have just finished servicing the valve body in the AW71L trans in my 91
940 sedan. This is one hell of a big job. I'm not certain if it has made
any difference to the trans - time will tell. I do have a few notes though:

This is NOT a job you will do in an afternoon - especially if you do a
complete service like I did. It has taken me all weekend to do this job.
But I was taking lots of photos and being VERY careful. The fact that the
car drove well after completion means I didn't stuff anything up. If the
thought of changing a water pump on a B230 makes you break out in a cold
sweat, DON'T attempt this job.

I had to take out the starter motor to get the pan off. I tried getting the
filler tube nut off but it was seized solid. Lots of cursing and swearing
ensued as I tried to get the nut off. In the end, I bit the bullet and took
the starter off. I should have done this in the first place as it only took
10 minutes. Could have saved myself an hour of hell.

If you have a digital camera take heaps of photos to help to in reassembling
the valve body. There are parts in there that are not immediately obvious
such as a small retaining pin about 5mm long! This fell out and I had no
idea where it lived. Fortunately, my digital camera saved the day (not to
mention it stopped me from tearing my hair out).

I strongly recommend that you get the Volvo Automatic transmission service
manual for this job. It shows the location of retaining bolts among other
things. I took the trans pan off and was greeted by a mass of bolts. The
manual shows you which ones to undo.

The filter in my trans has 2 gaskets plus a spacer. The gaskets are
identical. The sequence goes filter - gasket - spacer - gasket (from bottom
to top). Of course, I had only one gasket and broke the other. Quick trip
to the local Repco shop which (to my great surprise) had a trans service kit
($18.00). Naturally, I couldn't get just a gasket I had to get a full kit
(pan gasket, filter and filter gasket). So I have a spare filter and pan
gasket.

Each section (there are 3) of the valve body can be dismantled to allow for
cleaning. I had some trouble getting 2 or 3 valves out of the lower valve
body so I just left them alone. The two upper sections are relatively easy
though. When dismantling the valve body, have a method for keeping the bolts in
the correct places. Most are the same but there is the odd one that is different. Some are short, some a long with a half-length thread, some are long with a full length thread. Don't mix them up.

I will be doing a website in the near future giving full details of my
experiences with this job and including plenty of photos. If you like, I
could condense it for addition to the 700/900 FAQ. I will post a link to
the site when it is completed which I hope will be in the next week or two.
In the meantime, I've put a couple of photos in the technical section of the
gallery. Links below. I hope they work for you.

Thank christ that job is done. Sorry for the long post (and the
blasephemy).

Brad