Well, finally decided to tackle the "Will not come out of park" problem.
A few months back I replaced the mechanical portion of the ignition switch. The switch was getting stuck and the key would not come out. At the same time the shifter problem started.
The ignition switch replacement only fixed the problem with the stuck key.

Yesterday I removed the center console (Thanks to the instructions of Rich, www.volvospeed.com) to get access to the microswitch that is commonly blamed as the culprit of this problem.

This is how the system works.
You turn the ignition key and a mechanical portion of the switch allows the shifter to operate (via cable), this ensures that the car will not come out of Park when the key is not ON.
You step on the brake and that sends the electrical signal to the microswitch located under the shifter.
If the car is in Park, the microswitch will pass the electrical signal to a solenoid that mechanically locks the shifter. So the car will not come out of Park whithout the application of the brakes.
Once the shifter is out of Park, the microswitch interrupts the signal and the solenoid is released.

Well while I was getting ready to test for voltage at the solenoid, it started working, almost normally, by the time I had access to the wires the whole sytem was performing as it is supposed to.

To make sure the problem would not return I did this.
I bent the microswitch metal arm to make sure it was activated when the shifter touched it.
I cleaned the solenoid with brake cleaner, I blew some compressed air to get any dirt from the solenoid plunger and I lubricated with teflon. I used teflon lubricant that dries so it would not attract dirt.
I made sure the solenoid plunger was not touching anything since it does not have a lot of power to overcome resistance.

Anyway, it is still working, but only time will tell.