940 AW-71 trans swap questions/Buying guide questions (newbie)

I had my AW71 (in my 93 940 Turbo) go out on me about a week ago, (started driving up a small hill and started revving like it was in neutral but eventually it caught and kept going, but even later it wouldn?t (catch?) and kept revving like it was in neutral.

I flat towed it home and started dropping the oil pan on the trans only to think: if I replace the filter and it doesn?t fix my problem, I?m back to square one. So I?m buying a used AW71 but I have the possibility of buying an AW71L with 30k more miles (190k miles) for the same price ($150).

My question: Is it worth swapping an AW71L into a turbo car? Or is the MPG gain not worth the power loss?

My second question: what things should I be looking for when buying a used AW71? I literally don?t know anything about cars (well enough) so other than maybe checking to see if there?s no holes in it, I?m not really sure what else to check so that I don?t buy a POS.

3rd question: is it worth doing the accumulator mod before I put the new trans into the car?

What power loss? A transmission cannot cause a power loss

Ask someone who has removed and refitted an engine and transmission before to help you. Not a job for the inexperienced or someone non mechanically minded

Did you ever check the fluid level?

Fluid with car running was way over the full level and also smelled really burnt and looked really dark

If you don't test drive the car the transmission comes out of, you have no idea if it works properly. Checking the fluid to see if it is reasonably clean will give some indication it MAY be a good transmission.

AW-71 is a really well built transmission. They will last a long time with regular maintenance. If yours is really blown it would be well worth the money to get it fixed rather than to pull a mystery transmission from another car.
-L