92 240 wagon shiftlock and overdrive problems

Okay, I don't know if these problems are related or not, but I'd like feedback
on both if you know anything about either problem.

I have a 92 240 wagon. Since I've had the car I've had trouble with the
shiftlock release. First, does anyone know the purpose of the shiftlock to
begin with? I don't understand why it engages or why. But every morning when
I get in the car to go to work, I have to fiddle around trying to release the
shiftlock. I've done a search on the internet and only found a couple of
things about it, neither very helpful. There's some suggestion that there
might be a fuse involved? It's all a mystery to me. Anyone shed any light?

The other thing is that after work tonight when i turned on the car, the
overdrive was engage (arrow lit on the dash). You're supposed to be able to
just push the button on the left side of the shifter to turn off the overdrive,
but I couldn't get it to go off, now matter how many times I pushed that
button, or when. Could this be a fuse situation, too? Or something more
sinister?

I've only just gotten this car and I don't mind putting some money into it if
necessary. But I'd really like to understand what's going on. Can anyone
help?

Thanks,
Patricia

 

is this an automatic or a strandard? did they have standard
transmissions in 92?

my wife's 89 240 auto has a button on the shifter which holds it from
shifting up when you are passing on the highway, there is a light
which comes on on the dash when it is enguaged. you will only notice a
difference when you are going quickly, like passing someone on the
highway. it holds it from shifting into the top gear while it is
pressed. ( is that shiftlock? ) I don't see how this would get you
stuck in the driveway , unless it is just the lamp on the dash
bothering you.

my 90 240 std has 5th gear not overdrive, and it has a light that
somes on on the dash when it is time to shift up ( for best economy)

but my old 79 240 and 80 240 std had a switch on the shifter for
overdrive, and I have had others ( an 82, ...yes i love volvo 240's )
with a button on the shifter ( push once to turn overdrive on , and
once for off)

there is also a lock ring on the base of the shifter on older std
cars. that you have to lift to get the transmission into reverse this
is a mechanical locking mechanism in the shifter, there is an allen
head bolt which follows a groove in a little bracket near the floor.
if the bolt or the bracket comes loose or bent up it could jam up and
make it hard to get into reverse.


so anyway if it is a push on push off button there is probably a relay
involved , it could be bad, if you can hear it click when you switch
it on and off ( key on) that might help you locate it , and you might
be able to take it apart and pull a small bit of fine sandpaper
through the contacts to clean them if they are black and pitted. .I am
not sure where the relay it is located. down above your feet?
there are relays for the fuel pump and wiper delay tucked under the
carpet in the same area.

it could be a bad switch. it gets sweaty hands all over it and stuff
gets in there. if you can find where the wires come out of the stick
( near the floor? ) you might be able to hook that up with a meter or
a light bulb to test the switch itsef.

I remember something about pushing a pin out of a rubber bushing about
halfway down the shifter and pulling the top half of the shifter off
on a standard car.

keep in mind that the wires in the shifter move around alot .

Some may go from the relay to connections on the transmission.
(overdrive on standard transmissions uses a 4th gear switch to prevent
it from being enguaged while in lower gears.) I have had experiences
with these wires suffering from intermittent, loose connections and
have found them by moving wires around with someone up top watching
the light. on a dash or a light bulb connected into the circut.

it gets oily down there! oil makes the wires hard and wires can shake
around till they come loose or rub through the insulation and short to
the body.

If the transmission has been removed there is a good chance for the
connections to get jerked apart, and sometimes hastily taped up into
a poorly connected oily bundle.

I wouldn't rule out the fusebox either. the fuses corrode , as do the
wiring connections here. try turning each one back and forth a little.

I bet when you find it it is just a matter of cleaning a switch, relay
contacts or fixing up a bad connection.

good luck

Phil

 

Repair or replace the overdrive relay, you can reach it by removing the
glovebox and reaching to the left, if you snap the cover off it you'll find
cracked solder joints on the circuit board that are causing the overdrive to
stay locked out. The lockout is to keep the transmission from shifting back
and forth constantly going up steep hills or carrying heavy loads.

 

Shiftlock to my understanding, is in place so you don't drop the car into
drive/reverse when you don't have a foot on the brakes... Remember the Audi
5000 of the 1980's... how it used to crash thru garage doors - notice how
it's taken this long for Audi's to even start to become popularish... I
think they want the shiftlock to fail in the locked state to avoid this same
debaucle, something's probably broken with yours.

As far as your O/D - the switch could have failed, or the relay has welded
in the position that would engage the overdrive (I don't know if relays in
cars pass enough current for the contacts to weld to each other tho) - so
i'd guess switch.

 

On these later examples of the 240 the shift lock is electrically
driven, I think via a solenoid. In otherwords, the large lock button is
actually a switch which activates a solenoid or other device located
elsewhere, which actually locks the mechanism. Hopefully you have a bad
fuse in that circuit, as that's an easy fix. If not that, then I
imagine it could be the switch, a wire or connector, or the solenoid -
the usual cast of characters in electrical systems.

I think it's likely that the fuse went bad - or it's contacts are
corroded, which is frequent - thus disabling the shift lock AND the
Overdrive Solenoid. This would explain the simultaneous failure of
both, which is othrwise an unlikely coincidence.

I drive an '86 240, and once worked on a friend's '91 240 (both are
automatic transmission cars). On my friend's car, I jogged a fuse loose
which disabled the shift lock. I was mystified, and very embarrassed
until I got the advice above.

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Thanks. I was able to get a '92 owner's manual via eBay. Once I received it,
I read up on the whole shiftlock thing and it, too, says if there's a problem
to check the fuses. When I had the car at Rolf's again, I asked them to check
the fuses. I'd really hope that would be the source of the problem, but they
checked and found all the fuses in working order. Still have the problem,
though, and still mystified. I've just kind of resigned myself to having to
use the manual shiftlock release every morning.

 

Have you checked the relay? 95% of the time this is the problem, the other
5% it's the fuse.

 

Subject: Re: 92 240 wagon shiftlock and overdrive problems

I don't know from relays. But I have to take the car in Tuesday for something
unrelated, so I'll suggest it. Thanks.