Hi all,

This is my first post on this forum though I have gotten some good advice from this group in the past.

My XC90 has about 90,000 miles. Until now it has been a relatively reliable car, but it suddenly developed a number of problems, the most serious being the failure of the transmission.

Even though the car is no longer under warranty, Volvo has agreed to replace the transmission at their expense. Apparently this what is known as a "silent recall" in the sense that they never sent me any paperwork to say that they had identified a systemic issue with this year and model.

Apparently, seals can go bad inside the radiator, which can allow radiator fluid to mix with the transmission fluid. There are apparently other issues with this transmission as well.

The fact that Volvo is willing to pay for this roughly $7000 repair is obviously very good news for me. But there's a catch. When they first issued guidance on this issue, dealers were instructed to replace the radiator, internal transmission cooler, external transmission cooler, and cooler lines. As the leak scenario is a common root cause of the transmission failure, this makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Now, however, they are saying they will replace only the transmission unless a test of the transmission fluid indicates the presence of glycol. In my case, the test indicated no leak. It seems fool-hardy to me to replace the transmission without addressing the most common root cause of these failures.

If I choose to pay for it myself, it would be about $1600 parts and labor. I am still talking with the dealership, but your collective advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

 

They would need to pressure test the radiator... that would let you know if there's a chance of coolant getting into the trans system. My understanding of the trans failures is that the metal parts in the trans fail... which gets particles in the trans fluid... which then clogs up all of the solenoids in the valve body.

At the very least, the dealership needs to flush out the trans fluid cooler in the radiator.

-Ryan

 

As a follow-up, I got the dealership to cover half the cost of the radiator/cooler/line replacement, so my out-of-pocket was about $700 for the whole thing. I think I did pretty well considering some of the other stories I've read.

I'm working on another thread to describe my saga with the electrical problems that cropped up simultaneously with the transmission failure.

Dan