Having just finished a timing belt job, front seals and new breather box I felt ready to challenge my first rear main seal. I also decided that this would be a great time to upgrade to an AW71L with a roller bearing tail shaft. Off to the pick and pull to see what was available. There were a couple of 940’s with around 150K on the odometer. To be honest I really didn’t want to have to yank a 150lb transmission on my back. A couple of rows down I spotted a green 1994 940 with 84K on the odometer with a missing transmission and engine. I grabbed another 946 EGR ECU that I didn't need and headed out. At the counter I asked about the tranny from the green 940. The guy said yeah we sold the engine a few days ago and you can have the transmission for 150. (I’m a loyal customer at this yard) I don’t have to tell you guys that I felt like a kid in a candy store. The following morning I went back to pick up it up. Once home it spent a week on the bench. First I drained the fluid and cleaned the sediment inside the pan. 3 pan bolts snapped (IMHO Swedish steel is better than Japanese) so I had to purchase some cobalt drill bits on EBAY to drill and re-tap. This took some time but went ok. I also replaced the bolts on the overdrive solenoid. One broke but managed to get it out with vise grips. Also replaced the front seal and the shifter seals. Once on the lift I started to pull my original transmission. I took my time and didn’t run into any problems. I have an air gun I used to remove the transmission bolts. I also removed the complete exhaust system from front pipe back. The rear main seal was genuine Volvo from Tasca. ($ 17) I used Mobil 1 grease on all the seals. Installed the rear main approximately 3mm deeper than before. With the transmission out I undercoated the tunnel with 2 cans 3M rubberized undercoating. (6.99 can at Wal-Mart) I really like this stuff and the noise reduction was significant. Remember Volvo can’t really access the tunnel when they undercoat. I also removed the rear muffler guard. There was some corrosion from the dissimilar metals of the guard and the chassis. I used a dremel to remove the rust and applied 2 coats of POR 15. After the POR dried I sprayed another 2 cans of 3M undercoating in the area under the muffler guard. Here again the noise reduction was significant. My front pipe was rusty and the front support bracket was rusted off so I replaced with a SS Miller down pipe. It was $168 from eEuro and is made with T409 stainless steel. It was lighter than the original and I have yet to issue a quality verdict on it. My original EGR cat(very large)was supper clean inside and decided to reuse it. The spin flange bolts where seized inside so I had to cut and drill them out. After this I sanded it and painted it with Barbeque paint. I used a cheap HF single stage transmission jack to remove and install the transmission. It was a grunt to get the transmission up on the jack as its just a single stage. No major problems putting every thing back together. I used loctite on the flywheel bolts and torqued to spec. The transmission lines were frozen at the transmission so I cut them replaced the ends with some non-frozen ones and spliced them in with 5/16” compression fittings. After everything was back together I changed and flushed the fluid with 3 gallons of Super Tech ATF fluid from Wal-Mart. It took 2 test drives before I noticed the actual shift into overdrive. It happens at slightly less than 50 and is pretty sutle. Overall I’m really happy. The transmission shifts very nicely and much better than the orginal. The engine noise on the highway is noticeably less and MPG should go up. I purchased a 5/16” Magnefine filter on EBAY and will install it after the next fluid flush shortly. At that time I will also change to synthetic. Is an oil cooler is worthwhile? Who says old Volvo’s don’t get better with age.

Re: shift points...the 1994 940 donor car had a 4.10 rear axle ratio, and your 240 most likely has 3.73. The AW71L shift points are based on throttle position and RPM, so for a given throttle position, upshifts and lockup in your 240 will occur at vehicle speeds approximately 10% higher than those mentioned by owners of 940's.
--
Bob: son's XC70, dtr's '94-940, my 81GL, 83-DL, 89-745(V8) and 98-S90. Also 77-MGB and some old motorcycles.

Just a quick update on the install. After a couple hundred miles the fluid picked up a slight darkish tinge to it and I deceided to change it again and install a magnefine filter. This time I used 4 quarts of Mobil 1 and 4 quarts SuperTech. Magnefine recommends changing out the first filter at a shorter duration so I'll probably do it again in around 15K. This time I'll use all Mobil 1. Transmission is shifting nice and having the lockup on the highway is nice. As far as MPG its going to be sometime as I'm not currently doing any highway travel.

"It took 2 test drives before I noticed the actual shift into overdrive. It happens at slightly less than 50 and is pretty sutle."

Assuming you accelerate at a moderate rate, the shift to OD would be at around 40± mph. Then, when you continue moderate acceleration, the Torque Converter locks up at about 47mph. It "feels" like another upshift, but on my 940 it's only about a 200± drop in rpms.

EDIT: Accelerating more aggressively delays all the upshifts. I just tried it and got OD at 45, TCLock at 47. Would have felt like a single event if I hadn't been watching the tach.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Bruce,

Your right on my orginal post I should have said "lockup" not "overdrive". That's around what I get for shift points although I would guess the lockup on mine is closer to 50mph. I find that under slightly harder acceleration the shift points go up by around 10mph.

Hey Yama, Thanks for the post. I have been "shopping" for a AW71L for my '83 wagon at the local pick and pull so I read your post with interest. I have been anticipating swapping out the tailshaft section from my existing tranny to the "new" tranny to keep my mechanical speedo arrangement. I had never heard of the superior bearings in the new units. Is this significant enough for me to consider a speedo swap? Thanks

re: "...to consider a speedo swap?..."

