Greetings,

I'm looking to purchase an M46 w/P overdrive do drop in my '90 780. I've already parted out my old '88 740 turbo stick for most of the parts I need, but the tranny was going. There's a salvage yard near me with 2.

My question, how can I diagnose these trannies? they're still in the cars, which is great, because I can look the car over - is head clean from regular oil changes? volvo filters? coolant, power steering, brake fluid look reasonable, etc.

When shifting the cars, and putting it in gear, one of the car's shifter has more side-to-side movement than the other. I had my mechanic do the pre-buy inspection of my old '88, and when he noticed this in that car he said the synchros were going. Is this so? I still got about 180k from that tranny, on top of the 108k already on it, but it was starting to squawk some.

The tranny with more miles has significantly less play, so I'm leaning that way.

Anything else to look for? One didn't want to go into 1st gear without the clutch being engaged, the other would easily. Any significance to this?

I know I can also check the fluid in the tranny and make sure there's no metal on the magnetic drain plug, but I figure I'd do that once they get the car lifted and in the shop.

Any tips much appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott (my 780, plus '89 740, plus 2 850's)