G/box: 850 Auto: Gearbox swap?

[5seaterT5]

Hi,i have just (3 weeks ago) bought a 1995 850 T5 BUT! a 150 miles up the M1 saurday lost all forward drive, (still have reverse and low) the very very nice man from the AA said front clutch is a goner seemed to know what he was on about said he used to work for volvo.Lots of phone calls today and OUCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH lotsa dosh to fix.Even 2nd hand which i'm not to keen on.My main question is has anybody done or thought of doing,can it be done? CONVERTING SAID T5 TO A MANUAL? As was planning some serious high mileage and popular opinion today the auto box wont do much more than a 100,000? mine did 118,000 it stopped.Frightening really my toyota rear wheel drive auto 300,000.Any constructive thoughts/help would be most welcome.Thanks Gareth.

[turboboy]

When you phoned to ask the cost of a new mortgage, sorry, cost of repair lol, did you say that it needed a front clutch or did you explain that you only had reverse and low?

Basically, have you had a second opinion on the fault from a transmission specialist?

I had exactly the same problem on Renault some years ago and it turned out to be an electrical fault. Cheaper to fix than a rebuilt box.

Some boxes go into an "emergency" setting such as this if the electronic control unit develops a fault. Worth checking if not done so already. HTH.

[TheG]

it seems strange that you still have reverse and low but not drive so that would suggest an electrical fault rather than a box fault, wouldn't mind betting it's the PNP switch. Move the gearstick foward and backwards 20 times or so and see if that helps, this should clean up the contacts on the PNP switch, the proper solution is to replace the switch which is about £50 or so iirc from a main stealer.

[5seaterT5]

Tried the moving the gearstick 20 times bit but seems to make no difference,noticed this morning an orange light is coming on the dash in the shape of an arrow in 3rd and low.Since doing the gearsick bit reverse seems a lot more juddery.
The conversion to manual seems the cheaper option,have found a guy reckons to be able to supply box and everything for approx £200

[TheG]

Have you had the codes read?

[5seaterT5]

No not yet,does'nt seem to be a servivce readilly available round here ;-/

[TheG]

what year is your car? Do you have the coin slots next to the cigarette lighter?

[5seaterT5]

it's a 1995 T5 and yes the coin slots are there

[TheG]

Originally Posted by 5seaterT5

it's a 1995 T5 and yes the coin slots are there

You might need a code reader or you might be able to do it yourself, I've posted a question for you in this thread: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=42315

keep an eye on it for the answer because if you can read the codes yourself and post them on here that'll help a lot

edit: it's been answered. Hmm, have you tried Braydons? They're not too far away: http://www.braydonmotors.co.uk/contactus.aspx

[bigandquick]

Originally Posted by 5seaterT5

As was planning some serious high mileage and popular opinion today the auto box wont do much more than a 100,000? mine did 118,000

This is rubbish. See the separate thread running on here about the reliablility of auto boxes:
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=46102

If looked after they will go and go.
The trouble is too few people knowing anything about them and offering their 'opinions' which fall far short of the truth. There is a separate ECU which controls the box and the likelihood is there is an eletrcical problem.
As others have said, pull the codes, find out what the problem is first then you can have kittens over how much a repair might be.

Just had a root, you could try Brady Automatics in South Woodford. They're the nearest specialist listed. Give them a call, they might be able to advise over the phone.