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decades in the car industry, eh? Well, guess what, your transmission is
not that old! Lots has changed since then, primarily electronic control
AND lockup torque converters. Modern ATs no longer constantly shear the
ATF molecules in the TC. And modern Dexron is much better than it was in
the 1960s/1970s.
There are a lot of worry-warts in this forum who will tell you how and why
to change it*. Some of them seem to have a red fetish (even though your
transmission can't see color).
You should definitely leave it the hell alone. If it doesn't make it 50K
miles without an ATF change, it was a defective transmission and you should
welcome the free warranty replacement. If your transmission is defective
and chewing up its fluid at at accelerated pace, that's Volvo's problem,
not yours, unless you obscure the problem just long enough to make it out
of warranty. Why would you pay good money to effectively vitiate your
expensive and potential valuable warranty coverage?
Think about it: even if you are cynical enough to believe that Volvo
malevelently recommended leaving the ATF alone so that they would all fail
and Volvo would get rich on repairs (at the expense of customer loyalty),
they couldn't even hope to pull this stunt off without risk of bankruptcy
unless they'd virtually all make it out of the 50K warranty period alive!
I had mine flushed prematurely at 61K mi. I now wish I'd waited at least
until the 70K preventive out-of-service-anyway timing belt maintenance.
I'm at 120K miles now and not even thinking about the ATF. It's still
fine. And that is Dexron (the most over-engineered fluid in your car!).
But I'm sure plenty/most of those who will encourage you to get that
imperfectly red fluid out of your AT ASAP will also tell you how superior
synthetic ATF is (but they're all wet about that, too).
Unlike engine oil, ATF is exposed to neither high temps nor chemical
pollution, nor is it desirable for it to be as slippery as possible. Save
the snythetic for your crankcase, and save your money for something
worthwhile (ie, not synthetic ATF).
As long as the ATF is neither dark nor thick nor burnt-smelling, leave it
the hell alone, stop worrying, and enjoy your car and your money and your
life.
If 2 years / 25K miles was good enough for old ATs and old ATF decades
ago (and it was), and modern ATs can easily go 5X-10X longer without
wearing out their ATF (and they can)...
- Dave; '95 854T, 120K mi
* amazingly, some of the same ATF worry-warts will tell you how to extend
your engine oil drain interval. Now THAT's asking for trouble. The best
and cheapest insurance for expensive underhood component longevity is to
keep changing your polluted engine oil, but to treat the AT as if it were a
sealed system and leave it alone!
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