fluid fill and drain. reset counters, do the drive cycle. hopefully you do not need the b4 servo cover, but that bit is not too hard.

 

What is this reset counters thing? Do I need DICE to do that? And would you recommend drain and fill multiple times every thousand or two?

 

Sounds like your transmission is behaving fine (though you aren't very specific on how often you get that "shift flare" nor how severe it is). If I were you I wouldn't touch it. Others here will obviously disagree with my recommendation.

Volvo says change it every 50k miles (from day 1) or NEVER change it as long as it's still working.

If you do decide to change it, you will be much better off if you have someone with a DICE unit and VIDA reset the fluid adaptation counter. This is what effectively tells the TCM that the transmission has new fluid, thus resetting the adaptation it has been doing with the aging fluid.

 

If it were my car I would do a 12 qt. drain and fill. Just like the IPD instructions recommend. You're just going to be mixing dirty fluid with clean fluid by doing it gradually.

If you don't have a flashing or steady arrow light on, then I wouldn't even worry about resetting the counter.

Resetting the counter just re-starts the TCM counting how many times the trans fluid reaches too high of a temperature. Once it hits that temp too many times, you'll get an arrow or CEL.

You're going to get a lot of varying opinions on this matter so do your home work and do what you feel most comfortable with.

Beware of advice from guys on here who have never changed their tranny fluid.

Good luck!

 

Drive a 03 S60 AWD, when I first brought it at 80,000 km 2 years ago I completely did a transmission flush with 12 liters also replaced all the transmission clips and o-rings in the radiator. Once I did the flush, connected up the DICE and reset my counter.( I have a step by step guide for the resting via Dice) Drive very well ever since the flush : )

Hope that helps, all the best to you to you.

 

I have done four drain/fills on our '04 XC70 starting at ~ 91000 miles. I did not want to change the properties and depleted additives (what ever that means) to abruptly. The original fluid was dark but not burnt. It took 3 drain/fills to get to a darker red color. The shift action never changed, but was always good, no issues. I am not sure how the torque converter fluid circulates, but wanted to eventually change as much fluid as possible. I did not think a quick coolant line exchange would change the torque converter. When draining, elevate the drivers side higher than the left as more transmission fluid will drain, about 12 ounces more. I used Mobil 3309 sourced from Amazon. Use a new crush washer on the drain plug.

 

There's no such thing as a fluid adaption counter. There's a fluid counter which counts how many times the trans fluid overheats and there's the adaption parameters.

The adaptive parameters are what adjust line pressure and effect shift behavior.

You do not want to reset adaptive parameters unless hardware is being replaced. A member on here accidentally reset the adaptives after just a drain and fill and the car is now almost not drivable.

You can reset the fluid counter but it isn't going to effect the performance of transmission either way.

It's like thinking resetting the service reminder light is going to make your engine run better.

 

Yup, just replace the fluid and drive happily ever after; forget adjusting anything unless you've had a trans overhaul. ...unless you want a 4000lb paperweight in your garage. Retraining the trans is a huge pain in the ass and it likely won't ever be as smooth again. Most dealers won't do it because the outcome has a good chance of being worse and they don't wanna be on the hook for it. I could not find a single one willing to do the adaptation on my car.

To everyone else, please stop using the term "reset adaptation" - the only thing using this term in VIDA is the trans relearn process (which you never want to do), and you will only lead to someone $%$**g their trans up.

The 2-3 cold shift flare is normal btw, it goes away after 2 minutes once the fuild warms up a little. Don't loose any sleep over it.

for visual reference:

 

Assuming the bright red color of the fluid at 85,000 indicates it had been changed then you have driven < 50,000 miles on the new fluid; not optimal but nothing to get upset about.

I would do a cooler line exchange with your IPD kit and expect to use 12-15 quarts initially. I'd repeat again in 10,000 miles and then every 20,000. Last month I changed my father's gently driven 2000 V70 for the first time at 47k and used 14 quarts. The shift improvement was noticeable.

I maintain 5 Volvos: 1993 245, 2000 V70, 2004 V70, and two 2007 V70's. All have A/T's and receive a cooler line exchange every 20k with Mobil 3309 except the 245 which gets a universal syn fluid every 10k. The cooler line exchange is simple and with practice will take less than an hour including the drive to heat the fluid and adjust the level.

 

Dealers came out with upgraded auto trans software for 01-07 s60's a few years back bring it to the dealer and have them do software updates for the whole car

 

I'm about to change the transmission fluid in my 2003 S60 AWD. I bought the IPD kit and read the directions. I also read that getting to that lower hose to disconnect it is a PITA. A popular Youtube video shows a guy wrapping the IPD clear hose with teflon tape to make it fit better, and holding it up to the top radiator fitting to catch the fluid as the transmission pumps it out as the engine is running. Connection to the top fitting sounded like a good idea to avoid the hastle of getting to the lower fitting but I wanted a better way to connect and avoid spills.

So I went to a local junkyard, bought the top transmission line from a similar car, cut it off, cleaned it out thoroughly, and clamped the IPD clear hose to it. Now I should be able to just plug it in the top fitting and go.


Does anyone see any problems with this approach that I haven't thought about?

Falcon