Since the radiator coolant leaked into the tranny fluid, I've been putting off the inevitable - a transmission replacement for my daughter's '89. (There's a pic of it a few posts down) I've flushed several times and still the thing sticks in 1st gear really bad in the winter. It's also very slushy feeling. It's been about two years now. Well...the time has come, because......
the rear engine oil seal started leaking and I figured it was time to replace the tranny.

I bought a replacement tranny today that came from a '90 245. No visible ATF leaks. Clean as a whistle. The guy said that it had 120k on it. Fluid was sorta brownish-red. Kickdown cable felt good. Solenoid looked good. The cooler lines had been properly cut and crimped for storage purposes. It was on the shelf at a local foreign car parts yard. I paid $350 for it. It has a 30 day guarantee (but who wants to have to pull the thing back out). There were two trannys available...the other one was from a sedan - same year as the one I bought. The reason I didn't buy it was because it didn't have the output shaft still attached. I figured that the wagon may have been driven more carefully and that this tranny had been sealed up properly. We'll see.

It's gonna cost me $350 to have it installed. I know...I know...I could prolly attempt it myself. I've been kinda kickin myself...but the guy is a local fellow that only works on Volvos....he's charging me the price to do the rear main seal. Said he didn't mind swappin the trannys out since he'd have it out anyway. He's gonna do the rear main seal and front tranny seal. I figure I can wait on the tail shaft because it's clean as a whistle.

So..plans are to drive it to the hospital on Monday nite...drop it off with new tranny in the trunk. Surgery takes place on Tuesday. I'll have $700 into this thing then. geeze.
Cabbie2169