My 02 s60 2.4T AWD volvo does not like me anymore although i treat it good.

I recently had an independent shop do a tranny flush(with the right oil Mobile ATF) and they returned the car without the 3rd gear engaging.(it's the auto + shiftronic)
Volvo checked it and said too much oil(so they removed 1l) and i should do a software update and a reset(standard for a tranny flush). Did that but still no 3rd gear.

I can switch to shiftronic and manully jump over the 3rd to 4th and 5th and the car goes just fine but 3 never engages.

so now volvo sais it's a mechanical issue(maybe the valve body) and it has to be taken apart and fixed. the tranny was fixed about 1.5 years ago (possible for the same issue) and had 20.000km on it.

does this mean it's the valve body? i know that's gonna hurt my wallet.
is there anything else i can do now to save(too late for a b4 servo cover??) it or should i just bite the bullet and pay for it?

how can the valve body go after a tranny flush? the car had very rare flare shifts from 3rd to 4th(under constant heavy driving) before the flush.

thanks!

 

The first thing that came to my mind when you mentioned 3rd gear not working after the tranny flush was that the shop you brought it to removed one of the bolts on top to fill the tranny. That is not the proper way to fill it. These can only be filled throught the dipstick tube. I would go back to the shop (with a video recorder for evidence) and talk with the tech who performed the flush and have him explain how everything was done. If he says he removed the bolt on top, then have that shop pay for your transmission. (This is exactly why I don't let just anyone perform work on my car. They need to have specific knowledge of these cars or bad things can happen.)

You can do a search regarding the 3rd gear band and that bolt for better information.

 

the first shop screwed your tranny by refilling it through the large 23mm bolt on top of the transmission.

That large bolt secures a band that allows shifting out of 3rd into fourth. When you remove that bolt, the band is loose thus no fourth gear.

The dealer should have diagnosed this though.

The tranny needs to be removed and that 4th gear band reattached and tightened,
You need to consult with your lawyer.

 

i was able to convince them they screw with the wrong bolt and doomed my tranny.

they agree to get it fixed at the only shop in town that can fix trannys(apparently Volvo only replaces trannys they don't fix anything) so i'm still waiting on them to do it. i showed them the bolt that had wrench marks on it and confrunted the mechanic who couldn't lie through his teeth anymore.

what's sad is that the local volvo dealers could not figure out what the independent shop did wrong and said: no way you can get fluid in through any other place.

if it wasn't for this forum i wouldn't have figured it out and would have had to do it their way and accept the tranny went bad on it's own and pay for the fix myself. maybe the shop would have figured it out later and told me but it would have been difficult to get my money back.

so many thanks to all for your help it's helpfull forums like this one that save people money when shops try to screw you.

hopefully when i get it back everything will be ok

 

This is the problem with the dealer and Trany issues. They replace Only and use a New tranys at a cost of $3500++ .

 

i live in Spain so my dealer said 4500€ with the labor.
that's ridiculous considering i paid 5000€ for the car.

some news from the shop: they didn't get my car to the only shop that can fix it because this and that.. excuses.. and now they say they moved the bolt around a little and it shifts into third but when shifting into forth it revs then shifts.

they say they might be able to tweak it until it works which is something i don't like as i don't belive they can get it right withouth removing the gearbox and opening it.

any ideea if there's a chance they can just tweak it until they get the bolt and control band right?