hello fellow brick nuts!

a few months back I posted this: http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=766983

I just wanna thank you all for your input. a big thanks for steering me away from losing $1100 bucks on a tranny job that I was told was a bit too much or something that I probably didn't need. to think I was so down in the dumps and almost desperate to get my car back on the road that I was just about to go ahead with the tranny job--phew! thanks all! well, as you can see, I'm keeping my baby. I took the advice of doing an atf flush, something I should have done 10k miles ago when I purchased the car. I took it to a local volvo indie to have the tranny flushed. I know, I know, it's an easy job, but I didn't have the tools or the know-how at the time! I plan to order the ipd kit and flush it myself next time, which I would like to do after working the new atf in for at least 6 months or so. boy, was my atf dirrrrty! all that time I thought the brownish red was a normal color until the tech showed me the new atf.

here's the scoop. when I took my car to the volvo indie shop after first experiencing tranny problems, the tech said my tranny was shot. since that diagnosis, I have driven my car 300+ miles. at first it was local driving and then after feeling a bit confident, I started to drive on the freeway to work (approx. 30 miles round trip). the car seems to shift fine and in all gears. sometimes I might notice that it takes a bit to change from 3 to 4, but nothing unusually bad. the o/d works and most of all the reverse works great. before the flush and even before the sudden tranny problem, the car had an intermittent reverse problem where sometimes after a long drive on the freeway the car would not engage in reverse. with all this good news, maybe my tranny isn't shot, as that tech had initially told me.

however, I don't think I'm out of the woods yet. here is the reason why I'm posting this. my car seems to drive fine and shifts fine. I guess the ultimate test was if it could drive at freeway speed, which it did. I drive my 245 to work now with almost complete confidence. however, I have been doing it with no radio on and passenger-side window down to hear for the whine and whir I heard after my tranny showed signs of problems (slipping, bucking). at high speeds I don't hear anything unusual driving by walls. but a few times I have noticed that after exiting the freeway and resuming stop-and-go local driving, I will hear a whining/whirring sound coming from under the car. it's very noticeable during accelerration from one gear to the next. one time I thought I felt the tranny about to slip or cause that bucking/jerking motion. oddly enough it has only happened on my way home and not on my way to work in the morning.

with all the info I can gather and present to you guys, what can the problem be? yes, I have double, triple checked my atf level. all looks fine. my searches in the archives has been like an emotional roller-coaster ride. sometimes it gives me hope because I think it could be a drifeshaft bearing problem, which I hear is a minor one. other times I get a dreadful feeling that my tranny is shot. could it be a driveshaft-related issue? I'm hoping that's the culprit for the whine/whirl.

sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate you guys for having read this far! thanks all for all your help! I'm hoping that I won't need a new tranny eventually.

btw, car is an '89
245 dl auto with approx. 188k miles