Last spring my dad and I bought a new used car for my mom. We got a great deal on a 2004 XC70 with only 81k miles.
I didn't see the Carfax, but my dad thought he remembered seeing something about a transmission service performed at around 60k miles. At the time we made the purchase, the ATF looked a light brown-red but didn't smell like much and the transmission seemed to shift fine.
But after a year and 6k miles, we started noticing a bit of shift flare and sloppy shifting under certain conditions. I checked the ATF again; same light brown-red color but a definite "toast" smell now present. The next weekend I did the first of three drain and fills using Valvoline Maxlife, catching this sample of the old fluid.
Whadya know? Fried factory fill, with no sign of service ever being done! Symptoms improved significantly with each D&F until it now shifts like new. Looks like we caught it in time, and in hindsight I should have changed the fluid as soon as we made the purchase, regardless of what any prior service records claimed.
I didn't see the Carfax, but my dad thought he remembered seeing something about a transmission service performed at around 60k miles. At the time we made the purchase, the ATF looked a light brown-red but didn't smell like much and the transmission seemed to shift fine.
But after a year and 6k miles, we started noticing a bit of shift flare and sloppy shifting under certain conditions. I checked the ATF again; same light brown-red color but a definite "toast" smell now present. The next weekend I did the first of three drain and fills using Valvoline Maxlife, catching this sample of the old fluid.
Whadya know? Fried factory fill, with no sign of service ever being done! Symptoms improved significantly with each D&F until it now shifts like new. Looks like we caught it in time, and in hindsight I should have changed the fluid as soon as we made the purchase, regardless of what any prior service records claimed.