Back in November and December 2015 I wrote a spate of posts about my car Fiona's transmission woes. I'd owned her for five and a half years and had covered over 80,000 miles. I'd driven her with verve and spirit - she's an enjoyable car to drive - and she had worked hard, towing my caravan to distant spots several times a year.
I'd treated her as indestructible. She was, after all, a Volvo, a big top-spec XC60. But of course she wasn't immune from gradual wear and tear, and as the end of 2015 approached, her automatic gearbox complained. After inspection, I had to face the bad news: I'd worn that gearbox out. It was replaced. A year later, in 2016, the complicated rear differential (Fiona had all-wheel drive) also complained. That too was replaced.
Although a bit worn when the gearbox was replaced in 2015, the propshaft that connected the front-end gearbox with the rear-end differential was still serviceable, and was re-used to limit my expenditure. It was still good in 2016. But now, in December 2022, its time had come.
I've just had Fiona back from surgery. The old propshaft, with its clunky loose joints, has been replaced with a smooth-turning shiny new one. The particular transmission wobble and vibration effects that prompted a visit to the Volvo dealer have gone. But now some other symptoms, previously masked, have emerged. They suggest to me that I may have gearbox trouble on my hands again.
I'm not panicking. There's the suspicion of gear-change judder when picking up speed in certain circumstances. That's a sign that the automatic gearbox is finding it harder than usual to change up. It could simply be that the gearbox fluid is past its best, as can happen if a car does a lot of city driving or towing. The fluid heats up and deteriorates faster than normal. And if the internal components of the gearbox have worn, there may be an accumulation of metallic gunge in the fluid that inhibits its hydraulic functions. I've been consciously kinder to Fiona's gearbox since 2015, avoiding the kind of press-on high-speed towing that caused its early demise. But even so, I am now wondering whether, after a further 100,000-odd miles, it could be time for another gearbox replacement.
I earnestly hope not. After a year of constant big expenses of one kind or another, my finances need time to recover. A new gearbox, if needed, would be a £6,000 hit.
The first thing to do is change the gearbox fluid. The original Volvo service recommendation back in 2010 was to leave the fluid alone if the car were normally used, as it should last the lifetime of the gearbox without replenishment. Otherwise, if the car were heavily used for city driving or towing, to change the fluid at 36,000 mile intervals - in effect, at every third annual service. But some years back I was told by a service manager that this was only a very rough guide. I could get away with a fluid change every four years. So the completely virgin fluid poured into the new gearbox in 2015 was not drained and replaced until 2019. Another drain-and-replace operation was planned for Fiona's 2023 annual service in early March. But since 2019 I've had more long-range caravan holidays than ever before. I'm now wondering about the current state of the gearbox fluid. It might well be overdue for a refresh.
I love my caravan holidays. They take me to lovely places far away, and let me visit distant friends. For me, the average nightly pitching fee in 2022 - the average of 95 nights away - was only £18. And it certainly wasn't all low-season.
Once you have bought your car and caravan, it's a very cheap way to have a touring holiday. But you do need a big, powerful car to tow the caravan. And big-car ownership is not a poor person's game. Regular heavy costs have to be expected as such a car gets older. Some of these costs will seem shocking.
But then, if I were to replace Fiona with a brand-new diesel Volvo XC60 B4, it would currently cost me £53,565 to purchase outright (so that I own it), or £769 per month (that's £9,228 a year) on a three-year 'subscription' (i.e. a PCP, so that I never own it), customised so that I can cover up to 16,000 miles a year, typical for me.
Compared to those amounts, a few thousand pounds spent at intervals on servicing and replacement parts, to keep Fiona on the road indefinitely, seems by a wide margin the more affordable course.
Let's hope a straightforward gearbox fluid change will do the trick. And then only a three-year gap to the next one.
