I am about to buy a 92 740 wagon. It's automatic. Is this a reliable transmission? I would normally go for manual, but the car is a quite attractive and in good shape I hate to pass it up. It has 250,000 km on the clock.

If the fluid color is ok, and she drives well, I would assume that the transmission is in decent shape.

One test I would perform would be to check the transmission Tailshaft Bushing. Place the car on flat level ground, engine off, and the transmission in neutral. Crawl under the car from the left side (drivers side in USA) and grab the driveshaft universal joint that's closest to the transmission and shake it back and forth. If you can feel any play, it's probably time for a replacement bushing & seal. The parts are only $15 from FCP Groton, and you'll need a machine shop to press out the old bushing and press in the new one. It's a about a Saturday's worth of work/labor and this operation is best combined with a comprehensive transmission cleaning (remove tranny pan and clean worn clutch sediment from magnets, inspect filter screen, flush with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF). A worn tailshaft bushing is quite common on AW-70 and AW-71 transmissions after 150,000 to 250,000 miles, but is usually dependant on how hard you normally accelerate and how clean the fluid is. Worst case, a shop can do the whole operation for you for about $75-$150 if you're not interested in doing the operation yourself.

In general, the AW-70/71/70L/71L transmissions are pretty bullet proof. You will probably have either an AW-71L or an AW-70L transmission with a lockup torque converter (which yeilds about 2 to 5 mpg better fuel economy at cruising speeds).

God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 255k miles.
'88 Black 780, PRV-6, 148k miles.

Check the fluid to see if it is dark brown or has any flakes in it. Drip a drop from the dip stick onto a piece of white paper for best results. If either, you can suspect the tranny's life is short. If clear red, its newer fluid and a good sign. If slightly brown and without deposits, then is normal fluid that has been there a while.

I have 230,000 on my 740 and still performs great. I have a 940, but a serious head-on accident probably shortened that trany's life at 217,000 miles.

I'm sure that the 300,000 and up bricksters can give you more of a real world experience.

Gary

Well at 250000KM on it that is about 143K miles. I have seen people turn them into a pile of hammered dog crap in less time than that but that is the exception. Take Garyh's advice on it and you will probably be just fine. The AW boxes were pretty much all good boxes if they were maintained properly. Don't be too suprised if it has a few leaks, having to reseal one of them around 100-150K is pretty much normal.

Mark

Thank for the info. What's involved in resealing?

Oh about 700.00-800.00 bucks.

Rear main seal
tailshaft bushing
output shaft seal
input shaft seal
shift shaft seals
O.D. solenoid seals
O.D. solenoid if necc, not part of your 7-8 hundred dollars
pan gasket
screen
kick down cable
front pump seals
cooler line fitting O rings
shifter bushings
shifter anchor bushing

That is pretty much every external seal on the trans and a few of the hard parts like the kick down cable, tail shaft bushing, and shifter bushings. It takes about 4-5 hours to complete and if you use factory Volvo parts it should be good for another 100K or so.

Mark