2004 Volvo V70 XC transmission is "sweating" transmission fluid according to dealer mechanic

I'm looking at buying a certified pre-owned from Volvo and my mechanic noticed a very small leak in the transmission. I asked him to replace the gasket and he said there is no gasket and that the entire transmission would have to be replaced and that the leak is too small for Volvo to do anything about it. Should I pass on this car or deal with the leak later since the car is certified for another 2 years. Any other Volvo owners have dealt with this type of leak? Is it a big thing or normal?

Reply to
Joe
Loading thread data ...

I'm confused here. Why are you asking your mechanic to fix a leak on a car warranted by Volvo that you have not even purchased yet?

Additionally, rather than asking your mechanic what Volvo will or will not pay for under the warranty why not ask Volvo?

Reply to
Roadie

I'm sorry, I don't think I was clear. I had my mechanic check out the car and he found a small leak coming from the transmission that he though was just a gasket that needed to be replaced. The Volvo mechanic looked at it and told me it was normal leakage and there is no gasket to replace and that Volvo wouldn't pay for the repair because the only fix for it is to replace the entire transmission. I'm a little worried about buying a car that could develop a major leak 2 days after my certified pre-owned warranty expires in 2 years. My mechanic and my transmission guy have never heard of "normal" leakage so that's why I thought I'd post here to see if any other Volvo owners have dealt with this problem and if it neccessitated any repairs.

Reply to
Joe

The leak is normally caused by a seal leaking, not a gasket. A seal is around a rotating shaft, while a gasket is between two housings. The transmission does need to be pulled to replace the seal, but my 2001 XC70 had a seal replaced under warranty when the car was brand new. It had gotten to the point where it was leaving a couple drops on the garage floor. Volvo fixed it with no questions asked. Apparently some original equipment seals are bad. The replacement seals seem to last forever.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

Hmmmm, so should I demand that the Volvo dealer pull the transmission and replace the seal before I purchase? They told me yesterday that they couldn't do it outside of replacing the transmission and that Volvo wouldn't pay for it unless it got worse. Could you email me the dealer that did this fix for you so I can have my dealer contact them. My email is joe5345 at gmail.com, thanks

Reply to
Joe

I'm sorry I didn't read your post carefully. You say that the tranny doesn't need to be pulled to replace this seal so I wonder why the mechanic is pushing back so hard on not fixing it.

Reply to
Joe

There is no such thing as normal leakage - you should get another mechanic. Once again, you should ask Volvo whether this leak is covered under the warranty. It should be. Indeed you might make repair of the leak a condition of your purchase.

Reply to
Roadie

I just called the Volvo dealer again and asked him to fix the seal and he said that there is no problem that the seal around the joint in question "sweats" and that is normal so Volvo will not fix it. He's saying that my mechanic is not a certified Volvo mechanic so he doesn't know that the sweating around the joint is normal. I'm going to walk in there (without my checkbook) and see the leak for myself but I don't know why I have to when my trusted mechanic and transmission person said the same is you that no leak is normal. I'm pretty close to walking away from this one so thanks for the input.

Reply to
Joe

OK, so I found out why they won't fix the leak - because they don't fix transmission, they just take them out and send them back to Volvo. They feel that Volvo won't fix the leak at this point because it's too small. So they offered to take the amount of money a transmission shop would charge off the price of the car. Should I get an estimate and then buy the car or could this seepage mean there are other more serious problems?

Reply to
Joe

It's probably not a big deal, I wouldn't expect a bit of seepage to indicate bigger problems, but that said, if I were buying a car that new from a dealer I would expect the problem to be fixed.

Reply to
James Sweet

" I'm looking at buying a certified pre-owned from Volvo "

what year, mdl, miles and how much $$ ??

Reply to
~^ beancounter ~^

2004 Volvo XC70 AWD 42K Price:$22,800
Reply to
Joe

You read it right the first time: "The transmission does need to be pulled to replace the seal"

My dealer sold out to another dealer.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

What dealer ? This does not sound right @ all also what do they say is exactly leaking ? if you can post the information I may be able to help you Glenn K Volvo Certified Technician ASE Certified Technician

Reply to
Glenn Klein

Glenn I emailed you the info. I don't want to post the dealer's name just in case what they are telling me is the truth

Reply to
Joe

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.