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Accumulator mod worry?s

Wesdunns70t5m

New member
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Location
Jacksonville, NC
So I?ve got a 1990 760 turbo wagon with an aw71 transmission. I?m slowly doing upgrades here and there, things that can be carried over to a bigger turbo eventually. I?ve got a 15g sitting in my spare room waiting for a rebuild to be put on. Anyways, like any enthusiast would do, I?m wanting to pull off the accumulator mod. Seeing as this is my first automatic volvo, I went to my local junkyard that I know has a 94 940 NA sitting in the yard with an automatic! I know this because the g80 I installed was pulled from that car :D. So I managed to drop the pan, and remove the valve body. Hell, I even got all 3 pistons out and found a perfect jack handle to fit between the two bigger springs. My only concern with the whole procedure is the kickdown spool inside the valve body. At the yard, I simply left it bolted on to the valve body and let the VB just hand from the cable. Taking that peice off and reassembling it correctly is intimidating to me for some reason, so would it harm anything to just leave the kickdown cable spool attached to the valve body, and just put something underneath to support the weight? Or would doing this damage something or throw the cable out of whack? This car is my daily driver and living paycheck to paycheck for the most part, I want to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Other than the kickdown cable (which is probably extremely simple, I?m just psyching myself out) this job seems pretty straight forward. Any other tips would be appreciated! And I?m obviously planning on doing this with the transmission still installed. In the yard it was fairly simple with it installed, all bolts were easily accessible. Thanks in advanced

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So it?s just that one bolt in the valve body and then the assembly slides out and can really go back on one way? I saw that the accumulators were accessible with it still attached, but didn?t really think about how bad it could potentially be by leaving it connected. If it?s as simple as unbolt it and it slides on and off in a way that?s obviously right, that?ll be great!
 
I did leave the cable attatched to the valve body. My transmission was out of the car though, so it wasnt just hanging there. But I'm sure its possible to support it close enough not to cause damage to anything. Removing it is ideal, to get things out the way, but I was nervous about it as well.
 
Ok, I?ll try supporting unless I get in there looking at it and it seems simple enough to remove. All in all I was petrified of tackling this job, especially since most posts point at it being damn hard in car. The hardest part for me at the junkyard was removing the dipstick bolts on back of the starter.

I?ve also poked around and have caught some chit chat of check ball mods in the valve body. I know the two locations of the check balls, but would like some advice on what to do here. I?ve heard of people drilling the holes out a size or two bigger and replacing the check balls, and that if that wasn?t ?aggressive? enough, to just remove the check balls all together. I?d prefer not to start drilling into my valve body, so is there any reason I can?t just remove the two check balls and note large the holes anymore? Id imagine it would still be far more aggressive than stock, I?m just searching for more first hand experiences here.
 
In not sure...I've read similar things, but have never messed with it. With the accumulator mod makes it shift very hard under load. Ill bark and sometimes spin the tires shifting into 2nd.

Though, id love to hear about that. I wouldnt mind trying it out, if its beneficial
 
It shouldn?t be too far in the future that I tear into all this. I see it says you?re in Charleston, safe to assume that?s SC? I?ve never ridden in one of these with an accumulator mod so I won?t be able to speak on the difference between that vs with the check balls removed. I?m in Jacksonville NC so I?d be willing to meet up for a car day meet and greet with ya!
 
Make sure you have all the valve body gaskets
Leave the check balls alone. My 250k NA would chirp tires going into second when getting on the freeway.

Have a Volvo manual near by.
I did this in the car. Other than getting tons of atf all over my face (no homo) the job is easy
 
It shouldn?t be too far in the future that I tear into all this. I see it says you?re in Charleston, safe to assume that?s SC? I?ve never ridden in one of these with an accumulator mod so I won?t be able to speak on the difference between that vs with the check balls removed. I?m in Jacksonville NC so I?d be willing to meet up for a car day meet and greet with ya!

Yep. Charleston, SC. Im actually going to the mountain meet in North Carolina in September. I cant think of the city, but its in the mountains....ha. Im real excited to meet some of the people ive learned so much from on here. Its cool to see nore Volvo people here in the east coast! Lol out west seems to rule the forum...
 
