I hear a "whirring" sound when I attempt to go in reverse, and the car won't move. Then, it finally kicks in. The overdrive unit in the tranny is shot as well.

Is it time to replace the tranny? It would seem so.

Is it advisable to even bother? The car is 20 years old, but is in awesome shape otherwise, I've already put a fair amount of money into regular maintenance, and I love this car. Are '83 trannies hard to come by? My mechanic says he likes to replace the clutch at the same time. Do you think that's advisable too? Should I just be looking for a new car?

Thanks,
Scott

If "OD Guru" chimes in here, you'll get the definite answer. But it sounds like one of the clutches (the sprag clutch?) inside the OD unit is shot. The transmission itself may be perfectly OK. The local independent Volvo shop here has about 5 OD's sitting on the floor, the guy rebuilds them as he gets time. So they are around, or you could possibly fix your own.

Unless the engine clutch assembly looks really good, it should be replaced, as the extra labor is about $40 (mostly for a flywheel skim), and the parts are reasonable.

Having everything (pull trans/OD, rebuild OD, replace clutch, resurface flywheel, install new rear crankshaft oil seal, reassemble all the above) done by professionals could be in the neighborhood of $800. It will take a lot of time to do the work yourself, but if you've got the time, tools, space, and a bit of know how, will be much cheaper and more satisfying.
--
Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-940Sedan B230FD)

You need to ask this question: Do you really want to keep the car. Dropping tranny is not an easy task. so I guess it all depends on how much your mechanic wants. I dropped mine for a clutch job and it took me 10 hours for the whole job. I think I can do it in 6 hours since I have more experience.

I am not sure what is wrong with the tranny, but yes do change the clutch disk, pressure plate, release bearing and rear crankshaft engine seal at the same time. It is good idea to replace all of these when you service the transmission.