Thank you for the link CASS60! This is a big help. Plus.. for those wanting to pick some 3309 up, it's on sale through this site right now. It will end up saving you a few bucks.

 

If you want to do it yourself then you need to see if your car uses Synthetic fluid or not. Thanks for the great chance to share my views.
By John,

 

I purchased a 02 S60 (69k mi) with the Greartronic transmission. I have had some issues with harsh shifting into Drive from P, R or Neutral. Sometimes the engine rpm's do come up a bit between gears and it doesn't shift right away. In manual mode there is harsh shifting when going from 3rd to 4th only. I have taken my car to the dealer. They stated that the transmission fluid looked good and would not need a change but would do a version update on the transmission. It turns out I was running an older version of the software for the transmission, but the version update fixed nothing.

I wonder if I should pony up and just do the tranny fluid change since there is nothing left to do...oh and one more thing. The Volvo 'Advisor' told me that I may need a new transmission...I never laughed so hard, you got to give them credit.

 

The transmission flush is a process that makes it possible to clear the majority of old transmission fluid from the transmission of a motor vehicle.This process also helps to remove residue of older transmission fluid from the converters,coolers and cooler lines that often are part of the design for the transmission.

 

You might - if you were running the old software for that long damage may have been done.

What is your build date? Early 02s had issues.

 

For what it's worth, I've had this forum book marked for about 3 months now... I think this thread only had 12 pages at the time.

I ordered 12 quarts of Mobil ATF 3309 for my wife's 2006 S60 from avlube about a month ago for a total of $69.85 shipped to my front door after reading FredMc, Tech and all the other knowledgeable members posts. I bought the s60 in march 2009 with 38k on the odometer and figured I would get a flush performed around 50k for preventaitve maintenance. I debated on taking it to the independent volvo mechanic or doing the drain and fill myself recommended here, but after indie mechanic stated that the tranny used synthetic, I ran for the hills. Where does this misinformation come from?

Now it's cold here in Atlanta and I'm too busy with finals so I called one of the local volvo dealerships here and they said a flush would run me $150 if I brought my own fluid in. Cool, I thought! Well, when I got there the service advisor read me the riot act and told me putting in my own non-synthetic fluid would damage the tranny. I told him I had done all the research, yata, yata and he just stood there in disbelief. After 2 trips back to the garage, he finally came back and said they would do if I signed the work order acknowledging that they weren't responsible for any damage that might happen... so I did.

3 hours later picked up the s60, and it ran like it was "brand new" off the showroom floor, not that I had any problems before. The moral of the story is that... the Volvo OEM fluid for the s60 is $227 for 12 quarts without shipping! The dealer charged me only $110 worth of labor (to my surprise) for the flush. So my total out of pocket expenses were $170. Not bad at all.

I will give everyone an update in a couple of months, but I think the evidence is clear that if you have low mileage S60 (i.e. < 50k), you can flush safely or drain and fill with Mobil ATF 3309 with peace of mind. If you are around the 100k or an even higher mark, read this whole thread carefully and weigh the pluses and minuses to servicing your transmission. Indie volvo techs and even the volvo dealer seem to be out to lunch on the Aisin Warner AW55-50. The fricking manual even states JWS 3309 for crying out loud!!!

Does anybody on this forum know for sure (100%) who makes the volvo's OEM transmission fluid? Is it Mobil, or maybe someone else? Just curious at this point, nothing more.

And thanks to all for their accurate information posted on this forum... you saved me a ton of money.

 

Great post BB!

The moral of this story is that 3309 is the exact same stuff that they have in the bottles in the dealership garage and they dont even know it!

 

LOL here is another added twist in the story. I know for a fact that some of the Dealers that buy in bulb are using Dextron 6 in the AW55-50.

So they also do not even know the fuild Dex 6 is a Non synthetic fluid. Also they are not even using the Fluid they sell you over the counter.

 

Hey Bender, as this is my first Euro car can you tell me where the build date is located? I looked in the usual spot on most cars (divers door sill) and of course it is not there.

Thanks!

 

Give me a couple hours and I will check when i get home.

I think its the rear drivers side door.

 

tville: "Took forever to get the fill plug out so figured..yep, never been changed."