If you meant swapping your current "cable" speedometer for a later electronic speedometer, then you have to remember that the electronic speedometers aren't driven by the transmission at all. Instead, they get their signals from a "tone ring" inside the differential, so to use an electronic speedometer you will also have to transplant a later rear axle (the tone ring needs a different sized "melon", so you can't just put in a different set of gears).

Finding an AW71L with the improved tailshaft bearing was must have for my conversion but I didn't have to deal with any mechanical speedometer issues. I believe the improvement was limited to post 1993 and later 940's. The roller bearings last longer and should have less friction but the older standard bushings seem to stay tight for 100K miles or so. I would say it all depends on how much work it is to do your speedo swap. I don't have any experience in swapping out the tailshafts and I'm not sure about the interchangeability.

yama, I have seen lots of posts asking about the fit of the L tranny but only vague or no answers, just guesses. Question on the length. You made no modification to the drive shaft or the drive shaft flange otherwise you would have mentioned it. What about the tranny mount? 940s and 240s use different mounts and supports. Any mods there? I have a bunch of 940s in the family and I miss the lock out feature in my 240 as I do in my 940T. Best gas mileage in a 940 with lockout was 31.8, a long ugly drive, in a nasty rainstorm, just trying to keep the car at 48 or above. Average highway MPG is about 26 at 70MPH.

Ok, just a quick word of advice on the on tranny mount details is all I ask.

Anyone who has to swap out a tranny should use an L tranny, at least on a normally aspirated engine.

Thanks for the post!!!

Externally, the non-locking (AW-70 & AW-71) and the locking (AW-7xL) are absolutely, 100% identical externally. The difference is all internal; a slightly modified control valve body that reverses the flow of cooling oil to the torque coverter [drain outlet becomes pressurized inlet] above 65 km/h ⎻ MPH] so long as the gearbox has already applied overdrive, and the actual converter containing a clutch plate and apply piston.

The AW-70 is for the normally aspirated B200/B230F
The AW-71 is used with turbo engines and the PRV V-6 B280F
The late AW-71L bolted to 1993 and later non-turbo 940s is not built for use behind a turbo engine, and is not the same specs as the AW-71L used with turbo for markets other than US/Canada
The AW-72L was calibrated exclusively for the higher revving 16V engines.

That's correct the length of the L is the same and it bolted to the driveshaft with no issue. The AW71L has the larger roller bearing tailshaft and the AW70 had the bushing type.

I left the transmission mount and bracket attached to the crossmember and removed it as one piece. The L had the same 4 holes tapped and the bracket bolted to the inner 2. I'm not sure but believe the 940 uses the outer 2.

In my neck of the woods now more 740's and 940's seem to be hitting the yard than 240's. It seems like a shame to send any of the low mileage AW71L's with roller bearings to the crusher.

I have to replace my 3 speed transmission, working since october 1982.

I heard some good things on the german made ZF gear - but now I read more and more on the OD AW 70 (for my 2300 volvo 240 1983).

please clarify once more - many thanks
neptune

From what I can tell from reading post's over a few years is that the Aisin-Warner transmissions are more durable than the ZF's. If fuel economy is your main concern than I would go for a post 1993 AW71L from a 940. If you have a turbo than an AW71 from a post 1993 940. The L stands for lock up converter which basically adds a 5th gear. If you have a cable driven speedo that works off the transmission then you need to figure out how to address this as the later transmissions don't have speedo drives.

By the way, who is your "favorite yard" from which you got the tranny?
--
See the 700/900 "FAQ" at the menu bar top screen left side.

Hi AL
post back when you get some mpg numbers, as i have a JY 03-71L sitting in the garage with 95 thousand on her and just may put it in one of my cars without the L feature.
thanks
mike

Congrats, and heading out for that 3M stuff this weekend. Fixing to get into Floor Pan repair land in the next few weeks and Inga needs all noise reduction I can get her. Going to do Dave Shanns floor pan insulation and will add this to the underside. May even hit the topside and then add the insulation layer on top of that. Wonder if that would work over the gas tank under the rear deck? Protecting the Bung Nut of course.

The overdrive will slip in at about 40mph if you hold your speed steady for a bit. Then when you pop the button you can feel the downshift. But you have to watch the tach sometimes to know when it drops in. Now on a hard acceleration you can feel it kick in.

Unless you tow anything no need to add a radiator, the factory one does a good job IMOH.

Good Job,

Paul

Mike is right I meant to say lockout not overdrive. I can feel the overdrive shift at 40mph. To feel the lockout shift at 50mph you need to be accelerating rather gently or else you miss it.

I replaced the fuel tank on my sisters 240 last november and sprayed the top of the sending unit and bung nut with the 3M undercoating.

I couple years back I used 36ft2 of the dynamat extreme on the doors and parts of the floor and put on a hood blanket from a 1993. Personnaly I think undrcoating the tunnel does more for noise reduction than any other single thing. Problem is that to do this right you really need to have the transmission out.

hello
i believe he meant the lockup feature of the new tranny just under 50 mph.
Mike