Weird trans problems AW30-40

Post by **precopster** » 29 Dec 2012, 05:52

So my MVS forum friend and I decided to do an exchange of money for my Volvo 960 this week.

Eric caught a plane down to Melbourne to assist me to fit a used transmission I had bought and put aside a while ago in exchange for a cheap buy price for the car; fair enough I thought.

It started with the usual snags of overtightened engine to transmission bolts and bad access to trans cooling line couplings but apart from that a not too difficult removal.

The donor transmission was a Toyota AW 30-41LE. We compared the Volvo trans against it once removed and apart from the valve body, rear extension housing and input shafts the units are dimensionally and internally the same transmission.

Only one snag we found was that Toyota fit the PNP and selector on the same side with the internal selector shaft being blanked off and not protruding out of the case. Easy enough, we'll cut the shaft out of the Volvo trans and have it TIG welded to the Toyota transmission's internal selector shaft. After final assembly and meticulous and painstaking refitment (this took four days) we now have a vehicle which starts in neutral and then proceeds to act as though it's in Drive. Furthermore Park position starts the car but when we accelerate the car behaves as though the handbrake is on. Worse still we have no Reverse, though the reverse lights work fine when the linkage is in the reverse position.

I am suspecting a faulty PNP but if anyone has anything to offer please do so now. I will pull the PNP apart tomorrow. There are no codes and the car actually drives well when in this pseudo Neutral mode. All 4 ratios seem to be there.

Post by **precopster** » 30 Dec 2012, 00:46

The PNP looks good. The car still starts while the trans lever is in Neutral and continues to move forward as if in Drive.

Still no Reverse gear.

It's down to the valve body now which is still the original one and was plugged with a lot of grit.

Post by **precopster** » 01 Jan 2013, 03:13

After looking at the photos I took of the valve body I realised that the valve plunger which links directly to the shift linkage plate was left unattached. The transmission was basically "stuck" in Low gear. When the lever was in Park it pushed the plunger into an unnatural position which made the transmission stall.

After re-attaching the plunger to its rightful position the transmission works fine. The gear selector shaft was also shortened 22mm. The photo below is actually of the Toyota valve body fitted to the original Volvo transmission so I could problem solve the selector issue.

Eric is now the proud owner of a Volvo 960 with a Toyota AW-341LE badged transmission and should collect his ride on Saturday.

tomatoes4all · Post by **tomatoes4all** » 10 Jan 2013, 00:03

I have put in excess of 800 miles on the car this week and the transmission is excellent! I have done a drain and refill on the transmission, just to make sure, and the fluid was nice and red, so the Volvo valve body was still good, and not contaminated. The shifting is very smooth, the Toyota gearbox certainly was in great shape.
The process of transplanting the transmission from the Toyota into the 960 was painfull at times, but the results were excellent.

Best regards, Erik.