Hey all,
Yesterday on the way home it took my '90 240 quite a while to shift
into overdrive on the highway. This morning it never did.

I tried hitting the overdrive button a few times to no avail. Does
this indicate I'm going to need a new tranny or is their a possibility
it could be a fuse or switch???

My Haynes manual didnt have a clear answer.

Thanks in advance!

"tlr1000" <briflo36@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178813015.125475.76680@n59g2000hsh.googlegro ups.com...
> Hey all,
> Yesterday on the way home it took my '90 240 quite a while to shift
> into overdrive on the highway. This morning it never did.
>
> I tried hitting the overdrive button a few times to no avail. Does
> this indicate I'm going to need a new tranny or is their a possibility
> it could be a fuse or switch???
>
> My Haynes manual didnt have a clear answer.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>


Did the arrow light on the dash stick on? Usually this fault is the
overdrive relay, the solder joints inside develop cracks. The wiring to the
solenoid on the transmission can be damaged as well. It's almost never a
problem within the transmission itself.

James Sweet wrote:
> "tlr1000" <briflo36@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1178813015.125475.76680@n59g2000hsh.googlegro ups.com...
>> Hey all,
>> Yesterday on the way home it took my '90 240 quite a while to shift
>> into overdrive on the highway. This morning it never did.
>>
>> I tried hitting the overdrive button a few times to no avail. Does
>> this indicate I'm going to need a new tranny or is their a possibility
>> it could be a fuse or switch???
>>
>> My Haynes manual didnt have a clear answer.
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
>
>
> Did the arrow light on the dash stick on? Usually this fault is the
> overdrive relay, the solder joints inside develop cracks. The wiring to the
> solenoid on the transmission can be damaged as well. It's almost never a
> problem within the transmission itself.
>
>

Mine stopped working a couple weeks back.
The light burned out years ago... putting off that fix until I have time
to do the speedo cable and odo gear at the same time.

Maybe gonna go after the OD this weekend.
Question is, do I start at the switch (easy to get to but hard to get
at) or underneath at the relay (hard to get to but easy to get at)

Maybe put it off until winter. As long as it's 80 or so outside, the
relay works...

tlr1000 wrote:
>> Did the arrow light on the dash stick on? Usually this fault is the
>> overdrive relay, the solder joints inside develop cracks. The wiring to the
>> solenoid on the transmission can be damaged as well. It's almost never a
>> problem within the transmission itself.
>
> No the light would go on and off when I pressed the button.
>
You need to check under the car to see if the wire coming out of the
shifter bucket is broken if it is then splice a new section in & your
problem is corrected
Glenn
Volvo Certified Technician
ASE Certified Technician


--
" Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new"
-- Albert Einstein

"tlr1000" <briflo36@gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:1178818995.384510.136320@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
>
>> Did the arrow light on the dash stick on? Usually this fault is the
>> overdrive relay, the solder joints inside develop cracks. The wiring to the
>> solenoid on the transmission can be damaged as well. It's almost never a
>> problem within the transmission itself.
>
> No the light would go on and off when I pressed the button.
>

"tlr1000" <briflo36@gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:1178818995.384510.136320@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...

> No the light would go on and off when I pressed the button.

I had a problem with a 745 TD overdrive some time ago. As much as I remember the
pilot light and the solenoid are both activated by voltage from the relay. In my
case the the light behaved in a parallel manner with the mechanical switching or
nonswitching, sometimes switching/lighting happened many seconds after pressing
the button. This meant that the relay did not react properly to the button. I
changed the relay and everything worked well again. In your case if the pilot
light goes on and the shifting does not happen, the fault should be somewhere
between relay-solenoid cable-solenoid-gear. I would check the cable connection
between relay pole and solenoid conncector. I do not remember which number the
relay pole is but you can find it out from a wiring diagram. The cable between
the pushbutton and the relay inside the gear shift rod is also a weak point I
have learnt but that should be ok in your case.

Regards
Viktor


--
Viktor Weisshäupl
The e-mail in the header is never read
personal e-mail vikwei at gmx dot at

On 10 May 2007 09:03:35 -0700, tlr1000 <briflo36@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hey all,
>Yesterday on the way home it took my '90 240 quite a while to shift
>into overdrive on the highway. This morning it never did.
>
>I tried hitting the overdrive button a few times to no avail. Does
>this indicate I'm going to need a new tranny or is their a possibility
>it could be a fuse or switch???
>
>My Haynes manual didnt have a clear answer.
>
>Thanks in advance!

I wouldn't bother checking anytihing electrical without first checking
the fluid level.
Yours is a classic sympton of nothing more mysterious than a slight
fluid leak, that over time finally depleted down to a low level, of
just not enough fluid left in the tranny to aperate the OD.
The fact that at first it took extra long to shift is the telltale
giveaway.
It stopped shifting altogether just when the level depleted further.

A wiring short/ground is the most common cause of 240 O/D shift failure.

The positioning of the wiring running from the gear shift through the
floorboard down to the transmission has more than one weak spot. The wiring
itself is draped over the top of the tran housing, down the side to the O/D
solenoid visible from the under the car. You will have to get under and
inspect the spots where the wire can bounce up and down against the tran
housing, wearing off the wire insulation over time and causing a
short/ground. Also, where the wiring is molded into the solenoid is a spot
that road grease and debris can cause to break down, causing short/ground.

An exposed short/ground is easy enough to fix by adding insulation. You may
need to splice in a good repair wire section. To complete the repair, wrap
all the wiring inside one of those accordian style wiring tubes.

If the plastic/rubber molded section of the solenoid where the wiring is
attached is cracked/splitting, pull a good one from a pick-n-pull junkyard
for a few bucks, test it on a 12-volt battery circuit (you will hear a tiny
click switching it on, and again switching it off).

If none of the above are the cause, don't forget to check for a blown fuse.



"tlr1000" <briflo36@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178813015.125475.76680@n59g2000hsh.googlegro ups.com...
> Hey all,
> Yesterday on the way home it took my '90 240 quite a while to shift
> into overdrive on the highway. This morning it never did.
>
> I tried hitting the overdrive button a few times to no avail. Does
> this indicate I'm going to need a new tranny or is their a possibility
> it could be a fuse or switch???
>
> My Haynes manual didnt have a clear answer.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>

Thanks for the suggestions. I didnt have time to check it this weekend
but I will be looking at it today. I will post if I find the problem,
otherwise its off to the mechanic. Oh well, first time I've had to
actually think about taking it to a mechanic in the 3 years I've owned
it. Not bad for a 20 year old car.

In article <4647871c$0$4892$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>,
"Pat Quadlander" <pquadlander@tx.rr.com> wrote:

> A wiring short/ground is the most common cause of 240 O/D shift
> failure.

YYMV of course, but in 100% of cases (n=3) at my house the cause was an
OD relay gone bad. It's a 10 minute fix, see my other post.

> If none of the above are the cause, don't forget to check for a blown
> fuse.

Also a distinct possibility and one that might point to a cause other
than a bad relay.