Volvo 480 Club Europe

So today I was happily driving along the motorway at about 70mph, this is the first time I’ve driven it at this speed for a while. It kept slipping out of 5th gear, it happened once, then started to become more frequent, I slowed down to 50mph and tried to limp home, then I became unable to put it into 5th, so I proceeded to continue at a slower speed in 4th, just until I got home then I could take it to a garage. Suddenly whilst driving a whine came and got worse very quickly then I lost all power, followed by lots of clunking and a ‘metal rubbing metal’ kind of noise, I manage to get to the hard shoulder and now I’m safely home after being recovered. I’m only able to get it into 1st and 2nd and it screams when in those with very little power getting to the wheels.

Does anyone know what this could be?

Just on the off chance if it matters; I had one of my CV boots replaced by a very very very questionable garage last week.

Well, the right hand inner CV boot holds all of the gearbox oil in, so that's a good start!‎

This doesn't sound like something you can recover from so I'd start looking for a replacement 'box. Should be easy enough to find but a lot of hours to fit.‎

This definitely sounds like a gearbox that has died of oil starvation, because the 5th gear is the first to go if the oil level drops.
What James already said, try and find a replacement gearbox. What engine and model year is your 480? There are subtle differences in the gear boxes, most notably the first and second gear. And it must have an electronic speedometer pickup, not the mechanical one like most 440/460 have.
As the gearbox is in fact a Renault JB3 you could look into alternatives from scrap Renault cars:
http://www.volvohowto.com/jc5-jb3-jb5-j ... lications/

Good luck!

I did think the two might of been connected somehow, it’s 1994 2.0 litre ES. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one somewhere.

Thanks all.

Where are you located?

I’m in Lincolnshire! I’m going to add some oil today and see if it makes a slight difference, however I feel it’s too little too late.

afaman1 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:38 am

I’m in Lincolnshire! I’m going to add some oil today and see if it makes a slight difference, however I feel it’s too little too late.

It will be FUBAR, don't waste your time mate! Plus, the oil is quite expensive

jamescarruthers wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 14, 2018 12:13 pm

afaman1 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:38 am

I’m in Lincolnshire! I’m going to add some oil today and see if it makes a slight difference, however I feel it’s too little too late.

It will be FUBAR, don't waste your time mate! Plus, the oil is quite expensive

doesn't sound good

if the garage replaced the inner or outer boot on the LHS , fair chance the oil all ran out and didn't get re-filled. (I think you can pull the RHS and not have the oil all empty out as it's a 'normal' seal on shaft effort )

you could check the level and then question the garage if it's low, if it's empty then maybe some come-back?

and if the fill plug will NOT come out then fair chance never been topped up?

Filled it up, to then find all the fluid I’d put in had come straight out the bottom, I had a look and saw it was coming from the seal around the CV boot to the gearbox, I had a more thorough look and found that half of the boot wasn’t even fitted into the hole. I’ve refitted the boot properly and topped it up with gearbox oil, but I’m more than certain the damage has already been done. The garage it was at was a dodgy east London one, cash in hand, refused an invoice etc, was totally unaware of the illegitimacy of this place otherwise I’d never of gone there, so the likely hood of them taking responsibility is very slim, especially when I refused to give them the full amount due to an awful job.

Looks like it’ll be a new gearbox job, does anyone know where I’d be able to get one from?

Thanks for you help everyone.

I think Alan is right and I was wrong in my previous post. The left boot holds the gearbox oil in‎. The gearbox is on the left of a car!

afaman1 wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:02 pm

The garage it was at was a dodgy east London one, cash in hand, refused an invoice etc, was totally unaware of the illegitimacy of this place otherwise I’d never of gone there, so the likely hood of them taking responsibility is very slim, especially when I refused to give them the full amount due to an awful job.

Looks like it’ll be a new gearbox job, does anyone know where I’d be able to get one from?

it doesn't matter if they ARE cash in hand, trading standards can maybe help out?
failing that just post 'snotty feed-back' on any social site you can find, at least saves some other poor sod getting screwed? ?

For a replacement try 440/460 but take notice of what Brinkie suggests, you can pick up a WHOLE 440 for a few hundred notes, which is a shame cos they are 'competent' cars and usually low mileage as were bought by 'older buyers' , never exceeding 50mph etc

I have a 2.0 manual that I am breaking, if you cant find anything locally.