I used to use Castrol Transmission Fluid: Dexron III / Mercon for my 1998 low 58,000 miles S70. After they have changed to Import / Domestic Multi-vehicle ATF, I have a hard time to decide which one to use. It seems to me that the "Domestic" one more compatible to what I have been used. I took the advice from AutoZone staff and chose the "Import" one. After two drain and fill this weekend, I feel the transmission slip a few times on the freeway. Is it because the "Import" one has Synthetic blend in it caused the slip? Should I switch to "Domestic"? Please help, I am driving my other car until I am sure which one is correct. Is there any other brand that has straight Dexron III / Mercon without the confusing Import/Domestic marketing gimmick? Thanks a lot for any comment.

 

Hi Steve,

Sorry about the problem.

I would switch back to conventional Dexron-III/Mercon fluid. I would not use anything other than the fluid specified in the owner's manual.

It does not make much difference whether your car is domestic or import; there is not much difference and your "domestic" car may have Japanese-built transmission, which is technically an "import".

I am not sure which bottle of fluid you bought/used, and am curious to know. A pic of the bottle would be great, but even if you couldn't supply a pic, your info will help many others to avoid the same problem. Does the bottle have label stating "this fluid meets Dexron-III/Mercon specifications"?

Anyway, if you do not have a flush kit, visit a local dealer/a shop that specialises in Swedish/European vehicles and have the system flushed with the correct fluid.

I hope this gets you started.


JPN

 

Hello again Steve,

I believe this is the product you bought/used, correct?

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/secti...tentId=7028224

According to Castrol, it does meet Dexron-III/Mercon specs. However, the "domestic"fluid seems more compatible as itindicates "Dexron-IIE", which was originally specified for 850 and was superseded by Dexron-III.

Either way, I do not believe the transmission in your S70 require anything sophisticated; a generic Dexron-III/Mercon fluid would be sufficient (I used to use Coastal's conventional fluid; $2.20/quart). If your transmission still exhibits the problem after flushing with generic fluid, either a tiny FOD has fallen into the dipstick tube or the semi-synthetic portion of the Castrol fluid has dislodged gunks that built up in the transmission and has caused blockage of the hydraulic passages.

Read the following PDF documents, especially the one for "Import" fluid; it states that the fluid meet ALL SPECS for Volvo, but Volvo uses 2 or 3 (or more?) different types of fluids and they are not compatible. Some people have reported that they had transmission trouble after flushing the system with wrong type of fluid. So, I myself feel more comfortable with the specs written for the "Domestic" fluid.

Import:
http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp...s_ImportMV.pdf

Domestic:
http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp...DomesticMV.pdf

I'll let others jump in for other opinions, but in case if you get confused, I would follow Moderator Tech's advice.

Good luck,


JPN

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Thank you JPN for the fast responds. Your links and the photos are correctly explained what have happened to my situation. I think I should use the "Domestic"version of Castrol ATF, the thing throws me off was their description of "for use in older Ford & General Motors vehicles"! I forgot to mention that I over filled by half of quarts ATF fluid, will that be the possible cause for slipping? I have pumped out that extra fluid now. Should I try to drive 40 miles on freeway today to find out if that was the cause, or to be safe and do the flush first? I am afraid to flush a tranny, my 2000 high 160,000 miles Honda Odyssey transmission was destroyed that way by a Jiffy Lube shop (they are good enough to give me life time free oil change of that car) . Can I do 6 times drain and fill resulting 90% of the fluid changed? Will that 10% mixed older fluid cause any problem. I know it is hard for anyone to tell, but please give your best educated guess. Any one's comment will be valuable. Thanks again.

 

Hi Steve,

At this point it is only safe to have a visit to a shop (dealer oran independentshop specialising in Swedish/European makes), if you do not have a flush kit. Drive slower if you can, towing is definitely better.

A half quart overfill can be problematic; the tranny wouldsuffer churning and cause micro-bubbles, which would prevent correct shifting. The Aisin-Warner (A Japanese tranny supplier; one of the largest component suppliers of Toyota/Lexus) transmission seemsextremely sensitive to the correct type & level of the fluid being used. I once had problem in the electronic control (incorrect gear ratio), and the only thing I did was to add a half quart of tranny fluid and the problem never occurred.

