Volvo S80 Shift Solenoid Signal Missing?

DANSC

MEMBER
2001 VOLVO S80
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
115,000 MILES

I have a 2001 Volvo S80 2.9 with 115,000 miles. A dealer changed the transmission under warranty at 80,000 miles.

I started out recently and within 100 feet the Service Transmission Soon light came on and the car went into limp-home mode. I took it to an independent Volvo specialist, who determined the ABS module was bad. He replaced it, but the warning light and the limp-home mode came back. This time the car gives the following codes:

ECM-530D: trouble code in transmission module.
TCM-0002: shift solenoid 1 signal missing.

The mechanic says he can hear the solenoid moving, but has floated the idea of replacing the entire transmission, but is that necessarily to fix what seems like a missing electrical signal? Especially when my current transmission only has 35,000 miles?

4 Replies

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

Try another trans shop. You may have a borken wire or bad connection giving you the problem, especially with the signal missing. It can also be a relay or the trans control module in the engine compartment. You might check to see if all the plugs are plugged in the module. It's on the right side(passenger)of engine compartment forward of the strut tower.

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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 AT 10:40 PM

JIS001

MECHANIC
3,408 POSTS

You could probably get by just by replacing the faulty solenoid but there is a lot of labor involved just to remove the cover. You almost have to remove the transmission? Also what is causing the solenoid to act up? Maybe worn clutches is causing debri to jam up the solenoid? A tear down would be the proper diagnosis to see what is going on inside the transmission but it is too expensive so the safe route would be to replace the transmission? Too be honest with you this transmission has been nothing but problems but is more trouble on the XC90 then the S80? You might be able to get away with just replacing the solenoid but for the price and then a month later you have more problems where you need the transmission done it would be cheaper to just replace the transmission and get it over with it?

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Friday, August 26th, 2011 AT 5:31 AM

DANSC

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I did go to the mechanic and take it for a drive around town, but never went on the expressway just in case everything went wrong, and the car ran and shifted perfectly. The mechanic said that wasn't suprising; sometimes the computer throws a fit, sometimes it doesn't.

My question now is; does shift solenoid control the shift from 1st to 2nd gear and back, or from 3rd to 4th gear and back?

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Sunday, August 28th, 2011 AT 7:41 PM

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

That's why you take it to a trans guy they are more up to date on that stuff. I would imagine it controls all of them especially since it went into failure mode for a while. It still cold be an electrical problem but teh trans guys are mosre familiar.

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Sunday, August 28th, 2011 AT 10:43 PM