1994 Auto, Shift knob override and odomiter

[Charles]

Greetings All,
I am in the process of putting a 94 850 w- 4 speed Auto and 2.4L engine
on the road. I had a few questions I am hopping you might help with.

1: The shift knob won't move out of park unless I press the little override
button. Is this some kind of Anti-theft device? I know the car has been
sitting for a while with a dead battery.

2: the Odometer is not working and I need to fix it to get through
inspection. Any thoughts on where to get parts or info on this type of
issue. The book I bought on the car refers to the instrument pod as a sealed
unit that must be replaced all at once. I removed and disassembled it but
could find no obvious reason for the failure. The one I have is made in
Germany.

Any input would be helpful.

Thanks, Charles

2: The Odometer does not work

 

[Mike F]

Greetings All,
I am in the process of putting a 94 850 w- 4 speed Auto and 2.4L engine
on the road. I had a few questions I am hopping you might help with.

1: The shift knob won't move out of park unless I press the little override
button. Is this some kind of Anti-theft device? I know the car has been
sitting for a while with a dead battery.

No, it's a safety feature, to stop you from moving the shifter out of
park unless the brake is on. There's a microswitch that often fails,
see:
http://www.volvospeed.com/Repair/Microswitch.htm
While you're in there, replace the bulb that lights up the shift
position.

2: the Odometer is not working and I need to fix it to get through
inspection. Any thoughts on where to get parts or info on this type of
issue. The book I bought on the car refers to the instrument pod as a sealed
unit that must be replaced all at once. I removed and disassembled it but
could find no obvious reason for the failure. The one I have is made in
Germany.

Any input would be helpful.

Thanks, Charles

2: The Odometer does not work

There's drive gear on the odometer that cracks just like on the old 240
mechanical speedometers. See
http://www.odometergears.com

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[PButler111]

1: The shift knob won't move out of park unless I press the little override
I'm having the same problem! This may sound wacky, but trust me -- go to
Borders and take a look at the current issue of BUST magazine (not a porn mag,
despite the title). There's a little section called something like "Ask
Lucille" that addresses this exact problem. I just about jumped out of my skin
when I read it, as it's the same thing I've been grappling with on my 240
wagon. I actually called Lucille (she runs a chain called Transmissions by
Lucille in the Pittsburgh area) and discussed it with her. I also took the
article in to my mechanic. They've just ordered a new solenoid for the shift
lock release and I'm very confident that will take care of the problem. But do
go to Borders and take a look at the little article. Well worth the read!