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Is there anyway to see upcoming transmission failure before it happens?
If you are looking at specific vehicle automatic transmission failure data, there's several sources in the industry:
1) the car manufacturers track this for their cars. Depending upon the manufacturer, a dealership service manager or service writer may be able to disclose this information to you.
2) Mitchell Repair information has been tracking service related problems by Y/M/M for years as part of their shop management/service information service. A shop that is a Manager subscriber to the system will be able to pull up Mitchell's proprietary compiled data from the captured repair orders, which will show the typical mileage/problems/repairs needed history from their participating shops. It's an interesting diagnostic tool; ie, you can bring your car in for a problem and the shop can look up the failure items for the problem quantified by percentages of failures at given mileages for a series of car.
Will it show on the OBDII codes?
Won't set a code until there's a failure to trigger it
Can a mechanic tell that it's going bad by a visual inspection?
A road test may indicate some trends, and dropping a pan to inspect for debris/contamination might give an indicator of wear. Unlikely an external visual inspection will reveal much except for the color of fluid and possible burned smell of the fluid.
As well, the 'net may report common mileage failure problems/rate of failure for a given series of car. Owner club forums tend to have this information reported by the actual car owners.
Sometimes slippage can give early warning. Slippage is when the engine revs but the car doesn't accelerate. Sometimes a shudder or abrupt shifting when going through the gears. Burned fluid smell. But lots of times they just stop. That's what happened to me. I had two trucks that I rebuilt transmissions on due to failure. Both transmissions were maintained with regular fluid and filter changes.
One just went out as I was driving. One minute I was cruising along the second it was like the trans went in neutral
700R4 with 150,000 was this trans. Purchased the truck with 23,000 miles on it
The other gave a small shudder when driving. Got to work on the way back home I was driving and the transmission acted like I just shifted it neutral. Coasted to the side and then the bucking and jerking started.
4L80E with 185,000 was this trans. Truck was purchased new and had a 1500 pound service bed since new. Not including tools and material which was another 12-1700 on average.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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After having to pay $3,400 and $3,200 for rebuilding the transmissions in a
'90 Bronco (138k miles) and a '96 4Runner (90k) the first time I felt the slightest slip on the '96 Explorer (124k) I traded it in fast. When I had it serviced a year or so before, the transmission shop mechanic claimed that they saw a lot of them go out at $130-150k miles. In my case the first two went very quickly, running just fine and then suddenly slipping for several seconds from a stop and between gears.
I'm looking to buy a used Volvo (over 100k miles). It's been noted that certain models have transmission problems. If I buy from a private owner who bought the vehicle new, I will ask them about the transmission.
If they say that they haven't had to replace the transmission, should I pass on the car, knowing that it's going to blow sooner or later? Would it be better to buy a car that already has a rebuilt transmission?
I'm looking to buy a used Volvo (over 100k miles). It's been noted that certain models have transmission problems. If I buy from a private owner who bought the vehicle new, I will ask them about the transmission.
If they say that they haven't had to replace the transmission, should I pass on the car, knowing that it's going to blow sooner or later? Would it be better to buy a car that already has a rebuilt transmission?
There's no way to know that the transmission will blow sooner or later. It could go forever and never happen, or it could happen within a week of buying. If they took care of it properly maybe it will be fine.
I'm looking to buy a used Volvo (over 100k miles). It's been noted that certain models have transmission problems. If I buy from a private owner who bought the vehicle new, I will ask them about the transmission.
If they say that they haven't had to replace the transmission, should I pass on the car, knowing that it's going to blow sooner or later? Would it be better to buy a car that already has a rebuilt transmission?
when you buy a used car, you're purchasing the remaining service life of the vehicle. a well maintained vehicle (per manufacturer spec) and reasonably driven will optimize that service life.
price is an important aspect of that purchase.
have an experienced with that vehicle series tech perform a pre-buy inspection for you and take their opinion for condition as a basis for your decision to purchase a given car.
you've already found out that certain series Volvos have a transmission failure pattern. pay accordingly for the risk on the car you're looking at or walk away.
The only question that wasn't addressed is the computer codes.. And the answer to that is rarely. The computer codes generally have to do with the electronics of the transmission, which.. Personally, I haven't had any real problems with.
I did, on a 97 S-10, get a transmission code thrown at 12k miles, at which time they replaced the TCM since there was no indication of slippage in driving. The transmission fell out 2k miles later. And again 40k miles after that. And again about 60k after that... Luckily.. I purchased an extended warranty, so.. I only paid for one of those transmissions. Unfortunately, about 20k after the last replacement, a flying 360 at 70mph into an interstate cable barrier took out most of the rest of the vehicle.
My son's Explorer transmission went out at 160,000 miles. Reverse simply stopped working. No warnings. Parked it for the evening. Stopped working the next day.
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