Back Again...
 

I was talking with a buddy and he's looking to get an older volvo like my wife's. I think he said the one he was looking at is either an 88 or 89. The guy he's talking to who owns the car says the transmission in a m47. The issue is it only goes into 4th gear right now and he said it needs a clutch...that doesn't sound quite right to me as the other gears don' catch at all(my buddy said it acts like they're all neutral...no grinding...nothing). Any thoughts or anyone have a similar issue they fixed?

88 or 89 240 dl*

M47 is the 5-speed (as opposed to M46, which was a 4 speed with seperate overdrive, used on earlier 240s also on turbo models).

if you can put the clutch down to the floor, shift into 4th, then slowly let off on the clutch til the engine starts to lug (good luck rolling in 4th) and putting the clutch back to the floor lets the engine idle freely, your clutch is working, so its almost certainly the gearbox.

innards of an M47...

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...65dc479466.png

thanks, would a m46 bolt to an 88 b230 or would he need to salvage the m47 bell housing?

turns out it is the gear box, metal shavings and 4th caught like you mentioned, the other gears had no grinding and car idled as if in neutral.

bell housing is fine, but an M46 + OD is longer than the M47, so you need a shorter front half of the driveshaft, also you need the shifter with the OD switch, and the manual OD relay + associated wiring (its pretty simple wiring). if the 240 is a 88, then you can use any M46, if its a 89+, you'd need a 89+ nonturbo or 90+ turbo (or if its an older trans, cut the notch). I don't know if you can swap the bell housing between the M47 and M46...

ok awesome, thanks for the information Pierce!