Am I playing with fire?

[bananarama]

Same here, just ordered 5L, I'll have enough for 2 more changes, looking forward to seeing a noticeable difference!

[Tatsfield]

I think you start to hit the LoDR after 4 changes.

[bananarama]

Originally Posted by Tatsfield

I think you start to hit the LoDR after 4 changes.

Yeah just done the 4th change and ATM feels pretty sweet. I'm happy to do another 2 drops, really curious to see if I can get the oil more red than brown

[bananarama]

Originally Posted by al dm

That's my second lot of 3.5L of fluid drained and replaced. It took less than an hour today now I know what I am doing - and about 30 minutes of that time was waiting for fluid to drain.

Are you noticing any obvious differences?

[al dm]

Originally Posted by bananarama

Are you noticing any obvious differences?

Well, maybe....

First off, I had zero problems with the gearbox to start with. If I am being really, really picky, previously I could notice a very slight vibration/rumble/shudder if I was going uphill and giving it a little bit of gas. Not sure which gear (because Volvo doesn't want you to know apparently), but probably 3rd.

This seems to be gone.

Shifts are all very smooth, no delay in shifting from P to R, N, or D. All in all, the 'box is working perfectly.

But...I am doing the fluid refresh more as preventative maintenance than to cure any obvious issues. I like to play with spanners as well...

[al dm]

That's the 3rd drain/refill cycle done.

Today I tried a different approach. The other day, I bought one of those 7L vacuum fluid extractors for £33, so I thought I would try from the top using that.

No problem at all. The probe went in nicely and the tool extracted 3.5L of transmission fluid, which tells me the bottom of the probe was right at the bottom of the sum, because that's the exact amount I got with the last two drain from the sump cycles.

It was easier and quicker, because I didn't have to put the car up on ramps, take off the shroud or get ATF all over my hands as I took the sump plug out.

Nice and simple to just pull the airbox, open the fill, suck fluid out, replace and close it up.

But....I am lucky that I am a distrustful old Hector, as the scale on the side of the vacuum drainer told me it had extracted well over 4L of fluid. I was suspicious and checked by emptying it out into a 12L clear plastic pot, marking the side of it and then putting it on an accurate scale and filling with water to the line. 3.5Kg of water = 3.5L. So the scale on the vacuum drainer is wildly inaccurate and not to be trusted. Good to know and I may calibrate it properly and mark own scale on it for future use.

I have enough fluid left for 2 more drain refill cycles. Will do the next one from the top, but then the final one from the bottom as I want to replace the sump and level plug washer/o-ring and of course set the level properly.

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by al dm

That's the 3rd drain/refill cycle done.

Today I tried a different approach. The other day, I bought one of those 7L vacuum fluid extractors for £33, so I thought I would try from the top using that.

No problem at all. The probe went in nicely and the tool extracted 3.5L of transmission fluid, which tells me the bottom of the probe was right at the bottom of the sum, because that's the exact amount I got with the last two drain from the sump cycles.

It was easier and quicker, because I didn't have to put the car up on ramps, take off the shroud or get ATF all over my hands as I took the sump plug out.

Nice and simple to just pull the airbox, open the fill, suck fluid out, replace and close it up.

But....I am lucky that I am a distrustful old Hector, as the scale on the side of the vacuum drainer told me it had extracted well over 4L of fluid. I was suspicious and checked by emptying it out into a 12L clear plastic pot, marking the side of it and then putting it on an accurate scale and filling with water to the line. 3.5Kg of water = 3.5L. So the scale on the vacuum drainer is wildly inaccurate and not to be trusted. Good to know and I may calibrate it properly and mark own scale on it for future use.

I have enough fluid left for 2 more drain refill cycles. Will do the next one from the top, but then the final one from the bottom as I want to replace the sump and level plug washer/o-ring and of course set the level properly.

That is interesting! Didn’t know you would be able to do that!

[GrahamBrown1]

Yes very! So in that case then if your happy with the oil
Level in the gearbox already, surely you could just suck out the 3.5 litres measured accurately and replace. Saving a vast amount of time and effort?? I can’t see an issue if it was measured correctly?

[al dm]

Originally Posted by GrahamBrown1

Yes very! So in that case then if your happy with the oil
Level in the gearbox already, surely you could just suck out the 3.5 litres measured accurately and replace. Saving a vast amount of time and effort?? I can’t see an issue if it was measured correctly?

Yes you could. If as you say a) you were happy with the old level, and b) you take the time to measure it properly.

I think the only possible issue is that it might be better to do a drain and refill cycle from the bottom first to catch any metallic crud at the bottom of the sump that comes out. Sucking from the top probably wont get as much.

[XC90Mk1]

With modern oils. And with that box I would not see any advantage to taking off from the bottom really as I would not expect there to be any dwarf, filings and such like. Any contaminants will be suspended in the fluid, just run the box first.

I would probably still level it myself at the conclusion of the changes because you don’t know that the initial level was accurate, however it’s much easier to do if taking from the top.

Never an issue for me as I have an xc90 so don’t need to jack the vehicle as I can get underneath it.

Good find!