My '82 has 342k miles on the original transmission (yay). The drive train has developed an occasional slip in reverse only. At times, when I put the car into reverse and start to let out the clutch, there is a whirring noise from the area of the transmission and initially little power to the wheels. If I slow the engine and leave the clutch out, sometimes the slipping stops and I get power to the wheels. Usually, however, I immediately put the clutch back in, move the shift lever to first and then back to reverse, and let the clutch back out more slowly. This almost always produces power to the wheels.

I replaced the clutch a couple of years ago, so this could very well be clutch failure. However, I've never felt a clutch fail like this before: in my experience, a failing clutch will fail in both forward and reverse gears, since in both cases the clutch rotates in the same direction. I change the transmission fluid each summer, so perhaps my transmission has just gotten a little impatient this year?

I've read through the Volvo transmission shop manual. I'm reluctant to attempt rebuilding the transmission...

Any advice?

thanks for the help.
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-- Bruce / '82 244 (323k miles!), '86 745, '87 760Ti, '94 854