Engine Dies when shifted into reverse

  • Thread starter Thread starter twa
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twa

I own a 1984 volvo that has a four speed transmission with overdrive button
on top of the shifter. The engine sometimes dies when I pull up the lock
and pull the shift lever to the left to go into reverse, After it dies I
can jerk the shifter back and forth in and out of reverse and it will
crank and run for anywhere from several days or until the next time that
it is shifted into reverse again. It is a very annoying problem and no
one can seem to help me figure it out. Can anyone help me?
 
Change the starter inhibitor switch. It allows the car to start when in Park or
Neutral. There is possibly a relay attached to the switch to keep the engine
running when moving lever through all gear selections.

Cheers, Peter.

: I own a 1984 volvo that has a four speed transmission with overdrive button
: on top of the shifter. The engine sometimes dies when I pull up the lock
: and pull the shift lever to the left to go into reverse, After it dies I
: can jerk the shifter back and forth in and out of reverse and it will
: crank and run for anywhere from several days or until the next time that
: it is shifted into reverse again. It is a very annoying problem and no
: one can seem to help me figure it out. Can anyone help me?
:
 
Change the starter inhibitor switch. It allows the car to start when in Park or
Neutral. There is possibly a relay attached to the switch to keep the engine
running when moving lever through all gear selections.
Click to expand...

I'm curious, where's "Park" on a manual transmission?


:-)


Gary
 
It only dies when you are going to reverse, no other time. Also when it
does this the reverse or backup lights are not on, if they are on it will
run.
 
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
twa said:
It only dies when you are going to reverse, no other time. Also when
it does this the reverse or backup lights are not on, if they are on
it will run.
Click to expand...

I suspect that you've got an intermittent short somewhere in the reverse
light circuit (which is switched by a switch on the gear selector) and that
this is somehow killing the ignition. You need to take a careful look at the
wiring.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the reverse light
switch is somehow connecting the live feed to earth rather than to the
reverse lights. It's probably doing it through a high enough resistance not
to blow any fuses - but is reducing the ignition voltage sufficiently to
stall the engine.
 
I suspect that you've got an intermittent short somewhere in the reverse
light circuit (which is switched by a switch on the gear selector) and that
this is somehow killing the ignition. You need to take a careful look at the
wiring.
Click to expand...
Bonnet Lock

I might stand corrected, but isn't the reverse light switch on the side the
gear box, near the top somewhere, almost impossible to get at, unless you
lower the rear of the gearbox, many apologies if by 'selector' you were
referring to the entire selector mechanism.
The OP's problem had me stumped at first so I left it until now, but what
you suggest is very feasable, even more so given the 240's habit of
developing high resistance fuse connections. So on the drain side of the
relevant fuse, perhaps there intermittently isn't quite enough current
squeezing through the fuseholder to illuminate the backup lamps, run the
ignition ......, so it quits.

Just my 2 pennies worth

Ken Phillips
 
The starter inhibitor switch also selects the reverse (back-up) lights so change
the starter inhibitor switch, like I said.

Cheers, Peter.

: It only dies when you are going to reverse, no other time. Also when it
: does this the reverse or backup lights are not on, if they are on it will
: run.
:
 
Peter Milnes said:
The starter inhibitor switch also selects the reverse (back-up) lights so change
the starter inhibitor switch, like I said.

Cheers, Peter.
Click to expand...


But there *isn't* a starter inhibitor switch on a manual transmission, which
the original poster stated he has.
 
This is off-topic, but are you Twa from Knox College, early 1970's?
Bruce Pick
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To send email, remove all < > and [ ] and the junk ~ between:
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I know this sounds simple but when this happened to my wifes Volvo it was
the tuning was lean so I altered the mixture and it was fine .When placed in
reverse or drive it changes the mixture and if its lean it will stall .
 
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
James Sweet said:
But there *isn't* a starter inhibitor switch on a manual
transmission, which the original poster stated he has.
Click to expand...

I don't think he *explicitly* said it was manual - but he did say that it
was 4-speed with overdrive - so I assumed it to be manual, in which case -
as you say - there *ain't* a starter inhibitor switch.
 
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Ken Phillips (UK) said:
Bonnet Lock

I might stand corrected, but isn't the reverse light switch on the
side the gear box, near the top somewhere, almost impossible to get
at, unless you lower the rear of the gearbox, many apologies if by
'selector' you were referring to the entire selector mechanism.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was indeed using the term "gear selector" in a general sense. I am
not familiar with this particular setup, but somewhere there will be a
switch which is activated when reverse is selected - and this may be
achieved in any of several ways.

It is highly likely that some of the wiring associated with this switch -
wherever it is - is getting partially shorted to earth when reverse is
selected.
 
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