Hi Ray,

Another note on the burned transmission fluid. You most likely found some responses stating that Volvo used bad fluid and hence the required flushing. This fixes the toque converter lock up at hi-way speeds problem. I had the same problem last summer with my 99 V70 XC. The Dealer did a complete flush of the transmission at 16K miles. However at 21k miles (around December) I had the problem reoccur. The toque converter would not lock up correctly at high way speeds. And to my surprise the fluid was burned again. I have own nothing but cars with automatics and non of them has ever had burned transmission fluid at such low mileage.

This time I did not go back to Volvo or the Dealer. I beg my BMW mechanic (he only works on BMW) to look at the problem. His recommendation was to add an external oil cooler and a paper filter. He felt the transmission was running too hot thus burning the fluid. He also noted that there was no paper filter on this transmission design (there is a wire mesh that is not easily accessible). He felt that metal particles from the break in period should be filtered out of the oil. I had him install both items in late December. Now I have 26K and the transmission fluid looks great.

I consider the problem solved.