Check Transmission Fluid 2004 Volvo XC90
I primarily build and repair houses, but I am a little bit of a shade tree mechanic. My wife's car is a wonderful Volvo XC90 that was made in Sweden in 2004. Do you want to know how to check the transmission fluid level on your XC90? Read on.
The other day, I noticed a piece of cardboard I had put under her car had some sort of fluid on it. It looked like it was oil, maybe transmission fluid or some other fluid.
I switched out the cardboard and put a few clean paper towels on top of a new fresh piece of cardboard. I let the car sit for two days and there were no drips at all. The car is usually only driven twice a week. It's now eleven years old, and just a month ago turned 70,000 miles. Can you believe that? It's just getting broken in for a Volvo!
Yesterday, she went to the grocery store, and when she came back I had her park over the new test material.
I let the car sit for two hours and rolled it out a few feet without starting the engine to see what was there.
I saw a tiny spot of lightish yellow oil on the paper towel. It was the size of a dime, so it was probably one drop and had spread in the towel by capillary attraction.
Checking the Owners Manual I came up empty handed. There was nothing about how to check the transmission fluid level. I went to YouTube. Nothing there either.
Moments ago, I called my local repair shop, they're GREAT - Eurasian Autoworks in Franklin, NH, and found out you CAN'T CHECK the transmission fluid in a 2004 Volvo XC90. It's got a lifetime SEALED transmission!
As soon as it warms up, it's damn cold here now in NH, I'm going to climb under the car to see if I can spot where the leak might be. It could just be engine oil as it was just changed a month ago and on the dipstick, it looks BRAND NEW and is not black.
Tim built custom homes and did ultra-custom remodeling for 20+ years before launching his Ask the Builder media presence. He was selected as one of the Big 50 by Remodeling magazine in 1993. This award gave birth to Ask the Builder in October 1993. Tim also operates https://DrawPlumbingPlans.com. His @askthebuilder YouTube channel was the first home improvement channel on YouTube.
Towards a noise your volvo .. I've changed the transmission oil to your volvo how often ?? Or every few miles ??
Thank you for the information. I was looking everywhere for a dipstick!
The 2006 models have a dip stick. At least mine has. (XC90, 3.2., AWD). Every mechanic so far has told me that the transmission is sealed and doesn’t have a dip stick, but it’s just hidden under the air box and hard to access without taking the box out. Maybe it’s different with the 2004 model, not sure.