Driving down the road and all of a sudden a message appears 'Transmission Service Required', the car goes into what can only be described as 'Limp' mode, also to go with that the 'Emissions light' comes on!!? What the hell is happening to my car? I had to pull over first thing I did was to check the Trans fluid, I'd been driving for approx. 10 minutes and the level on the dipstick was on the minimum of the 'Cold' area, I managed to get it home and let it rest, checked the levels on the dipstick from cold and the level is over the maximum 'Hot' indicator?????????? If this is wrong I want to know why it wasn't picked up when the servicing was done, Isn't it normal practice to check? I've acquired a copy of the 2005 Vadis program and this tells me to check the levels when hot, so driving it for at least 30 mins, yeh in limp mode??? And not only that if the fluid is that high when cold how much damage is it doing to the box and then all of a sudden its my fault its screwed!? Guys I need Help in a big way, this car cost me a small fortune, the service record is upto date and the car has only covered 68k.
2001 UK S60
2.0 T SE Auto
Any help is very much appreciated
Thanks
Finchy

 

Your problem is not fluid. More than likely there is a sensor or something like that, that threw a code.

You are not going to find out on here what it is. Take it in to a dealer or an Indy shop. Have them read the codes.

And you never said when or if the fluid was ever changed. Don't depend on dealer service to do that. Most times in limp mode, the trans isn't toast. It's a diagnostic to shut the trans down and go into second or third gear to avoid shifting.

this is a thread copied from S80 but may be relevant...
I have a 99 s80 t6 with a transmission service required message on. I pulled the codes and got a 748 and a 1618. I think the 1618 is for the abs module, but the 748 is for the line pressure sensor inside the transmission. This kicked the car into limp home mode. After I pulled the codes I was able to jump out of limp home mode for enough time to shift through all the gears without any slipping. The car is currently at the only transmission shop in town and they are quoting me 2800 for a complete overhaul which comes with a 3 year 36k warranty. They told me they pulled the pan and found more material in it than what is normal. My only concern is that the transmission doesn't need all this work.

 

FredMc, Well you must be tellepathic or something! I had it collected and taken to a local transmission specialist, they did a diagnostic check on it and it came up with a speed sensor fault and that they could overide this by doing a small modification to the wiring??? This I have to say did worry me, Modifying the wiring?? (Need input on this one)This of course wasn't covered on the 'Gold' warranty that supposedly covered everything!! So I asked them if it was covered for a complete change, Huh! Sorry sir that would come down to your cost, after quite a while screaming and shouting, I'm taking it further and going to court to get my money back, £500 is alot of money for nothing! Anyway, FredMc, I'm now looking on Vadis as to where the sensor is situated (If its shown) and if I can do it myself then I will, Many thanks for your reply and with limited information on my problem auto box you've hit it on the head, my mistake on the service covering the auto box, just thought that for the money people pay for servicing it would at least be looked at. So what do you think about this mod that they preposed? I assume it would have been some sort of bypass?? Again many thanks.
Finchy

 

I'm sure it's nothing you want to hear, but in my opinion, aftermarket non-manufacturer warranties are worthless. Completely worthless.

First, chances are, you'll never need repairs that are both covered and more expensive than the cost of the warranty

Second, if a large repair is in covered system, they're going to go to GREAT lengths not to pay. My moms husband is a mechanic and he says that for big repairs they'll send out specialists that take samples and do metallurgical tests and such. Any way at all for them to suggest that you didn't do proper maintenance ("our records show you went 3200 miles between that last oil change. You know your manufaturer suggests 3k mile intervals. Sorry. Claim denied")

Proof of this is that these people are still in business and generating profits.

An aftermarket for the 2003 2.4t i just bought ran something like $3k for the 100k mile protection. THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! No thanks. I'm putting $150 a month in a money market account and earning 6% on it. I'll use it for repairs and keep the rest.

 

Sounds like good advice. It really gets to me at the moment because this is MY car, this is the one that I wanted, did all the research, I have a young family and this has everything that I need.The problem isn't with Volvo, I honestly think the cars a excellent, Its just a damn shame that some people out there con you into handing over obscene amounts of money for a warranty that says it covers everythingonly for them to say 'Sorry Sir this isn't covered'. If I didn't love my car so much I'd park it in their head office - Via the windows!!
Many thanks for all advice.
Finchy

 

Hello guys,

So I ran into an issue last night with my car going into "limp mode." I was on a 3.5 hour trip last night driving through the mountains and it's been getting really cold up here. The temperature reading on my dash kept dropping down into the single digits and eventually got down to below zero. I'm coasting along and when the temp got down to like 1 degree i notice that a "-" replaced the "D" symbol and that the "transmission service required" light had come on along with the check engine light. well i was about 3 minutes from the next town so I "limped" in and parked the car thinking i should probably call someone. well after i turned the car off i turned it back on again and noticed it was out of limp mode. so, i drove it a little bit in town and it shifted fine. i decided i should just continue to the next town because i didn't want to be stuck where i was at. I'm driving along again and the temp drops and i'm coasting and the car goes in limp mode again. so by now i'm thinking it's doing this because of the cold. well i park the car, get it out of limp mode, and then start driving again but this time i didn't let it just coast. I kept the car running between 2.5 - 3.5k the rest of the time (driving over a peak with a -4 degree reading) and it didn't go into limp mode anymore for the 1.5 hour remainder of the trip.

by the way i just had the transmission flushed about 200 miles before this happened.

has anyone had any issues like this before?
Is it doing this because of the temp?
if i do the message reset thing will it reset the check engine light as well?

Thanks everyone in advance for your help!

 

Hi, not quite understanding--can you be more specific about the temperature you are reading? The reading you mention is the outside temperature, is that correct? how was the coolant temperature? was it OK? What year is yours and have you had the ETM upgrade, if applicable?

 

Hello,

The temp i was reading was the outside temp that's displayed next time the time on the dash. I have the 2003 s60 2.5T AWD. I think the coolant temp was fine it was extremely cold. Also, I have not had the ETM upgrade. I haven't really wanted to pay 130 for it if it didn't need it. I also have seen hat some people have had issues after getting that done.

Thanks for your response.

 

WOW... just went to checker and used an OBDII scan tool there. there were a total of 2 errors...

P0700 Transmission Control System (MIL Request)
P0740 Torque Converter Clutch solenoid circuit

There was also some freeze frame data for the P0740 Code:

Engine Coolant Temp: -40 degrees F
Vehicle Speed 57 MPH

It only went into limp mode when i had been cruising for a couple minutes. My friend thinks that with it being as cold as it was, the torque converter wouldn't lock up when i started to cruise so the car went into limp mode.

As far as the -40 degree engine coolant temp goes, we think that the car didn't actually capture a reading to store so it just assigned the lowest possible value the system thinks that field could be, -40.

As for the P0700 code, since the torque converter wouldn't lock up, the TCS started freaking out so it threw out that code.

Any ideas, thoughts, anything? Thanks!

 

Maybe the soleniod was sticking in the cold weather.