I would still flush out that "import" fluid and replace with a name-brand's conventional Dexron-III/Mercon. One major reason of transmission failure, after flushing the fluid on a high-mileage/aged cars is that since the fluid has not been flushed for a while, some gunks build up in the transmission, and the gunk can get dissolved with the introduction of new fluid, and I assume it is more so with synthetic. So, your tranny has already gone through this stage, and doing another flush would not hurt. This is probably what happened on your Odyssey; by flushing the fluid too late, some gunks had contaminated the fluid, which had caused blockage in the tiny fluid passages, which in turn affected the performance. This is the reason why service manuals stress the importance of keeping FOD falling into the tranny fluid level dipstick. BTW, 10% of "import" fluid remaining wouldn't be a problem.

For your future benefit, I would stay away from any of the franchise shops, as many technicians at those places are entry-level and all too often they have not kept up with technology (or even with the basics in some cases). Working on moderncars is much like working on large airplanes, and one has to devote so much time & perseverance to master today's complicated systems. Even if they gave you free lifetime oil change, I would still stay away, wouldn't even let them change oil on a Volvo or any other makes (they should have replaced the transmission at their expenses).

I hope I answered your questions. Visit a shop, tow your car if possible, and have them flush the tranny fluid with conventional Dexron-III/Mercon. It does not have to be Castrol, as long as they use name brands' fluid.


JPN

 

A trust worthy shop can do a flush is 3 days away. I can't wait that long so I bought 5 Gallon and 2 quarts of Valvoline Dex/Merc. I did 6 times of drain/refill. (4 times with 2 quarts fill and 2 times with 3 quarts fill). The first 5 times I just change gears pause 10 seconds between R/D/3/L without moving the car and the final time before I pour the last 3.5 quarts in, I drove the car to Autozone to return 6 quarts of Castol Imports ATF. Then did the final drain and fill. According to calculation I should have 92% Valvoline and 8% of old stuff. Out of those 8%, about half is Castrol Import, 1/8 old Castrol Dextron III, 1/8 Chevron (a volvo shop did a drain and fill at 45,000 miles) and 1/4 of original ATF came with new car back in 1998.

I hope ATF and motor oil so call "Synthetic Blend" usually only have small portion of Synthetic instead of 1/2. So I hope the "Synthetic" oil left in my transmission is less than 2%. I might do another drain and fill this weekend since I have 1 Gallon and 2 quarts Valvoline left.

Thank you for your post, I fully agree and understand you by now.

 

I see, towing your car for 3 days wouldn't be an option.

Since you can flush the system by yourself and know how to check the fluid level correctly, flush the system with whatever you have now. Ideally, though, I would flush the tranny with one brand's ATF rather than mixing other brands' products. It probably wouldn't hurt as long as they meet the specs, and some of them may have come from the same source, only with different labels/brands. ButI myself would feel safe to flush with one brand's fluid.

Anyway,it seems that you can tacklethe problem by yourself now. Also, when you check for the correct fluid level, be sure to drive the car until the coolant pointer indicates normal operating temp (15-20 minutes of driving would do).

Best of luck to you, let us know how itwent, if you would.

Regards,


JPN

 

After 2 drain and fill with Castrol ‘import’ ATF, it start to slip 3 times on a 40 miles trip while on auto cruise control. 1 second each time while travel at 72 mile per hour speed. After 6 drain and fill with Valvoline ATF, slip 1 time on a 40 miles trip while on auto cruise control. 1 second one time while travel at 65 mile per hour speed. After 3 more drain and fill with Valvoline ATF, slip 1 time on a 40 miles trip while on auto cruise control. 1 second one time while travel at 60 mile per hour speed. Never happen on local street driving. Should I set at ‘sport’ mode or ‘economic’ mode? Which one will be better for transmission slipping at the highest gear. Should I add some “Lucas Transmission Fix�? Will it cure, prolong or bad for my transmission situation?

 

*UPDATE*

S70 is now 65,380 miles without any transmission problem. It might be related to the Cruise Control because when I drive without turning it on, everything is fine.