maybe you can help me out! I'm in Central America so the dealer does not always have a clue, I have a 2001 S60 2.4t with 105k miles, and my transmission started to do a very harsh shift from 2nd to 3rd, not always, maybe 50% of the time, I've tried resetting the computer by dissconecting power for 24hrs, and then, I did a flush and changed the trans oil, it helped a lot for 200 miles, now the problem is back, not always and deffinetly never when driving uphill... any thoughts? I do not even whant to ask how much a new trans will go for down here!

Honestly? It sounds like your valve body.

This is a common problem on these AW Geartronics. ESPECIALLY the 2001's due to the Neutral On Stop feature. (Google that, there's a lot out there already discussing it).

There was a software update in 2002 and another in 2003 and you should DEFINITELY get those if you haven't already. May help a bit. But, at this point, it may not.

The valve body is the only part of the tranny that can actually be serviced, but it's still not cheap, ($700-1000 USD compared to $2500-4000 for a rebuilt tranny [and all after market trannies are rebuilds, no OEM available])

The downside, though, is that the valve body fix might not fix the problem entirely for the long term.

Furthermore.. about the fluid..

if you did a simple drain/fill, you actually only replaced about 1/3 of your fluid. Doing it another time, or even twice more, is closer to the effect of a real flush. Also, be sure to use the Mobile 3309 tranny fluid spec. It's expensive from Volvo but Toyota uses it also and you can get it from them at a lesser cost.

It doesn't really matter WHERE you get it, so long as it's Mobile 3309.

A caveat, though: Some people feel that changing the fluid on a failing tranny causes it to fail more quicker. Personally? that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but many swear by it so YMMV.

Finally... check out sweedspeed.com. It's got a more active forum, especially from a technical POV.

Good luck, my friend.

Your best bet might be selling it while you still can.

well.... I really would not like to sell, but at this point in time, ít seems like my best option...I'll try a new flush and then if the problem goes away I'll consider selling and maybe buying a newer one... these days it seems harder to find a good, reliable car, like those 244s of old times...