Tranny fluid brown, any damage, or decreased life as a result, even if I change ASAP?
 

The tranny fluid is brown, I wouldn't say black, but definately not red. My mechanic said the car shifts fine, but most shifts are noticable, somewhat hard. It has ~130,000 miles. Considering the brownish fluid, the somewhat hard shifts, despite the fact I'm having it changed at Volvo tomorow, what is the likelihood irreparable damage has been done to the transmission, or that the transmission has a significantly decreased life as a result? TIA

Just had it replaced at Volvo. Shifts somewhat smoother, and it is a lot more reassuring to know it is good clean stuff in there.

how much did you end up paying?

I see why you call them stealers!
 

Good question! $250, which was what the service manager told me over the phone and when I brought it in, but she tried the bait-and-switch [either intentially or accidentally as she purported] after the service was done. Story [if you're interested in reading] that I sent my wife, below.

Subject: your going to love this
I double triple checked with the lady that the tranny service would only cost $250, and the oil $40. I told her I could not afford more than that. An hour and half later she comes to me, nervous, says she made a mistake, didn't realize this transmission took synthetic, which is a lot more, and says the total just for the tranny is $430, not $250. I said no,no,no,no that is exactly what I didn't want to happen. She said she was sorry after realizing the mistake, she put as many discounts on there as she could, blah, blah, blah, then when I tell her I can't pay that, she offers a payment plan, including bringing the oil filter and quart of fluid I had mentioned I wanted to return to help pay for it. I said how could you do this. This is a bait and switch, but not just a little bait and switch, a real big one, almost twice what I was told. I told her if I would have known this were the price she would charge, I would have waited till next week to take it to my mechanic who would've done it for less. I went on to ask her if she had brought this up with her supervisor. I asked since she was nervous, I figured she was worried about bringing this up since it would indeed be a big mistake to make. She tells me she is the Service Manager. Wow, just wow. I ask her how could you do this. You should know [as service manager] what fluid goes into the cars, and give a valid estimate. It was your mistake, why should I be held accountable? At that point there was nothing more she could say, she knew I was right, probably realized I might raise hell although the whole time I was speaking with a soft tone. She walked back over to her computer and gave me a huge discount to make the price come back down to what she said it would be...

I'm glad I took it there, though, because I know my mechanic wouldn't have done a flush, just a pan drop/filter replace/top off. At Volvo based on the invoice and that cherry red color I see on the dip stick, they did that as well as a flush to get the rest of that crap out of there. Good!

I also learned something interesting. Before I okayed the oil change I asked if they were going to use Mobil 1 synthetic. The lady said they use Mobil Delvac 1300 which is formulated to last 7500 miles just the same as Mobil 1 synthetic. I knew nothing about that oil, but figured that sounded fine.

I looked into Mobil Delvac 1300 when I got home. I'm impressed. Unless I hear otherwise, I'm considering putting that stuff in all my cars. I wonder why I don't hear enthusiasts here or elsewhere proclaim the goodness of it (I checked). It is cheap, light-weight (10w-30) version of the heavy-weight Mobil Delvac 1300 version they use in city buses/semis/nasty-dirty-diesel-engine-trucks. If it is good enough for those engines, which get put through a lot of use and see a lot of heat/crud, it is certainly good enough for car engines, whose oil additive requirements pale in comparison. Certainly this Volvo/Mercedes/BMW dealer wouldn't be using it on their cars if it were going to mess up their engines. At least for my Volvo, I'll keep using it. Subsequent oil changes I'm doing myself and I plan on using this stuff [unless of course someone can talk me out of it].