Last November (day before Thanksgiving), the reverse gear on my 2001 XC70 quit completely. My mechanic sends Volvo transmission problems out to another shop, and this has been a series of problems since then. Initially, they did a "partial rebuild", but the car was having all kinds of shifting issues, all below 20 mph. There have been many return trips to the same shop, with lots of weird problems "discovered" and "repaired". Somewhere in there, they told me they had found a hairline crack in some part of the tranny that is supposed to retain pressure and they thought this was the problem. They have since completed a full rebuild, but the low speed shifting still has issues.

The one I can best describe is, when slowing down to a stop, there is what seems like a last second down shift and a surge or lurch forward just before coming to a stop. Another problem occurs when slowing down and then quickly switching to accelerate - there is a big clunk and a heavy downshift before the car accelerates. Just doesn't feel right and certainly nothing like before the rebuild.

Other posts here seem to indicate a software upgrade is necessary for the transmission ans/or the throttle control. On one occasion when they were working on it they told me that they have to wait for a rep from Volvo to come to install the software. There was another occasion where this software install by the Volvo rep did not work out because they had installed incorrect versions of some parts. So, I know that they are at least aware of the need for software.

I am over $3k into this and not happy. Can anyone suggest how I should proceed? What version of software should be installed and how can I found out what version is installed? Are there other problems to try to make them aware of? Should I forget trying to get satisfaction from the current shop and go to a dealership. My mechanic has been great in the past and is a stand up guy, but his subcontractor is blowing it. Any suggestions would be most welcome.