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I was driving my 1990 240 sedan (110k) yesterday and the strangest thing happened with the auto transmission.
From a stop, it started out fine, shifted into second, then would not shift into third. i messed with the kickdown/gas pedal a bit but it just stayed in second, revving away. I stopped the car, shut it off, restarted it and everything worked fine. I checked to make sure the overdrive was working and it was fine. I always check the fluids regularly and the trans. fluid level was fine.
Drove the car today and had no problems with the trans....anybody have an idea of what might have happened? anything I should check out?
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1986 volvo 240 wagon 300k ?
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Ok, so i checked it out and the kickdown cable was dangling and unattached. the cable is sticking for sure. I hooked it back up and the clearance from the stopper to boot is correct once the cable is pushed back in.
Any thoughts on the best way to free this thing /lubricate it? It seems to be routed correctly and it does not seem to be broken.
thanks!
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1986 volvo 240 wagon 300k ?
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Sorry, haven't been on in awhile. If you haven't fixed it yet...see the little red cap on the end of the black portion of the cable? Pull that little cap away. Now you'll see where the inner cable feeds into the sheath. Take some Enforce, or some PB blaster and spray it down in the sheath. Wiggle the cable; tug on the cable; wiggle the cable some more. Now spray again, wiggle and tug again. After you've done this a few times, and you feel the cable giving a smidge, tug it hard. If the cable gets stuck further out, and yes this happens often, don't panic. Spray it down with the PB blaster, walk away, swear a little, pray a little, walk back. Now see if you can feed it/force it back into the sheath. Do this until it is moving freely. If it never frees up, you didn't lose anything except a can of penetrant and some time. Just replace the cable. Cost here would be $201.63. That's 71.50 for the cable (I use OEM), 10.33 for the pan gasket, 8.24 for two quarts of good transmission fluid, 97.50 labor (1 1/2 hour) and 7.5% tax.
Hope this helps,
Chris
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posted by
someone claiming to be Chrissj
on
Fri Sep 24 15:39 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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Porkface is right, be wary of the full fluid change. If yours is pretty and red, and doesn't smell funny, a couple of partial changes can't hurt anything. However, since it was wierd and then it wasn't, I'd suspect you have a detent cable hanging up, and then letting go. As you are looking at your throttle, you'll see a round pulley with a cable up top, and a cable at the bottom. The cable at the bottom is the detent cable. If it looks stretched, and looks like it could loop onto that bolt you see below it to the left, that is most likely your problem. Try tugging on it and see if it moves freely or if it sticks. Often times you can lube them and make them live.
Hope this helps,
Chris
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i had a customer today tell me the trans in his 92 was replaced at 140k for the same reason-no 3rd gear. i have a hard to believing both you and he had the same problem. he bought the car at 135, so he has no idea why it died. i'm just not used to seeing aw trans's die at this early age. we have 1 customer with 500k and the boss' 83 has close to 600k on the trans. i honestly do not know the maintanence history on them.
volvo has always said, change the fluid every 20k, and i've always suggested pulling the pan and the filter and get the most out you can. volvo used to but changed to just pull the plug and drain it. trouble is, if the car has been neglected, a fluid change MIGHT mean killing the trans. aw's, up until today's 2 cases, have aways been very tolerant of some neglect or lack of changes. keep in mind, if you change the fluid and the trans dies, it's not the new fluid's fault. the trans needed that varnish and silt in the old fluid to keep engaging. i would just to a drain and fill, usually it's 2.5-3 qts. i would follow it with another in about 10k, unless you lose 3rd before. by the way, when you change the fluid, cross your fingers. good luck, chuck.
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thanks for the info....i can't say whether the car was neglected or not, but the fluid is darker than i think it should be. the car has barely got 110k on it.
all of the replacement parts on the car are genuine volvo and the timing belt was replaced already. i suspect that the car was dealer serviced...the car did sit for almost six months before i got a hold of it though.
i was planning on dropping the pan and doing a filter and fluid change, but maybe i'll just do a drain and fill and keep my fingers crossed as suggested.
i will check the detent cable as well because this problem happened only once and the trans has always shifted perfectly both before and after the "incident".
speaking of trans neglect...my 86 wagon has way more than 300k on it. it had been leaking for months before i got it and the previous owner would just feed it trans fluid rather than fix the leak. it was way low on fluid when i got it. i fixed the leak(s) and wondered whether the trans would eventually die due to the obvious abuse it was subject to. it hasn't died yet and still shifts fine. i realize that every car is different, but having this experience with the 86 makes me feel somewhat confident that a fluid change will not kill the trans in this car.
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1986 volvo 240 wagon 300k ?
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your experience with the 86 is much more typical. that's why i'm suprised at your 90. chris may be right, also. the cables get water in them and rust enough to hang up. good luck, chuck.
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