2002 Volvo XC70 transmission problems

Filed Jan 2, 2012 · Transmission · 85,000 miles · WA

I own a 2002 volvo xc70 cross country. While driving, and especially during down shifts, the vehicle would lose its connection to the drive shaft, causing the engine to rev up and the vehicle to jerk as it grabbed back into gear. The jerking has consequently caused me to break my motor mounts. A local mechanic diagnosed that the vehicle needed a new transmission. The dealer agreed that this was the only solution. All software updates have been done. The manufacturer has not been contacted, as they are a chinese company. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure mileage was around 85,000. The current mileage is 125,000. The VIN was not available. Catastrophic failure. Not fair to the owner. Manufacturer should correct this common, expensive problem.

Filed Dec 26, 2011 · Acceleration, Transmission · 149,000 miles · CA

My wife drove our car a 2002 volvo xc70 station wagon from our second home approximately ten miles to san luis obispo calif. For shopping. She parked the car in the parking lot and went into a store. She came back out, started the car and backed out of the parking space. When she put the transmission lever in drive the engine went to full RPM and lurched forward, she applied the brakes which could not hold the high engine speed pulling the car forward. She quickly shut the engine off with the key avoiding a potential accident. The cruise control was not on and there were no objects I.e., floor mats or other items, near the accelerator pedal. Thank god my wife or no one else was injured or killed. I am a retired fire captain and private fire investigator with 30+ experience. This scared the hell out of us and we do not trust the car. I previously took the car to the dealership and reported the transmission 'clunking' they recommended that I drive it till it failed because of the high costs involved. Now, I am reading reports of coil spring failures and bearing problems. I bought this car specifically for the safety features; now I am very disappointed and extremely concerned.

Filed Sep 19, 2011 · Transmission, Visibility · 188,000 miles · SC

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 volvo xc70. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH the vehicle stalled between gears. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer for a diagnostic test and was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The contact stated the rear view mirror was also defective due to anti glare separation which made it difficult to see and also made the vehicle unsafe to drive. The failure mileage was 188,000.

Filed Jul 29, 2011 · Transmission · 77,950 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 volvo xc70 cross country. While driving, the contact stated that the vehicle would down shift, causing the vehicle to jerk. A local mechanic diagnosed that the vehicle needed a new transmission. The dealer nor manufacturer were contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 77,950. The current mileage was 78,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Feb 8, 2011 · Transmission · 95,000 miles · CA

Failure of the transmission on the road.

Filed Oct 14, 2010 · Transmission · 70,000 miles · UT

70k miles on 2002 volvo xc70 when unexpected surging started. Occurs when driving up hill or up a grade. This serious and concerning problem continues to occur, with or without setting cruise control. This vehicle has excellent maintenance history record.

Filed Aug 16, 2010 · Transmission · 143,000 miles · NC

2002 volvo cross country transmission problem. The vehicle has 143,000 and transmission is going bad. According to the mechanic this is a common problem. The transmission slips and jerks when gearing down. I was going through an intersection and the transmission slipped and almost caused me to get hit. The mechanic said that I will have to replace the valve body in the amount of $2300.

Filed Aug 6, 2010 · Engine, Transmission · 101,000 miles · VT

Hello, I own a 2002 volvo xc70 wagon and am in the process of having my transmission replaced. My coolant constantly needs to be filled and I have no floor heat in my car in the winter and my A/C doesn't work correctly in my car.

Filed Aug 1, 2010 · Transmission · 144,420 miles · PA

Recently bought a 2002 volvo v70 xc70 and am having serious issues with gears in the automatic transmission not shifting smoothly and maintaining constant gears at constant speeds. Have been informed that the car may need a transmission replacement. I have seen numerous complaints about this on the web from other 2002 owners. Why has a recall not been issued for this? Why should we have to flip the bill for crummy manufacturing?

Filed Feb 10, 2010 · Engine, Transmission · 82,885 miles · WA

Slipping transmission while driving on straight aways and up hills on both of my volvo's purchased as certified pre-owned vehicle's. The first vehicle (2002 volvo s60 awd) was traded in but the second one (2002 volvo xc70 awd) was repaired - both after 2 years of ownership and with warranties that had just expired. The slipping transmission occurred constantly while driving and would cause the car to slam into gear when accelerating and propel the car forward once the transmission engaged. I took the volvo to the service shop and was told there wasn't an issue then when I brought it back again they explained that I would need a new transmission. When I took the xc 70 to a certified volvo transmission specialist (not the dealer) we tested the transmission fluid and the test came back as positively showing the existence of radiator fluid which had leaked into the transmission fluid. The volvo specialist explained to me that in recent years volvo had made a change to how the transmission fluid was cooled. As a direct result of this design change to awd vehicles (all awd's) the transmission fluid was cooled by flowing through a pipe directly attached to the radiator. Over time the radiator fluid caused the cooling pipe to corrode and as a result radiator fluid was leaking into the transmission fluid causing the transmission to fail. Besides rebuilding the transmission the radiator also required replacement because we had to fix the leak at the source or it would continue to happen. Even though the repairs were made the problem could present itself again over time. It took only 80,000 for my volvo xc70's transmission to fail. This seems like a serious design flaw and according to the multiple transmission specialist I spoke with they are seeing this problem more and more with all awd volvo's from 2000 to present day models.