84 DL with no OD function. No OD light - -checked bulb, looks OK. Fuse was blown -- replaced it.
Checked power at the OD wiring inside the car, and it has 12 V.

Replaced the wire from the interior to the bullet connector at transmission (missing insulation on the wire probably explains the blown fuse).
Now, when I turn the key to 'run', I can hear the relay clicking when I press the OD switch on the shifter.
But, I don't hear the solenoid click or see the OD light turn on/off (not even during the 'bulb test' when the key first turned to ON). If the OD is off, and I have power to the relay, I would expect the idiot light to function.
How does the OD idiot light get its power?

I'm thinking that I have a bad solenoid (crack in cap is visible), but I want to see if there might be another explanation before I remove and replace.

Thanks.

Follow up post....

Ended up being a bad solenoid, and I learned about the dremel trick to bypass the solenoid altogether (IPD sells a 'bypass plate' that does the same thing).

I got a rough-looking junkyard solenoid, cut the wire (so nobody would ever assume it was fully functional), and used a dremel tool to carve a groove between the two ports on the solenoid.

I was careful to get the groove to a decent depth -- I tried to make the entire groove as deep as the small o-ring recess so the fluid has no restrictions between the ports.

Then, I did an R&R. Voila! 4th gear for $2.

The OD light is powered by the relay, just like the solenoid. Two yellow wires off terminal 87, one to the light, the other to the solenoid.

The light is not powered at Key On as many others are -- only when the relay is energized. The relay may have a burnt contact or be otherwise defective, even though you hear it actuate.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

I'm puzzled Bruce, how did you determine ez has an M46 in his 84 DL? Probably right in front of me, but I'm amazed nonetheless.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

When I read, "Replaced the wire from the interior to the bullet connector at transmission..." I made a short jump to the wrong conclusion, by linking the term "bullet connector" to my mental image of the manual's 4th gear switch.

Which means that to this point we've wasted 4 posts because the original one assumed that all 240s have an auto-box. And my "tip" was technically garbage, possibly misleading other readers who will carry that "wisdom" forever, maybe even passing it on as BrickBoard gospel. What a wretched start to my day.

Feel free to clean up after me, if you think think the problem is other than relay-based. Although with no Upshift light when the relay clicks, it seems like it must be more than a burned out voltage trace from 15.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Hi Bruce,

I would never have guessed it was the bullet connector that steered you astray. That's probably because I have no mental image of the connector at the 4th gear switch to sway me. However, I do know that because of that junction between the white wire and the AW7X solenoid's pigtail, I learned to call that type of connector a "bullet" connector instead of mumbling something about what Ford uses on top of a curse when describing them. Yes, ordering a supply of them, they come in a bag marked "bullet" connectors, available in two sizes.

The remark you made about two yellow wires clued me in on your M46 assumption. I took a look at the only true Green Book diagram specific to the 84 that I own. It shows the Auto OD-off light is returned to ground in the cluster. Yet, the relay is drawn just like the later ones, where 87 and 87a are the same point, providing +12 to operate the solenoid and +12 to turn OFF the OD-off light in the dash. This is obviously another screwed up page in the Volvo documentation, giving more credibility to the RDScott defamation of Volvo's designers (despite the tranny being more of a Toyota than a Volvo product). It makes it look like the tech writers for the Swedes had no clue either.

Anyhow, the difference between the older orange relay pre-85 and the white relay of 85 and up must have the answer. I suspect the relay's use of 87 and 87a terminals are very different. I can find out tomorrow, when I visit my daughter to fix the 84! In the meanwhile, if anyone posts back expressing interest, I will make the book pages available on line for grins and giggles and ideally a better understanding than I have.

Edit: Going over the Volvo documentation for the 84, I don't seem to find the drawing I mentioned in a previous paragraph, that makes it look like 87 and 87a are the same point. In fact, the text explaining the theory is somehow more plausible now than my "obviously screwed up" and "no clue" criticisms would have it. Retraction! Here's the page so you can judge for yourself: AW70/71 OD 1984 diagram and if you want to compare with the stick M46 OD 1984 diagram . Quick reference parts manual shows the change happened with the 85 model.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

“Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men, the other 999 follow women”

Hi Art.
i dont know much about electric like you'all, but the orange od relay and the white od relay both work fine in my 85 240 turbo.
take care
mike

Hi Mike,
Does the Arrow light come on when you downshift to 3rd? I don't think it would, with the Orange relay. Otherwise I think it would control the solenoid OK.
Hope Art agrees. I already screwed up once in this thread.

Bruce

--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Hi Bruce,

I have a set of manuals purchased new by a former owner of an 85 Turbo. I believe many attributes of the 85Ti are Late 84, and so wonder if the 85 Turbo would have come with an orange relay to begin with.

Thanks to you and Mike for asking the question, I see where I got my confusion expressed in the other post. I now get to amend my retraction. Take a look at this one right from the 85's WDM. Grounded in the instrument cluster, I'd say this drawing suggests the up-arrow light is on when the solenoid is powered!

85 WDM page on Auto OD

(Warning- if you jumped in the middle here and can't tell from my sarcasm, I believe this factory manual drawing is in error. At least that is my take on it today.)

Oh, well, I have that 84 with the orange relay within spitting distance today, so I'll just have to see what's inside.

>Hope Art agrees.

Right now I'll agree to anything.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Bigelow Earl Grey - tastes like latex paint

Morning Art,

I agree about the "pictorial" being wrong. I'm growing increasingly suspicious of them, often finding the Fold-Out has it right (but not in this case). If bulb 39 really is grounded, then the "white" relay configuration will put the light ON when the OD (solenoid) is ON, as ypou suggest.

