Anyone apart from Rob & I have a manual FWD Volvo?

I'm trying to get my head around what versions of the M56 came in which cars - and what diff ratios, for that matter.

From studying every listing for "M56" on UK ebay, I've tried to find a pattern to them, but incomplete and vague listings haven't helped me...

My 99 S40 T4 (B4194T) has an M56L2K with a 4.25 diff.

What does your car have? There should be a sticker on top of the BH with two barcodes on it - it should also have the model number of the gearbox and the diff ratio printed on it.
That said, I can't find the sticker on our 98 V70XC (B5254T).


Mine has no sticker. - no idea what it is.
Gah... :(
Is there possibly a sticker on the bottom? The poms have occasionally mentioned the sticker being underneath.
9 days later
2001 S60 T5 has a M56LK with 4.00 diff.
1997 S40 T4 has M56L? (the end of the sticker is illegible), with a 4.25 diff.
definitely no sticker on mine. wonder how i can find out without ripping it to bits
If you can accurately count the number of turns of the input shaft vs the output shaft, in 1st gear and then in 5th gear, it will be easy to work out whether it is an L or a H box, and the diff ratio.

If you count the required revs of the input shaft to get five full turns of the output shaft, that should be accurate enough (ie: it will be hard to accurately pick the difference between 3.13 and 3.28 turns of the input shaft, but it is much easier to pick the difference between 15.65 turns and 16.40 turns).

850 Info



And there is also an M59, which is the M56H with a viscous coupling diff. Which I've got. Does that add or confuse....?
Going by that chart mine is a M56L with 3.77... I'm guessing the least desirable of all..
Rob;7589 wroteGoing by that chart mine is a M56L with 3.77... I'm guessing the least desirable of all..
Yes and No. Definitely the least performance-oriented option, but will be a good open road choice - nice long legs for minimal revs at highway speeds, and the wide spread of ratios prevents it being a PITA around town.

Great input, thanks Dan!

I've seen a 4.45 diff'd M56H for sale in the UK. If postage is not outrageous, I think I should buy it.
6 days later
So... Dumb question time:

How do I remove the driveshafts from the gearbox?

What I thought/expected/assumed seems to be incorrect.
Pull/lever really freakin hard although there is probably a more elegant way to do it.
Yeah, that's what I went for. Seems to have pulled the circlip out of the CV joint (ie: pulled the CV apart) without budging the stub-shaft in the gearbox.
Bugger. I levered between gearbox and the first CV bit when mine threatened to do that.
Mine came out easy. Gentle tyre lever persuasion between gearbox and inner cv joint.
Yeah, OK - thanks gents.
I went with the usual jap-box method of giving the shaft a big yank (tee hee).
Bad idea, apparently.
So what has the Focus XR5 and C30T5 manual 6 SPD got? Always some available , well , till we run out of them as books are crashing them a lot.
One on eBay $1500 in Sydney. Gotta be better than the 5 speed .....
M65 I believe.
M65 was the s80 6 cylinder only manual box which is made of a combination of rocking horse poo and unobtanium. M66 should be the one in C30's (except for the dRiVe which has a 5 speed) and maybe is also in the xr5.
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