Hey all, Last Friday, my trusty Volvo V50's gearbox failed due to a lack of oil - I only found this out today after the garage (not an official Volvo one) investigated it. The repair bill is an eye watering £2,100 or thereabouts (includes other things apart from the gearbox). I've had the car serviced when it's supposed to have been (owned since end of 2015, 2012 model) but I've not had it serviced at official Volvo garages. I don't do more than about 10,000 miles a year either, so I don't have to get it serviced more than once a year. My question is this: is there a chance that it's the fault of the garage who did the servicing? Or am I just screwed? I'm not trying to shift the blame, just wondering if I'm within my rights to expect a service from an unofficial garage to also look at the gearbox or not. Cheers,
http://www.volvohowto.com/servicing...30-c70-1-6d-2-0d-scheduled-plan-2004-to-2013/ Nowt in there about checking the gearbox oil / trans fluid. Most car manufacturers try and say gearboxes are sealed for life so they don't routinely get checked unless owned by an enthusiast
You'd have some rights against the garage you bought it from under Consumer Rights Act 2015, not of a Satisfactory Quality. However its now down to you to prove to the company you bought the car from it is a fault rather than any naturally occurring wear and tear. You'd have a reasonable expectation that the car you bought should have lasted longer than just shy of three years you've had out of it though and at the very least you could expect the supply garage to help with the full cost or the majority of the cost of repairing the car. Its well worth an argue anyway ? How did you pay for the car ? Any finance agreement on it at all ?
As what mrlongbeard says: Most gearboxes are sealed. So there must of been a leak, as they usually hold 4ltrs of oil. So surely someone would of noticed oil around the housing and on the tray when they was servicing it? Only car I've ever owned that has to have a gearbox oil change was an Audi TT 3.2 DSG. Other than that, was a Nissan Pulsar GTI-R running 380HP at the wheels, but that was down to me servicing it myself from many engine and gearbox rebuilds.
I'd also investigate the possibility of a goodwill payment towards the cost of repairs from Volvo directly.
That's what i was going to say, are their no oil spots on the drive or where you normally park it? If not it could have been almost dry when you bought it. And that price you've been quoted seems rather high, is that for an automatic as reconed manual boxes for a V50 can be had for around £600, probably less if you managed to find one from a scrapper.
Thanks for the replies so far. Last year, September. Mmm, interesting. So Volvo could be at fault. Many thanks for that. Bought the car for £12k at 38,000 miles, so it would be worth repairing. I was thinking that I never noticed any leaking, though if the assumption is made that it's been leaking consistently (yeah, unlikely, I know), that'd be hard to notice over 2, 2.5 years. Sounds good to me. Will accept anything!
Hmmmm, that's not what I said, but the fact you think it is along with a need to apportion 'blame' speaks volumes. I'm out.
Unless there's a glaringly obvious fluid leak that the garage missed/ignored, then B. Even if there was, you'd have to prove it was there at the time of the service and that they missed/ignored it. So... unless you can prove their [in]action blorked your gearbox, you're just going to have to swallow it.
As above. Volvo will just say your at fault for running the gearbox without oil and you should have brought it to them for service. Price seems way to high should be able to get a second hand box from a scrapyard and get it fitted for roughly £1000.
I think i would shop around for quotes .. seems alarmingly high. As other mentioned recon boxes can be had for semi sensible money + a days labour to sort it does not add up to 2.1k. I know the syncromesh on my BMW 125i went and to have it removed ,boxed up and sent to a specialist up north , full rebuild with new bearings & syncro's and all the labour come to £1400 ...
I think the way in which its failed would be indicitive of whether there could be any blame. Although at that amount of time from service I doubt it'd be anything done there that caused it. Volvo might help out but I wouldn't hold my breath. With a lack of oil, it would have been getting very noisy before failure and when it did fail I'd imagine it would have made some very nasty noises if not lock up completely.
Again, thanks for the replies. I'm just trying to figure out why a car that is comparatively new, has been serviced yearly and does well under the miles required for another service each year has had its gearbox fail. Why shouldn't I be annoyed and trying to see if I can avoid paying a hefty repair given the circumstances? So, I'll thank you for your initial advice and leave it at that. Hmm, I'll see if I can negotiate something. Worth trying. In regards to noise, I had noticed a bit of a change in noise during the last week, but nothing that raised any alarm until a few seconds before it happened. It's the hindsight thing - seemed fine at the time, in retrospect explains a lot. Thing is, official service or not, I'm getting the feeling it wouldn't have changed the outcome.
The only thing I can think of which is perhaps if at any point there was a product recall of sorts for the affected part... A friend of mine has had two such recalls for a KTM motorcycle (keeps taking money jokes aside) which he purchased new less than four months ago.
Quick update: Been phoning around and it turns out my 36 month extended warranty may cover this - the garages I've been using are VAT registered. Tomorrow, the garage where my poor Volvo is will call the warranty company and see what's up. Fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed indeed. I'm not a fan of sealed for life gearboxes and will insist that the fluid is changed every second year regardless. For the cost of 4 or 5 litres of oil, the peace of mind hugely outweighs the expense. Also worth investing in a magnetic drain plug to catch any swarf between changes, the buildup of which would also give you a good idea of the gearbox health without opening it up.
Oh yes, I'll be doing likewise. Just assumed it was part of servicing! Warranty company insisted on seeing invoices for the services, so had to find them. Update tomorrow hopefully.
Great success! The insurance company are going to fork out for a new gearbox! I still have to pay for a new flywheel (£250), but would've had to do that at some point anyway. Only fly in the ointment is that I have to pay, then wait for the insurance company to send a cheque...
