I took the m46 out of El Rojo Grande (1990 745ti w/ 4sp + OD, 190K mi). It was getting very hard to shift. The trans is sitting on my bench right now, and I am trying to decide what to do with it.

The input shaft is pretty shaky, but the gears do not appear badly worn, and it never made any noise, just the tougher and tougher shifting, which got so bad I almost got stuck in traffic last week.

I have a couple of options:

1. Have a shop bench build this trans, $400 - $1200 plus parts

2. Buy a box from a wrecker, $350, (pig in a poke?)

3. Buy a new/rebuilt trans, $???

4. Rebuild it myself, $?? (less than a new one!). I built the trans in my P1800, and have the Haynes manual, so I am not too worried about being able to do it.

What I would like from you folks out there is your thoughts on how you would deal with this problem. Which option would you choose, and why or why not? Is there an option I have missed?

If you have a Pick and Pull in your area I'd check it out. At my local P&P yard any tranny on the property is $68 bucks. Yes you have to pull it yourself but you can pick the donor. A M46 w/low miles in what looks to be a well maintained Brick ... say with a mild front end total ... is a safe bet. Less work than doing a rebuild. I'd go this route if a P&P is near by. My $.02

You've got the right strategy on PIck'nPulls, definetly want to take the enigine or transmission from a car that was in a accicent, then at least you know why the car is at the pick'n'pull.

-Bruce

Just don't use the brakes off of a car with a front end collision :)

parchibald:

I don't have any experience rebuilding transmissions, but I can speak to the replacement with used option you mention.

I have a 1985 745t with the m46 + OD. A few months back my tranny died... it had been getting harder to shift, and locking into gear at lights, etc., and finally started to chew itself to pieces. I took it to my brick specialist, and qasked what he thought I should do. A new tranny or rebuilt one was prohibitively expensive, and I was trying to decide whether it was time to reture the brick and move on.

Fortunately for me, he mentioned that he had done a conversion for a client from an m46 to an aw70 about 5 years prior. Seems the guy had wanted to give his daughter the car and wanted her to have an auto... money to burn I guess. Anyway, this tranny had been sitting OUTSIDE for 5 years next to a couple of his parts wrecks. I was obviously VERY concerned given the exposure, but it had fluid sitting in it and he stated that the m46 is all but indestructible. Besides, he'd warranty the work.

Anyway, he put it in with parts and labor for $500 total ($250 parts, $250 labor), and it worked like a DREAM. It turned out the pistons in the OD had to be replaced (they were slightly warped and the OD had never had the larger O ring conversion done), and this cost a little more, but all told it was MUCH cheaper than any other option and works beautifully.

Given, I got my part from a specialist who knew the history of the replacement, but if an m46 that had been idle and outside for 5 years worked perfectly I have to think that most of these transmissions are all but indestructible. I would just make sure that whoever I bought the used tranny from (i.e., a junkyard) was willing to back it up and let me get another off the lot should the one I take prove to be trash.

Good luck,
Rick

OTOH, a used trans from a wreck may be a pig in a poke, but it'll probably work (engines in wrecks are different...who knows how long it hasn't been run and if it ran after the accident..)

A factory rebuilt has the advantage of a warranty, but that's about it. I'd buy new if I could get one at a reasonable price. One year we put in a rebuilt Mazda 626 engine from the Left Coast...a year later Mazda was selling brand new 626 engines in a crate!!! I dunno if Volvo is a generous as the General with regard to new engines/transmissions...but if a new one is available and reasonable and you really like the car, that'd be the way to go.