Questions and Answers

Volvo 460 Blows Reverse Q. Dear Vincent, I'm an oversees visitor to your site, and I'm looking for some clues to my recent automatic transmission problem which might be the same for any transmission maker. (1994 Volvo 460 GLT, 1.7 liter, 4-speed ZF automatic transmission, FWD, 40,000 miles, Fuel injected, P/S, A/C, not for U.S. market).

Problem: I live and drive in an area with many hills and my driveway has a 15 degree incline, so when I park I always shift once or twice into reverse and backup for about 15 feet uphill. When I shift into reverse in order to back-up uphill during the second that I leave the break pedal for the gas pedal, the car sometimes "rolled" forward about an inch. (in others words not always a complete stop through the use of the hand brake).

A couple of days ago with the car well loaded (four passengers plus luggage), while attempting to back up the front wheels found someone's oil leak and they jack rabbited briefly, and something "went wrong" with the transmission. In reverse besides the normal noise you can hear a clear noise of a rotating gear. How bad of a transmission job is it? Could it be an over strained broken valve? Something else?

Thanks for your advice.

A. I'm glad some of my international visitors write me. I think they think I just do U.S. cars but I can handle just about any car. Well, maybe not a Russian car, but I'll give it a shot. After all, a car is a car, right?

Something very similar happened to me about three years ago with my Nissan Van. I was traveling down Interstate 90 at about 75 mph. It was winter and I discovered a patch of ice on the high way. When I hit that patch of ice, my rpm went way over red line and my speedometer pegged itself. Then I hit dry road again and everything slammed back to normal. All of this took less than half a second.

I felt the same something "went wrong" too. When I took the transmission out and apart, I found broken planetary gears and chunks of gear teeth all over.

Sadly I think the same thing happened to you. I would have a transmission shop drive it and get a first hand opinion, but I think the transmission will need some major repair.