Either the light or the relay is incorrect I'd say. My money is on the light. It's still the Arrow light, but the circuit change could be easily overlooked by some low HP scribe/trainee (as I recall the diagram drawers back in the day).

By now I expect you've autopsied an Orange relay. I didn't go that far -- just used ohmmeter to verify that 87a is truly a "break contact" (Bosch term) or Normally Closed (N/C=IBM), and is not common to 87, like it is in the White relay (which seems to violate Bosch's definition -- or is it DIN?).

I assumed Mike's cluster has the '85 Arrow (bulb 39) tied to +12 (NOT like the WD shows it, grounding via 32/4). So with the older, orange relay, a down-shift would toggle the relay "off" and put +12V on the other side of the bulb via the N/C contact and 87a — thus keeping the bulb off...
Not that it ever comes on, right Mike?

Off to scratch the 940 side of my head now,
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Hi Art,

You say, " would never have guessed it was the bullet connector that steered you astray. That's probably because I have no mental image of the connector at the 4th gear switch to sway me." It was just the opposite for me, as I do have some recall of the 4th gear switch connections, but never had the pleasure of tangling with the Auto OD solenoid. In fact, despite RDScott's over-the-top rant on the subject, in 17 or so car-years with the AW70/71, I've never had a wiring or solenoid problem, and just 2 relay failures.

As for the '83-'84 auto OD relay and light (which the owner's manuals explicitly identify as the "Overdrive OFF indicator"), the bulb is tied to ground, rather than +12V as the later cars. And the relay does have separate 87, 87a outputs, as you suspect. The Bentley (390-23) has the white wire from 87 sending +12V to the solenoid when the relay is "on", and a yellow wire sending the +12V to cluster #34 when the relay is "off" (lighting the "reminder" bulb).

Cluster #34 is the male push-on terminal at the lower-right rear corner. On the '84 cluster diagram (390-20, D-2), terminal #34 leads to bulb 39, which is tied to ground. But the cluster circuit path is change for '85 and up, where bulb 39 becomes tied to +12v, consistent with the white relay configuration.

Terminal #34 and bulb 39 are absent on the '83 diagram (390-14, D-2), but I assume they exist because Owners Manuals going back to 1982 show 2 separate lights (39 and 44) as Auto and Manual OD indicators.

But Haynes apparently disagrees, as they have added a parenthetic "(34)" at cluster 31/4, which leads to bulb 44 (manual OD indicator) in their copy of the '83 Volvo diagram (Haynes 1990 Edition, 1974 thru1990). One bulb for both trannies? I think they stretched it a bit there.

Anyhow, after looking at your EDIT and scanned pages, it seems we've come to similar conclusions for the '84 light and relay. And my guess is that the '82 and '83 are the same, if the AW70 started in '82 as the owners manuals indicate.

--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Huh? It's an AW70.
I'll check for the second wire coming off the relay, and swap the relay with a good one.

Hi ez,

That wire you replaced was the toughest job of them all, so aside from the possible expense of the solenoid, you've crested the peak.

The pic below is from an 84. I have removed the white wire (the one you replaced) from the relay socket. The terminals have a retaining tab you can release by inserting a sharp pick. With the wire disconnected, you can measure the solenoid's coil resistance, or, if you have quiet, just send 12V to it and you'll hear the solenoid click or clunk. More of a cluck. Keep your bare fingers off of the wire when you do that or you'll be cursing me!

The relay might just have solder cracks on its internal circuit board. You can reflow the solder to fix them.

OK....
I am pretty sure the relay is working (click/clunk, with attendant voltages in the right places). I am very sure the OD solenoid is dead.
The dead OD-off light seems to be due a bad ground in the cluster. I'm still checking into it.

Any tips for replacing the OD solenoid? I just picked up a 12/13 mm offset ratcheting box-end tool at Sears, and this seems to provide almost enough clearance to get at the bolts without dropping the transmission. Maybe I could loosen the cross-support to get a little more wiggle room? Or do I need to buy a transmission jack?

I'm planning on a pick / pull replacement - - should be OK, right?

Thanks again.

In addition to Art's tips below, I recently came across an old post where a lot of crud was flushed out of a sluggish solenoid, resulting in an excellent improvement in operation. You might want to try it on your "new" one.

As I recall, just remove the plunger-retaining circlip (or whatever) and flush the plunger cavity with a few blasts of carb-cleaner.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Hi EZ,

Read all about this job here: 7/9 FAQ on AW-70

Just lower the unit a little. Clean it and clean it again. Use a stubby 12. Read about how the junker solenoid was better than the shiny new aftermarket copy. I think I'll be doing this same task next weekend maybe.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

See my response above to Art B.

On the AW 70, the relay and light don't operate like they do with the manual tranny, which I wrongly assumed in my reply to you.

The Upshift Arrow light, is not "the OD (on) light". When lit, it means OD (power to solenoid) is OFF. It always has +12V applied to one side. The other side goes to the relay.

At the relay the Arrow bulb is either grounded/ON, when the relay is "off", and sending no voltage to the solenoid — or it gets an opposing +12V (turning it OFF) when the relay is "on", sending voltage to the solenoid.

My guess of the day is that before the fuse blew (possibly super-sized?) the relay took more amps than it could handle.

You could just eliminate it (as test) by removing it and connecting a jumper from the plug pins for relay 15 (gray and blue wires) to relay 87 (white wire). That will simulate a relay that's always ON (light always OFF).
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.