The Safrane.Info Forum!

Ok since I have taken the car over its been mostly behaving.

However theres occasional issues with it, so its time to change it. Or at least dilute the old stuff. The box is the venerable AW 50-42le, which I have worked on before but just stuck in what I was supplied with or told to.

However I have not got a decent answer anywhere about what fluid, the dipstick says Dexron 2E which was superseded back in the early 90's.

So my options I think are

Dexron IIE (may need a time machine)
Dexron III (again may need time machine)
Dexron VI which is the new one.
Toyotas T-IV
Or whatever generic JWS3309 fluid I can find.

Its not helped by not knowing whats inside just now.

Also not sure the flush through the cooler lines will be possible, the stud holding the lines to the cooler looks decidedly snap offish

So whats the recommendations?

I used Dex2 instead of 2E but the folks over on the volvo forums took a bit of a dislike to it saying it'll be alright but change it again within 30k. 2E is what is recommended but I have heard several whispers that 3 is the best thing to put in now but I can't confirm that.

I think the only people who could really comment officially are Ren-oh or Volvo themselves. I'm not sure I'd trust either to get it right if I'm honest as Ren-oh seem to be hit and miss with everything bit Volvos 850 setup is slightly different to the Renault bodge for it (eg the oil pressure switch, the timing pulleys, various other stupid things like the PAS pump, timing cover etc.

I put in Dex2 a few months back and its been ok. Admittedly the car doesn't get used much but at least the 'thud' when moving into reverse has gradually gone away (jeez that used to scare the f**k out of me the first few times!).

As for the pipes to the cooler, if they're the same as the 2.5 they'll only come off together as they're joined onto one plate unlike the volvo pipes that come off seperately. I didn't have any trouble removing mine from #3 but I was breaking it up. The renault docs say you must empty it via the sump plug at the bottom and replace the amount with exactly the same fresh stuff going in via the ATF dipstick.

Well I just got some Comma AQ3 and managed to get 4 and a bit litres out and the level is between the min and max so good enough until its run around a bit more.

The cooler pipes are joined but the thread where the nuts onto is a bit of a crusty mess, so with my luck it will snap and that will be that.

Dexron 3 superseded 2 and its variants nearly 20 years ago. So Dexron 3 is ok.

I wanted to use the JWS3309 as Aisin Warner were the main pioneers of that, and the comma stuff is actual called ASW and says for aisin warner specifically. The price soon put me off though

I got some pics so will put some up on retro, maybe do a thing for here as well.

It seems to have made my downshifts smoother a lot more than the upshifts. Will take it on the motorway later to see if its sorted the high speed kickdown thump.

Still 20 quid and 20 minutes of my time, made a nice difference.

I will probably do it another couple of times to further dilute the old fluid.

The magnetic drain plug was in good shape, seen a lot worse with less miles.

The original gearbox oil is still available from Renault dealers, in the SUO gearbox it is Kuwait petroleum ATF 97337 (which is a Volvo code) Renault part number 77 11 218 368... but its bloody expensive.

and thus a waste of money.

I still need to change it a few times to get it all cleared out but its nice and smooth still.

Although when cold the 1st to 2nd upsghift is a bit delayed but not as bad as before.