Best atf for volvo 4t65ev/gt

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I am thinking about purchasing a 2005 Volvo XC90 with a 2.9 turbo charged v-6 engine. It has 140 thousand miles on it, both rear wheel bearings have been replaced in the last 5 thousand miles. It has had the left front cv axle replaced at that time as well. Transmission was re-built at 90 thousand miles. So the re-built transmission has 50 thousand miles on it.
I have some concerns about this vehicle because I have read some horror stories about the transmission that's in it. Which is sometimes referred to as aisen-33 or 4t65ev/gt, I don't know what the issue is with these trannys but from what I have read they are extremely weak and almost always fail.
If I were to buy this car, what atf should I run to have the best success? I read that heat is the biggest enemy to this transmission which isn't a big surprise to me because heat is the biggest killer of any automatic transmission. If I bought this car I would most defenitley look into getting a deeper pan to hold more fluid to aid in cooling and run a top quality synthetic and get a bigger cooler for it.
Does anyone here have any experience with this transmission? I'm looking for fluid recomendations and other recomendations that will keep this transmission going good.
 
Don't buy it. You will be sorry. I went down this road and Volvos for the most part are maintenance nightmares and extremely expensive for parts and repairs. 2 out of 3 Volvos we owned were very unreliable and constantly broke down. The XC90 is one of the most unreliable Volvos on the road. my 2004 XC70 has been trouble free for and a great car. With that said I would never buy a Volvo again.
 
Volvos I believe are mainly bought with the thought that they are the safest cars on the road.Well,lately there has been a few fatalities around here with Volvos involved in crashes.Dont let the hype sway you toward them blindly,people are being killed in Volvos and SAABs just like Fords and Chevys.I've seen SAABs ripped in 2 as well.If they lose their legend of safety,whats left to recommend them....high repair bills?
 
I owned a 2004 XC-90 T6 for about 146K miles until it was totaled. Tranny went out at 72K and was replaced under warranty, both rear wheel bearings were replaced thankfully under warranty too. No question this unit has its issues. I put an after market aluminum pan similar to this one: http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/p/246-4T65e-Aluminum-Transmission-Pan.aspx

Double check for fitment, particularly for the size of the bolt holes. Aside from the cooling, biggest benefit is the drain plug in this pan allows for early and often changing of the fluid. That tranny takes DEX-VI. That XC-90 was a solid riding vehicle, just keep your foot out of the go peddle and good luck.
 
Swedspeed and XCVolvo forums are the places to post this question. This transmission can be problematic if not properly maintained.
 
I haven't bought it yet. And am not sure I'm going to.
The owner of the suv is a friend of mine and he told me the rear driveshaft needs fixed, I guess it's going out as well.
I did watch him spend quite a bit of money on this thing in the short period of time he's had, he's had it for a little over a year. When he bought it, it had 119 thousand miles on it. Both rear wheel bearings went out on him, the left cv axle went out on him, and the rear driveshaft.
The price he is wanting is 2500.00 below what it books out for, and he said he'd be willing to get the rear driveshaft fixed.
So I just don't know, my fiancée loves it, he let us barrow it for a trip last spring and it did very well for us. Never felt or heard anything and it was comfortable to ride in. So it's going to be pretty hard for me to convince her to let it pass.
But I have seen nothing but bad reviews on the transmission, and that worries me. I would be willing to put a high qaulity synthetic atf in it if I got it, which should help it, an aftermarket pan, maybe an aftermarket cooler?
I will look around online and see if I can find aftermarket coolers for it.
 
http://www.tripleedgeperformance.com/Volvo-S80-XC90.html
Quote:
Drivers side front axle leaking:

This is not a problem that you may even know is going on, but one that should be taken seriously and inspected. We ran into our first XC90 with this problem not too long ago and was shocked at what we saw. There is a bolt that retains the outer part of the axle / CV joint to the wheel hub. This bolt is accessable once you remove the front wheel. When you remove the bolt you experience dark colored transmission running out that seems like it never wants to stop. There is a Volvo dealer service bulletin about this problem also. The cause is a cup plug that becomes loose in the inner CV hub that goes into the drives side of the transmission- this is only a problem on the drivers side. When the plug falls out of place the transmission fluid enters the axle and cv grease mixes and goes back into the transmission. The 2003-2004 models used a hollow CV shaft that connects the inner and outer CV joints, so when you remove the retaining bolt in the wheel hub the transmission fluid will run out of this hole. The 2005 model year is said to have a solid axle so you wont have the fluid leak BUT this problem can still occur and the cv grease will mix with the transmission fluid and contaminate the transmission. Volvo does have a revised axle that addresses this problem and from what we have found is a dealer only item and in the $500+ price range. This is something that definately needs to be investigated any time a transmission is removed for repair from an XC90!

What in the world was Volvo thinking?

