How much should I pay to rebuilt a tranny on a 850?

Hello everyone,

My car is a non-turbo '96 850 with only 52000 miles and I need to rebuilt
the transmission. It is a long story but I'm 95% sure I need a new
transmission.

Can anyone suggest a reasonable price to pay? I got phones estimates
anywhere from $ 1750 to $ 4000. The $ 4000 is from a dealer. The $ 1750
price comes from a small tranny shop which the owner has been doing this
job for more than 20 years, but the shop does not look too professional.
On the outside I also see mainly older cars parked to be serviced. He
would give 12 months/12K miles warranty, which is also waht the dealer
would give me for a $ 4,000 job.

I checked with another shop which looks more professional and I see newer
and expensive foreign cars parked outside.
The cost from them is $ 3,000 and they would give me 24 months/24K miles
warranty.

I would appreciate very much any suggestion. I need to fix the car very
soon. Clearly I would go with the small shop but I wonder how complicated
is to rebuild a Volvo tranny.
Is it something that any tranny shop can do it?

Thank you,

Pier

 

try www.erievovo.com


--
"*-344-*Never Forgotten"
Is for the New York City Firemen who lost their lives on September 11,2001.
The official count is 343, but there was also a volunteer who lost his life
aiding in the initial rescue efforts. And I will never forget them as long
as I live,
nor should any American.
"Mow Green"

 

Do you work for that place or something? IIRC they're in NY or something,
not useful unless the guy happens to live by them.

 

Most automatics are pretty similar on the inside. I would go to the small
shop personally, it's less than half the cost, as long as they don't screw
things up getting the transmission in and out it should be fine. Could be
the reason their shop looks less professional is that they focus on getting
the job done at an affordable cost rather than dumping a lot of money into
having a fancy looking shop. Wouldn't hurt to ask for referrals though.

 

Here's what to do - spend $1700-$2000 and convert it to manual.
Automatics are hideously expensive to replace and offer nothing
other than convienence, while a manual offers at least half a
dozen advantages.

- Less expensive to repair 3-4 clutch jobs = 1 auto rebuild.
- Can start the car with a dead battery
- Less weight
- Better mileage
- Control the car instead of it controlling you.
- Can start the car in 2nd gear
- Months or weeks of warning of a failing clutch as opposed
to a few miles on an automatic.

There are others, but for a car that old, if you want to
keep it, convert it - or get an identical car with stick.

 

O.K., so I've got a looming "solenoid B malfunction." Today it goes to the
local tranny shop my mechanic recommended. Maybe it's just the wiring, but
suppose they tell me I need a $1750-$4000 rebuild/replace. I never wanted
an automatic anyway (but the price was right). So what does it take to make
it into a manual? Could my local shop do it or do I need a Volvo
specialist? Will they be able to find the parts?

Thanks

 

But an auto rebuild is a rare thing - this one is needed at abnormally
low mileage; most will comfortably last the life of the car. Manuals
will need at least one clutch change, guaranteed - possible several.

True. But jump leads are cheap, and it's good to make friends with
your neighbours.

Is this much of an issue in a Volvo? Maybe a sports car it would be.
The difference is small.

Modern auto boxes are much better at this.

For starting on ice, you mean? The torque converter helps here, and
some auto boxes have a setting for this. Otherwise it's a sure way to
need a new clutch even sooner.

I've had a clutch give very little warning of it's demise. I've also
driven an auto box for many hundreds of miles, even though it was
terminally damaged. Manual gearboxes go wrong, too.

Changing from auto to manual will also require changing the flywheel,
the pedal unit, fitting a clutch and an actuating mechanism, and
probably changing the gear lever surround. Depending upon the car, it
may even need new driveshafts and other stuff, too. Far, far easier
(and probably cheaper) to simply replace it with a guaranteed
secondhand or rebuilt box. A good workshop could do it in a couple of
hours, and it is extremely unlikely to ever need any attention again.

Each to his own, of course, but I remain unconvinced that the few real
advantages of a manual outweigh the convenience and fuss-free driving
pleasure of an auto.

--

Stewart Hargrave


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

I got 270K out of two clutches(original and a replacement) - and the
car still ran well when I sold it. At $150 plus parts(my local
mechanic), it's no big deal.

Being able to select which gear to be in, especially downhill,
is a nice option.

Sure, but most of the time you have lost of warning with the manual.
In any case, you can start it in second or you can even shift the
thing without a clutch if you get the revs and speed correct.
I've never been unable to get a car with a dead clutch to make
it to the garage for repairs. A dead automatic - I've had to two
one 500 ft down the road - it stopped 1.5 blocks from the transmission
shop and that was that.

 

I'd personally sell it and find a nearly identical car with stick.

 

Loads of folks have said this. It does not help the guy, he has an
automatic, if he is in the USA or Canada he had no choice but the stick,
retrofitting a 5 speed is not something many folks want to do, and hearing
how wonderful your 5 speeds are helps him nil.

I have been in Europe and been in traffic--mainly in France a tiny bit in GB
and Spain. The traffic I saw, admittedly a tiny bit of the entire universe,
but still a lot was not as bad as here--the Paris ring road was very busy,
but almost always 'fluide' even during rush hours, the autoroute was
occasionally busy and stop and go but that was rare and just for short
distances.

London was a disaster--why anyone would want to drive in the centre is a
mystery that only inspector Morse could figure out! The outer parts of
London are not too bad, like the area around the RAF Battle of Britain
museum. The Motorways were not too bad either crowded but moving.

In Spain small city centers were very busy, but the rest of the country was
fine.

Lets contrast that limited snapshot with the USA--from California to
Colorado to Chicago to the North East and Mid Atlantic, the Pacific
Northwest, and oh yeah, parts of many other states like Texas and Florida
getting out of your local area to a small feeder road is often a traffic
filled nightmare taking perhaps 4 or 5 cycles to get through key traffic
light controlled intersections. After a while of this crawl one reaches the
highway when be it an interstate (autoroute type road) or a traffic light
controlled road one can often expect 5 to 10 miles of stop and go traffic

Imagine shifting to first and restarting after a full stop several hundred
times a commute! Yes I have a 5 speed in my Acura/Honda Integra, but the
850 has a slush and my wife would have it no other way. I would also like
to point out that in the USA many kids are never taught how to drive a stick
because their family does not own one!