Hi Folks,

I need some feedback from you other C70 owners out there. I ran across an advertisement for a 2000 C70 5 Speed Manual with 60K miles on it. Since this is out of dealer warranty, any problems that would happens would naturally be by responsibility. Anyway, what type of problems have you guys encountered with this transmission? Also, on average what has been the expected life on these transmissions? Is it more likely to go through a clutch or two before replacing the tranmission? What should I look out for on this car?
Thank for your help.

i have almost 49k miles on my 1999 C70 convertible and it works great.

I've got a 98 S70 T5 with a manual and for the most part its been pretty good to me. I am on my second clutch, first one was glazed, made alot of noise, springs went, etc. Replaced at 45k miles.

The second clutch however is doing much better than the first, and considering I drive the car pretty darn hard at times and the transmission is still in good shape I'd say its pretty solid. I did have a brief period of time where shifting into first and second on really cold mornings ( below 25F) was hard, but it went away so no worries.

Oh and my cars not using any oil either, after getting all the external leaks fixed, its good to know the rings are still good.


DG
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1998 S70 T5M

Hey DG,

What's a clutch job go for on our cars? And should a dealer do it?
Just for future consideration.

thx

rd
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99 c70 hptm 37k miles

When it was all said and done it was around $1500, $375 in parts, the rest in labor.

It going to vary on your dealers labor rates.

As far as the dealer doing the job goes... I am happy with the job my dealer did, I got the car back and everything still worked, and drives just fine. However, I have since found an independent Volvo only shop, and they are the only ones who will work on my car from now on. I have yet to have a bad experience with them, and their prices are alot more fair to me then the dealer.

DG

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1998 S70 T5M

I have a V70T5 with the 5-speed manual (same transmission) with 125,000 miles and it still shifts just like new. The engine still uses no oil. So my Volvo's drivetrain has been pretty robust. It seems that it's everything else that may become a problem, perhaps doubly so with the C70.

Then again I've been driving manuals "forever". So the shifting experience of the PO (previous owner) is probably germane to the question.

Try the Brickboard search feature for problems peculiar to the C70.

-Punx

FYI, the same tranny is used on all of the FWD 850s and up to 2000 70-series. (Not sure about the later 70-series and current 60-series.) I'm at 58k and haven't had any reliability problems. But I'd advise driving the car extensively before purchase, as the FWD Volvo tranny and clutch do not drive like other cars you might be used to. Very different clutch pedal feel and response than all of the Hondas, Mazdas and the few RWD European cars that I've driven. In short, you might not care for the way this clutch feels. At best, I call it "tolerable."


--
Jim Rothe, '99 S70 T5M,
http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/index.html

The transmissions seem to be pretty solid. But, there are not a lot of
them out there so you may not get a lot of responses. They are filled
with synthetic oil (use only Volvos') and then sealed and probably best
just left alone. I have not had any problems with my transmission on my
1998 S70 T5M. Since the clutch goes for a long time I doubt anyone
has an 800 or 70 series with a third clutch in it so you probably won't
hear much on life expetency (trust me, other things will break first).

My probelms have been with the clutch. It squeels as it is let out.
Others have reported this problem, too. If this C70 has this problem then
it is easy to hear when first gear is let out. The good news is that it
does not seem to be a problem in terms of the clutch continuing to work
(mine has been squeeling for 30K+ miles). I would think this issue would
have been sorted out by 00 model year.

60K miles is not much on the clutch. It should go twice that before
replacement. Replacement is labor intensive (figure 8 to 10 hours
of labor) so it is not cheap to replace (which is why I'm not replacing
mine for the squeel issue).

Overall, the powertrain on 800/70 series is pretty robust. Bolt on
parts (like AC) are the problem areas. I'll let others go into details
on those (or you can just search the archives are recent posts since "what
should I look for" is a common question).

Hi,

I've got 37 k miles on mine and the only thing I have is
a short honking noise when I engage first gear when the engine is cold
and car is on an incline. This may be the same squeel Ray is talking
about. Seems worse in the winter.

rd
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99 c70 hptm 37k miles