I've read numerous posts about the transmissions failing in certain S80's and XC90's with the twin turbochargers (T6). If I recall correctly, it was too much torque, too much weight to launch and the tranny was very inadequate for the repeated task.

The one you're considering has 4-wheel drive? According to the same site mentioned above there are three transmission fluid levels to be maintained. I'd suggest you read the entire link posted above by ls1Mike...
 
I am not even sure how GM and Volvo teamed up to use the 4T65E. They could have at least used the HD version. It was not GM's best unit to begin with. Tons of upgrade parts in the aftermarket. Maybe some of them were installed in the transmission that is in the car now.

Seems like you know a bunch of the history and that is worth something.

Parts are available and if you don't mind spending money to fix it, it will keep your significant other happy. There is tons of value in that!
smile.gif
 
So does this transmission that's in this volvo call for dexron3?
Would a name brand dexron6 be the best choice to run in it if I did get it?
Or would I be better off putting a high dollar synthetic in it like redline or amsoil?
 
I think it has dexron3 in it, dexronvi didn't come out untill 2006 and it says in the owner manul to use dexron3.
But if I bought it is out a synthetic in it to help the transmission live longer hopefully.
 
So it uses the same stuff as my Grand Prix. You can cross to
Dex VI, but given the miles and not knowing the last service I would do a pan drop, filter swap and put Dex III back in it.

You should find out if you can do the Trans Go shift kit. It does help them live longer and shift better.
 
Still deciding wether or not we want to buy this. My friend was supposed to bring it to me a couple of days ago. He said he would let us drive it around for a week or two so we can get a feel for it and see if we would want to purchase it or not.
Problem is his wife insisted they let her sister barrow it, and her sister has been putting a ton of miles in it, taking it on multiple long trips.
That right there has us thinking we probly don't want it. It's problamatic to begin with, and my friends wife's sister has been driving it for a couple of months now.
We will test it out if and when it gets here and decide from there.
I'm going to call a couple transmission shops and find out what it would cost to get that shift kit installed,not hanks for the link ls1 mike.
 
My fiancée wanted this car so bad, so we decided to buy it. The owner was a friend of mine and he was the 2nd owner of it and when he bought it from the original owner the original owner showed him the warranty work that had been done by volvo, transmission was re-built at 110 thousand miles, passenger side cv axle at 110 as well, the axle failing is what caused the transmission to burn up.
New radiator and cooling lines at 110. New front wheel bearings at 100.
My friend replaced the drivers side front cv axle at 140 thousand miles and both rear wheel bearings at 140 thousand miles.
We bought it and the agreement was my friend the owner would replace both front struts and both inner and outter tie rods and both uppper and lower ball joints and have a 4 wheel alighnment done. He paid for all the parts and labor. So this car has a lot of brand new parts on it. I serviced the transmission the first day we got it with a new filter and gasket and I decided to use Napa dexron vi with a bottle of red lube gard. Here in a couple thousand miles I will drop the pan again to drain the fluid again and i
Ill re-fill again with dexron vi and another bottle of red lube gard. i put brand new spark plugs in it and put new brake pads on the front and back and all the rotors freshly turned. And I also changed the oil using Napa synthetic 5w-30 because it was on sale, I decided I will change the Napa 5w-30 at 5 thousand miles since this is a twin turbo car and I'll switch over to mobil 1 0w-40. We are paying 7800 for the car and the mothly payment is 180.00 plus 50 for the full coverage insurance. The car books at 8500, so I guess we are sorta getting a good deal on it. Just thought I'd let you guys know we decided to buy it and fill you in on what's been done to it and what we've done to it. I'm hoping it will be a solid car for us because darn near everything has been replaced in the last 40 thousand miles.
 
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I'm not sure if you know, but that's not the correct fluid for that transmission. We have that same unit in a GM vehicle and I'm aware of the issues with it.

It's spec'd for 3309/T-IV. The Dexron VI is a fair bit thinner. A good substitute for T-IV I have found is Mag1 synthetic, which is reasonably priced in 6qt bundles from Amazon.com w/prime. There are other good alternatives to the T-IV than from just Toyota or GM. Given the known issues with it, I like to run a synthetic and in the exact weight as originally specified.
 
Dexron vi is the wrong fluid for a gm 4t65e? Everything I've read and been told says dexron vi is backward compatible to dexron iii and dexron iii is what the gm 4t65e transmission calls for. And it sure shifts a lot better and drives a lot better for having the wrong fluid in it.
 
I was basing my statement on what you said in your first post, that it had the 5-speed Aisin AF33. That was used in these cars along side others. That is a T-IV fluid designed unit.

So what transmission is actually there (powertrain combination)? If a different GM one, then DexVI may be correct. Either way, a unit would feel better with the wrong new fluid if the old fluid was really that bad.
 
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