I drove over a month with no 3rd gear hoping it would eventually come back because I didn't want to spend 2-3K for a 3rd trans.

If you removed the 18-20mm bolt on top instead of using the dipstick hole to refill the trans, the 3rd gear shift band was dislodged. Need to remove the trans, trans cover and reposition the parts.
Yep, been there done that when I replaced my S70 trans with an S60 low mileage trans.

Trans shop #1 wanted $3k for a rebuilt trans installed
#2 wanted $1.5k for one of his rebuilt (trans only).
#3 asked me where I put the fluid in the trans........I'm thinking WTF?
I was told it's a common mistake.

 

You'd think Volvo would use a universal symbol, like a skull and cross bones, or the biohazard thing you see on the needle container at the doctor's office, or the radioactive waste symbol over the bolt you DON'T remove. And a big arrow with a Yes/Ja/Si/Oui on the correct one. On the other hand, besides filling the gas tank, checking the oil and coolant, p/s fluid and making sure the lights work, they don't seem to think owners ever work on their cars. Not sure why, but try to buy a service manual. None for my 06 is available that I'm aware of. And because the feds think I don't know how to use that complicated device called an air pressure gauge, we're all now paying for TPMS which come in real handy if you swap wheels in the winter!

Check a Honda owner's manual some day. Oil & filter, spark plugs, air filter, coolant drain & fill, and other things are right in the owners manual. You don't even have to buy the service manual for most routine maintenance. They don't do trans and rear diff procedures, however, much to my dismay. But they do have transmission fluid dipsticks labeled as such for the uninitiated who don't follow the forums.

 

I read the posts here but am unclear if I should actually have a transmission flush or whatever performed. I just bought my 2001 S60 automatic and was told a tranny flush was done @ 90K. It now has 113k. I am paranoid about what I have heard about these transmissions so I went out and bought the mobil 3309 fluid. What do you folks think?

 

I would probably just do a drain and fill. (IMO)

 

What is the diff as far as my car is concerned? And how many quarts would that take? Thanks!

 

2007 Volvo S60. 85,000 miles. Tranny fluid never changed. I have done all the maintenance on this car. I ordered the Mobil fluid and the hose kit from IPD.

I read this entire thread before servicing my transmission. Given the notes in this thread AND that my vehicle had 85,000 miles, I decided to not do a complete flush. However, I did have this beautiful IAG service kit that I didn't want to go to waste

I used the IAG service kit to pump out 6 quarts of fluid (2 + 2 + 2). As the old fluid was pumping out, I could tell that I had made a good decision to not replace all of it (thanks guys!). The old fluid was nasty. It was very brown with only a very slight tinge of maroon left (if that). I couldn't believe how dark it was.

Just got done doing a thorough test drive of the car. Everything is great. Transmission has no slippage and shifts very smoothly. I will wait 15K more miles (100K on the odo) and do 6 quarts again. After that, I plan to do 6 quarts every 20K miles.

Registered on this forum to make this post. Figured it was good to give back to the community with my results. Thanks again.

t

 

That's what I am thinking, a full flush can be dangerous to the tranny so just do drain & replace. So if I do a regular drain, I will capture about 3 qts of old and replace that with 3 qts of new.
So my quest is this: after performing the above, should I drive it a little bit, then do it again to get 6 qts of new T.F. flowing in my S60's veins?
Thank you.

 

If you want to do it yourself then you need to see if your car uses Synthetic fluid or not.

 

tranny fluid is Mobil ATF 3309.

 

Only Mobil 3309, Toyota T1V, or the volvo fluid is suitable for the AW 5 speed auto trans.

To differentiate between the wrong and old myth that "synthetic" is needed continues to be wrong. The volvo fluid, Toyota fluid and mobil 3309 is not a "synthetic" fluid. Period.

Doesn't matter one way or the other, just simply use the correct fluid. I have provided prood with Volvo's own chemical product catalogue. ONLY the manual fluid is described by Volvo as "synthetic".

I would like to know by name the dealers you quote (actual Volvo dealers or Volvo indies?), that are using Dexron 6 fluid in the trans spec'd for JWS 3309. I don't thnk that exists, but would like proof if you make that statement.