Hi,

Thank you both for your replies. I will respond to both here.

Thank you for the post hf63. I haven't really driven the car past 40mph except once really quick when I got on the freeway by mistake. Now that the ATF has been refilled, maybe it wouldn't be a problem. So, your torque converter hasn't worked in 3 years? Yet, it still shifts 1-4 gear okay? What does the torque converter do then? I'm tranny ignorant. :)

I'm not sure the oil came out of the dip stick. There was oily moisture around the driver's side firewall, and the area under and near the brake fluid reservoir. I assumed it was ATF. Doesn't appear to be any leaks around the radiator (atf cooler lines).

The Volvo mechanic did notice some fresh ATF around the tranny seal, so not sure if that's where the leak was or not. The tranny guy said he thinks when the torque converter locked, ATF was pushed out the seals and maybe sprayed around. Then of course there was definately smoke.

The Volvo mechanic did re-fill the ATF and the car shifted/drove fine again. So, the ATF was low. Was it low before and got low enoug during my road trip that caused it to stay in 3rd and not shift into 4th? Then why the smoke, the check engine light,etc...? Something leaked out somewhere....Was it the torque converter locking and causing pressure that pushed out ATF somewhere? I guess I'm confused.

Thank you for your post Klaus. The ATF probably was low, but was it because the Torque converter locked causing pressure and blew out the ATF through the tranny seal or other? The volvo mechanic actually didn't check the check engine codes. He just checked under the car looking for leaks and after cleaning the underside and refilling the ATF and going for a test drive, there was fresh ATF underneath on teh tranny seal. That was his diagnosis. The tranny shop checked the code and told me torque converter.

Maybe I had a tranny leak, got low enough, caused the gear to stay in 3rd, but then again, what caused the smoke and the check engine light to come on, if it's torque converter then is that root issue here? And would refilling the ATF allow me to drive at all speeds without it blowing out all the tranny fluid again if that was the case?

The volvo mechanic said that replacing the seal was about 10 hours labor charge, if that was the case, couldn't they just throw in a new ( or refurb) torque converter at the same time? :)

PS fluid?

I will check the ATF fluid when the car is cold. I will then start it, go through each position, wait a few seconds at each position, stick it in park and recheck the ATF fluid. What will this tell, would the levels actually fluctuate that much?

Thank you for all your inputs. I appreciate it. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what's going on with my car. I sure don't want to give it up, I hope I can get it fixed for cheap, but doesn't sound like it. :)