I recently drove home my new 1996 Volvo 854, and was thrilled. I changed all the fluids, put a new oil filter and a fuel filter in and drove it happily for about 250 miles.

The automatic transmission then started shifting eratically, or not at all. Every once in a while, it refused to kickdown or seemed to be stuck in 2nd. The fuel consumption also went through the roof. At about the same time, it started idling very roughly and starting inconsistently. About one out of five times I start it, the turn signals refuse to work.

I took it to a transmission shop, and they could find nothing wrong with the transmission.

I thought I'd prowl the forums before I go crawling to the nearest dealer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,

S

Thanks for the prompt reply, Klaus.

Swapping out the fuses seemed to fix the turn signal issue, although I don't really have enough information yet to draw any conclusions - the issue was fairly erratic and uncommon to begin with.

I taped the vacuum hose that you suggested. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to help. The rpm still fluctuates wildly from about 600-900 when idling.

The transmission issue is still there, but only in Economy mode. Sport or Winter modes seem to resolve it completely.

Could I perhaps trouble you to suggest a plan B?

One of the things Klaus pointed out was to check the battery terminals and I didn't see that you responed to that. I had similar "goofy" electrical problems on a 98 S70 that was caused by some built up corrosion on the positive battery terminal. The "up" arrow for the tranny would stay on for 15 or 20 seconds after startup, the tranny would clunk putting it into gear, etc. Once the terminal was thoroughly cleaned, those problems went away. There was enough corrosion to prevent full voltage getting to the electrical system and the transmission, being electrically controlled, was the first to exhibit problems.

Apologies for the incomplete post. I did, in fact, clean the terminals, and that seemed to solve a host of problems, with the exception of the transmission.

I replaced the spark plugs, and that smoothed the idling problem.

I'm not convinced that anything is mechanically wrong with the transmission (that is, I don't feel it slipping, and it works just fine in Winter mode), and I'm inclined to agree with you that the problem is electrical.

A friend recently suggested replacing the distributor cap and rotor. I'm not a terribly big fan of trial-by-pricy-new-part-installation, but I'd be willing to make the investment if it would help.

Any ideas as to whether it would?

Thanks


Sebastian

At least 2 or more things come to mind. Check the battery terminals for dirt.

The rough idle, etc may be due to a vacuum leak. 1st suspect would be the vacuum line on the passenger side of the intake manifold, wrap it in electric tape to eliminate it as a source. There could be other vacuum problems, so look around at anything coming off the manifold. Take the cover off the throttle spring and check the connection at the vacuum tree.

The turn signals... check the fuses first, I think the power rearview mirrors are on the same circuit.

And stop by and atuozone or pepboys and get any diagnostic codes read and deleted. You may want to have a pen and paper handy. Delete all of the DTCs and see if any come back right away.

Klaus
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Please answer, we need to know if the advice is good or bad. The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are 2 turbos :)