Ahhh damn right! I?ll have to look into that! Hopefully I?ll get some more things done before than...time moves too fast these days it seems. They definitely got us bear, but I?ve met a handful of forum members for Volvo?s heRe on the east coast, and they?ve all been genuine and good people!
 
Problem after accumulator mod

Greetings fellow brickers! I just completed the accumulator mod on my 1990 760 wagon with an aw71. Upon putting everything back together, I have no gears what so ever. The weird part is even in park, the trans ?slips? and I hop down hill. Any ideas what I boogered up during the job? Thanks everyone in advance!
 
Greetings fellow brickers! I just completed the accumulator mod on my 1990 760 wagon with an aw71. Upon putting everything back together, I have no gears what so ever. The weird part is even in park, the trans ?slips? and I hop down hill. Any ideas what I boogered up during the job? Thanks everyone in advance!

Sounds like you're losing all your line pressure maybe...
How was the valvebody gasket?
 
Gasket seemed fine but of course was the only one I couldn?t find a replacement for. I had a hard time getting the two hard metal lines back in place, think that might have something to do with it??
 
Oh boy it's impossible to tellwhat you did wrong without seeing what you did...Try putting it back stock and see if it's not roasted from oil crossflow maybe it's low on oil ... I'd start sourcing another trans
 
I figured it out, and boy was it fun! The ?valve? the slides into the valve body didn?t have the dowel from the gear selector chicken head gear in it, and since it was pushed out farther because of it, I assume the longer metal pipe wasn?t seated correctly.

For anyone?s future reference, the valve body must come off the get the two pieces aligned. I tried with it still attached, and got it to fit, but the chicken head had to swing past the park position, getting locked in place. The valve body must be removed to unlock it...trust me, I know.

Now it?s just a matter of getting the lockdown cable adjusted properly, and I can really test it out
 
It's possible that you're working with two different valve bodies.

What do you mean?? I did all the work in the car laying on my back so there?s no way I could?ve mixed it up. Strange enough I did see markings on the valve body that said aw-70 on it, so it?s possible someone before me swapped it?

Thanks man, it was very heart stopping when it wouldn?t move, and instantly thought that it might be something with the spool and comb. I was worried that I?d lost some check balls.

This was my second time reading one of these transmissions apart, but the first one was months ago in a JY getting an idea on how to do it on my car, so no testing afterwards
 
Getting the rooster comb back in the right spot is key, and easy to miss. Did that same thing on mine, found it during a test of the shift lever before the pan even went back on though.

As for barking the tires, depends on power, but yeah, heavy throttle it is a very firm shift. Light or moderate throttle it doesn't feel much different than stock, other than getting rid of the delay and sluggish feel.

If you wanted a firmer shift but not as firm as blocking the accumulators completely, you could source a stiffer inner spring for each of them and run that.

As for the mod helping the trans, yeah, it really does when power goes up. I had a 71 built with kevlar packs after the stock trans let go at around 200k and 225hp. The built trans didn't last that long, so when it came out I did the mod to a 71L that was slated as a short-term fix while the other one was getting looked at under warranty. That 71L was a JY fresh 180k pull, car was abused, oil was burnt. Good fluid and the mod, here I am at 300+whp, 105k later, might be starting to lose 2nd after some recent pulls at higher boost though, but this trans is closing in on 300k, abused most of it's life. Definitely wouldn't be here without the mod.
 
That?s mart checking the shifter before reassembly, surely would?ve saved me some headache!

My first test drive it wouldn?t upshift unless I let off the throttle, adjusted the kickdown cable and shifted without the throttle lift, but wouldn?t downshift at 60mph when I?d give it 2/3 throttle, so I think I went too far.

My first time dropping the pain I almost regretted my decision to do this mod. The fluid was pretty darn clean, and the magnet was about the same way. I just had to keep reminding myself that I was doing this mod in preparation for the 19t ive got sitting on a shelf. I don?t expect barking tires or rolling burnouts until that?s gets thrown on
 
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