I had a chat with a Volvo mechanic and he told me that a new transmission cost about 2700.00. I thought to myself, screw that, I could buy another brick. I am not havng transmission problems, but is getting a new wiring harness this weekend and was just thinking to myself how I would be depressed if I ended up with tranny problems after darn near restoring the car. Has anyone had transmission problems and what did you do and how much did it cost? Just curious.

tippi

If it were me, I'd replace the transmission if only to switch to a stick rather then an auto. If your car is an auto, you would have to add a clutch, and probably change the brake petal as well. (That shouldn't be to difficult.)

I personally can not stand driving an auto at all(!), which would be why I would change it out. Better gas mileage also. I think the manual transmissions usually last a lot longer then the autos anyway.

Well, that's my take on it.

There is no shortage of used AW 70 /71's out on the market. Quite a few with under 100k on them. Usually in the $350 to $550 range. Many cars go into the 250k - 300k without problems. Take care of what you have. Change the fluid every two years.

A locker wrecking yard salesman told me the other day an automatic would cost $200.
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Thanks to everyone for the help, Doug C. 81 242 Brick Off Blocks, stock; 86 240, 129K

Used, $200-400. Figure under $500 for the whole job.

There is no reason to ever get a "new" transmission for a RWD Volvo. The used ones are usually just as good.
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Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

Here in frigid upstate NY, the local Pick-a-part is having a weekend special on transmissions. You pull-$25.00. I wish I needed one.

There are plenty of good used transmissions in junkyards all across the U.S. They are also sold on ebay, the classified adds of this site, and at IPD and probably others. If you flush your tranny every 20k and treat it nice, it will run for 300k easy. I would imagine you could pick up a used transmission with under 150k for ~$500-750. Besides I've heard some stories of the dealer installed 'new' transmissions failing after a short amount of time.
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'82 DL - 153k, '93 945 - 101k

Don"t worry, with proper maintenance you should get 500 K out of a man trans.

well, the tranny isn't the only expensive thing that can go in your system. and 2700 is probably the price you'd get at the dealer's. most people replace theirs with a used one pulled from a junker.

in any case, your differential could go out, that would cost quite a bit too. mine went out when i accidentally did a neutral drop on my car revving at 5krpm. very stupid and a mistake i will never repeat again.

it seems the transmissions in these cars are supposed to last for a long time. i'm at 140k miles now and the tranny feels like it's still going strong. i have an aw7x with lockup. i think 200k miles without a rebuild is pretty common.

the key thing to remember is, you should be taking care of the transmission fluid in your vehicle. i just recently switched to it to synthetic. most people neglect to do a complete flush of the system every few years. just that fact alone makes a big difference.

i wouldn't worry about spending money and time on your car. i mean, is your tranny showing signs of weakness? what about the engine? if not, then don't worry about it. i mean, you can't neglect your car just because you're worried that it might die some time down the line, right? :-)
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Kenric Tam
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'