I have a 1990 745T with 315,000 kilometres on it (purchased 9 months ago). I have noticed that under reasonable acceleration load, the clutch appears to innitially slip a little in 3rd, 4th and O/D. It might do it in lower gears, but haven't noticed it. Before anyone suggests it, the clutch was replaced 50,000 kilometres ago (rear main seal failure) and there was a lot of "meat" still left on it. So, the point I am trying to make is, I do not "ride" the clutch and in fact have never burned a clutch out in my 38 years of driving.

When the rear main seal was being replaced, the dealer had the flywheel skimmed. The clutch (hydraulic) is right up at the top, but the dealer says this normal for the hydraulic clutch and there is no adjustment for that. All my previous Volvos had clutch cables which of course offered an adjustment.

Appart from some discussion from the dealership about the possibility that the flywheel wasn't skimmed properly (not the traditional flat surface) they couldn't really offer an explanation as to why it was slipping.

When I let the dealership owner take the wagon for a test drive, he couldn't get the clutch to slip. The difference in our driving styles is quite remarkable. He has always driven his Volvos hard, whereas I am a much more sedentary driver, driving like I was taught, as if there was a glass of water on the hood.

When I mentioned the outcome of the test drive to another service technician and the fact the clutch slipped in less than 5 blocks when driving away from the dealership, he wondered if the uni-directional clutch in the O/D was weak/worn. The fact that when pushing the vehicle hard resulted in no slippage, he suggested the O/D clutch got a much better bite compared to the smooth changing that the O/D was experiencing from my feet.

In view of the expense to replace the unidirectional clutch, I was hoping to get some advice from this group and maybe some alternative causes before I authorize this work.

Any suggestions / advice would be very much appreciated.

Ken