I'm sorry, but that "specialist" is talking complete nonsense. The transmission needs to be serviced. There's no if or but about it... If you want the transmission to last, you have to change the fluid. If that's his opinion and he's supposedly a specialist, I wouldn't step foot in his garage.

There's two highly regarded specialists in Manchester (Hyde and Stockport). Trevor Burgess and Hallmark Volvo. Both are independent garages and know these cars in and out. Reasonable prices.

Its not a particularly hard process. Just take your time, make sure you use the correct fluid. That video is about as clear as you're going to get instruction wise. The only thing I'd add is that the car needs to be level when you do the final setting of the level underneath. As the car is quite low, you may have to lower all the wheels onto wood blocks or something like that to give you access to get underneath. If the car isn't level, the level in the transmission won't be either.

At risk of stating the obvious, for goodness sake make sure you can get the transmission fill plug out ( if never undone before it will put up a fight) before you start draining.

Received car. Drives well, not had much chance as still in work.

Issue already: Headlamp system malfunction - service required.

Did a quick google. Seems like an expensive fix.

Garage never mentioned and it’s on dashboard. :/

Any ideas what I should look for before I contact them?

Thank you.

Did you not see the message when you viewed the car? Assuming you did view it. It doesn't surprise me that the garage didn't mention it. Typical garages nowadays, but they should at least offer to fix it.

Its likely a faulty level sensor. The headlights adjust themselves based on the readings from those sensors. So for example, if there's a load in the car, the sensors tell the computer and the levels of the headlights adjust accordingly so that the lights don't dazzle other drivers. Its a clever system that works well, but sensors can fail.

You need diagnostics to find out which sensor is faulty. Replace the sensor and it should be fine. The sensors are attached to the control arms on the front and there's also sensors on the rear of the car near the rear shocks.

Its guesswork without diagnostics.

Try charging the main 12v battery fully, you can get all manner of warning messages and errors due to low battery voltage and if the car has been unused for a while before purchase it could be as simple as that.

If that doesn’t work then I would contact the garage to report it.

Good luck :regular_smile:

Stu

Thank you Stu

I haven’t done this yet. However I got another engine code whilst driving yesterday.

I managed to connect my OBDII and got the following.

I’ll see if I can find the dipstick and use my sealey vacuum to extract out some oil. If not, I’ll pop over to my local mechanic and drain some oil out from the sump.

I’ve done a quick Google on the latter codes which point to the front left headlight and airbags. Not sure what’s causing them but at least I’m getting closer.

I’ll reset the codes and see if they re-appear after driving again.

https://www.dtcdecode.com/Volvo/HCM-B103D04

https://www.dtcdecode.com/Volvo/FSM-C100115

Car at my local mechanics, will update soon.

He is dumping the oil to see how much has been overfilled. Then he will refill with new oil and filter if needed. Garage I brought from will cover the cost. Let’s hope it is just that (and no damage has been done to the engine).

The headlight unit is a separate issue, which garage again said will cover cost. He told me to take to Volvo as I am a couple of hundred miles away. If it’s a bigger job than a few sensors or wiring, then I don’t feel comfortable paying from my pocket in case I don’t get the money back. From what I’ve read these headlight units and fitting cost around £2k? Bit steep!?

I have been given a third party warranty for 6 months, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t cover this. I do recall previously from someone that they don’t cover bulbs and similar related, so wondering if this comes into the same category..?

Usually, aftermarket/third party warranties aren't worth the paper they're written on. All you can do is phone the warranty company and ask to see if they cover it. Normally they cover engine and gearbox, but are extremely picky about what they cover. They'll do anything to get out of a warranty claim basically. I don't think headlight issues will be covered, but all you can do is ask.

I am new to the world of diesel. Compared to a BMW 520d for example, the engine is quite rumbly. Is that the nature of the engine? I do like it, but is that how it is supposed to sound? How would I know if my D5 is underperforming. Any tests I can run using the OBDII reader for example, as opposed to a compression test?

I received my car back and a litre of oil was removed. However the engine code still persists, and the car still shows overfilled oil.

Thanks.