My 2001 Volvo V70 (the V70N-model) has a problem with the automatic gearbox lately: it’s pretty poor in shifting up and slips more than often. Besides that the revs at running idle aren’t very stable and could also be caused by the automatic transmission. And at certain revs (between 1.800rpm and 2.200rpm) a strange vibration can be heard but you actually don’t feel it (it sounds like something in the glovebox is vibrating, but it’s even there when the glovebox is empty). My V70 has an AW5 automatic gearbox, produced by Aisin-Warner.

The following symptoms appeared at the AW5 automatic transmission of my Volvo V70:

• slipping, especially when moving to the fourth gear
• faltering while changing gears
• sometimes a bit banging
• strange noise at certain rpm (could be a dirty torque converter)
• one time the gearbox couldn’t find a gear, resulting in redlining and an interrupted drivetrain (when releasing the gas pedal the gearbox was able to shift up again).

With all those problems I thought the gearbox was dying a slow dead, but since the automatic transmission fluid (ATF) was changed about 80.000km ago by the Volvo dealer, it could be dirty oil that’s causing the solenoids to make errors or not properly functioning. Volvo believed the automatic transmissions never needed to be serviced when the V70N was introduced, but they got back on it and change it every 50.000 miles now. Toyota and Lexus (who also uses this AW5 automatic gearbox) did this all the time and guess what: they don’t have any problems at all with these gearboxes and Volvo had! It’s a very common issue the ATF could ruin the automatic gearbox and in the past a lot of S60, V70 and S80 cars had a completely broken gearbox. What a oil change could prevent… 😉

Tomorrow the automatic transmission of my Volvo V70 will be powerflushed by GS Powerflush. Gery Slot (the owner of GS Powerflush) thinks the problems of my gearbox would be fixed after flushing the automatic gearbox. The biggest difference between a regular ATF change and a full flush (or: powerflush) is that the ATF oil in the radiator, torque converter and lines will be changed at a powerflush, but at a regular oil change the old and dirty oil will stay in the torque converter and radiator. The dirty oil at a regular change will contaminate the new ATF immediately, but with a powerflush (where 16 litres of ATF will be used, including a conditioner) the entire system will be flushed until the ATF that’s coming out will be 100% clean and bright red. The gearbox is completely clean and will shift as a new gearbox.

Tomorrow morning I’ll find out if it’s worth the 305 Euro, but I’ve got a good feeling of it.