 3 gallons thru until it was finally a nice clear red color. the shifting seems smoother too. i hope it lasts.

the manager at the store was very defensive [>:]when i told him about his employee and started telling me what this kid probably thought i said... [&:] . i told him straight out. "listen pal, I put the fluid in the car, not him. i'm not blaming HIM. he was real helpful and polite and it was closing time too. but i'll bet some of your other customers WOULD get all tweaked about this sorta thing!talk with him and teach him when to ask for help.i figure you are the shop boss and oughta know about this. thats whay im talking to you... not him. have a good day!" and i turned and started walking out. he then followed me out the door explaining that his employees are generally top notch and that he will look into it.

oh well.
i shoulda taken a picture of the home-made clamp. it was beauty. it was a 3" length of reinforced hose split open like a fish, and then wrapped over the socket/hose end with screw down hose clamps over each fitting. it probably would have lasted a long time.

i put on new clamps today with the new fluid. i took a 30 mile around the city trip to check out the tranny... so far, so good.

 

I'm a bit mystified about just what your gripe is. It seems to me you are trying to place the blame where it doesn't belong.

First of all you did the damage to your own vehicle by bottoming it out. I'd imagine most owners would take the time to look underneath their vehicle if they grounded it so hard - I know I would. You even noticed the smell of ATF but still drove off in the vehicle without checking it for possible damage.

And now the kid gets dobbed into the boss because you purchased the wrong ATF. As the owner of the vehicle it is your responsibilty to ensure you purchase the correct products for your vehicle. Therefore, if you don't know what type of fluid the auto transmission takes (most owners make it their business to know) then have a quick look in the owners handbook - it will give you a few clues.

I hope the kid still has a job, and I certainly wouldn't blame him if he told you to #@%$ considering the dubious reward he got for helping you 'jerk together' a temporary clamp right on knock-off time to get you home - you owe him big-time.

When do you assume responsibilty for your own actions? Haven't you ever made a mistake? Please don't respond because the answer is pretty obvious.

 

Don’t get yourself in a twist over this, pal.
I didn't have a gripe with anybody.
I didn't ground the car hard enough to do anything other than scratch some paint off the bottom plastic, I guess it was a tired clip/clamp or it was cracked... I don’t know... if the metal clip was in proper condition it would have never happened, I figure it was ready to fail when I hit the driveway apron

If you read my message I said to this manager...
"I put the fluid in the car, not him. I’m not blaming HIM. He was real helpful and polite and it was closing time too."
I also spent a minute letting the manager know that his employee was very helpful/courteous/etc., etc.

It was my mistake, not his. And as I said in the first message...
"The store was out of Mobil 1 and in my haste I refilled the tranny with ATF, not the Mercon fluid my manual recommends"

My only implied gripe was with the store mgr. who sort of squared off with me about his new employee. I just wanted him to know that an employee of his could have made a costly mistake with a customer much less understanding than me.

So, do us all a favor and un-flex your Internet muscles. Relax. Take a deep breath and keep your clever innuendo insults to yourself next time.

And to paraphrase what I said to the store manager. You haven't lost a customer; I figure you ought to know about this. That’s why i'm talking to you. Have a good day.

 

Definitely +1

 

I'm still not sure what it is that the kid at the auto parts store did that was wrong. I re-read things and it seemed thathe helped you build a clamp. What was it that he did that causedyouto go speak to the manager for?

 

i went in the store to buy the mercon product. they were out of it. the nice young man sold me the ATF4 assuring me that it was the new best thing... better than the other fluids. im sure that ATF4 is better than the old ATF's. but it clearly is not the best for a car that requires mercon or some other fluid type. the clerk at the store didn't do anything wrong except tell me that ATF4 was a good replacement for mercon/dexron.

i put it in the car. not him. he was a cheerful, helpful, going the extra mile kind of guy.

i shortened the entire story and ommited personal details for this message board to be breif (and, for comedy, i thought...) and perhaps it was a mistake to do that. i had no reason to think that volgrr would scrutinize my posting and feel compelled to reply and correct/adjust my behavior on this thing. i felt that it was an amusing tale of some jerk (ME) having difficulties with his car. if this was on some tv sitcom it would have been a funny episode.

the store im talking about, the clerk i have described.... all good folks and im still a customer at the store. the clerk is aware that i know his boss and likely went the extra mile due to this fact... the manager is even a brother in law to a friend of mine... i live here, it not a big city, i will likely see these folks around...

i have read dozens of posts of things i thought were amusing and the authors seemed to want to share their experience for the benefit of others or just as a "water cooler" type of anecdote. thats all this was meant to be.

 

The next time somebody needs Dexron III the kid probably won't be telling them tha ATF4 is better. And it doesn't sound like you ran the kid down to his boss. I'm on your side.

 

Same here. You have been a good customer, especially considering other kinds you see in today's society[8D]. A good manager appreciates knowing what's going around in his/her business.

Some ATFs are really skeptical, including that ATF4. Another notorious one is Castrol's synthetic-blend for Imports. It says it meets specs for many models, including Volvo. One person has used it and his tranny went haywire.


JPN

 

Yeah, unfortunately, the Volvo transmission seems to do best with nothing other than the OEM fluid. Not worth experimenting with others... Not at a cost of about $2500 to $3000 for a new transmission (that's what it was in 2003 for my rig)...

 

Hey now,

Nov. 17/07 was the day that my waterpump bearing failed and I can understand why you say to stick with the OEM fluids.

A transmission, as you say, can cost close to $3000 [:@]. A replacement engine from Volvo can cost upwards of $8800 [:@][:@][:@]. And that is just for the block and head only.My total estimate was close to $12,000.

When the bearing seized it caused the timing belt to break and that in turn caused head and piston damage [].

I found a replacement engine for $1750 and a whack' o'cash later and I was back in the drivers seat.

Now, if I can just figure out how to remove the heater core I'll save the cash up and change that as soon as I can.

And, as mentioned before, you should always know what your car needs.

While I understand the young man was just trying to be helpful, you should have known better than to trust someone younger than you trying to sell you stuff, particularly for your own car.

Well, you did the right thing and took responsibility and all is well with the world . And I'll bet you now have a little stock pile of fluids. I just bought all that I'll need for a while.


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yep. my plastic recycle bin was overflowing with all the empty one quart bottles.

after i refilled/flushed with the tranny with new mercon fluid i have put nearly 1k miles on it. the transmission shifts a little firm from 1st to 2nd, but 3rd and 4th are smooth and the lockup happens promptly. on a 600 mile roundtrip last weekend i also got 29MPG with a car full of kids and luggage and the transmission fluid still shows up clear and pinky/red so...

i haven't un-crossed my fingers yet, but the tranny may last a while longer. whew! [sm=happy046.gif]

and yes... i am responsible for what i feed my car.just me. ... and i guess you are what you eat.

cheers!

 

Hey now Woodsytf [sm=smiley20.gif],

Glad to hear that the transmission is holding out for you.

I know all about having to pay for work that I cannot perform myself because I don't have a garage or because the work is above my skill level .

And the milage sounds great.

I'm having a number of little nuisance things happening with The Anvil lately. The latest is a stalling issue, I'll look for the appropriate forum, that has me surprised[sm=yikesomg.gif] and dismayed [].


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