I pulled the instructions off the 700/900 faq. but let my give you the rundown first. i let my brother borrow my volvo and when he gave it back, no od. he had it for about a month and drove in-town so he didnt notice it. He said that the od light would go on and off by itself and sometimes the button on the shifter would do nothing. eventually the button started working again, the od light will go on and off and the relay clicks behind the glove box. but 4th gear apparantly has gone to a better place, and i need to bring it back. if it is the relay that is causeing this and i can permantly bypass it for now until i can get the $67 together to buy a new one. i need to at least get this thing on interstate. what is the easiest way to do this? are these instructions suggesting i pull the relay and pop the white cap off and jumper from there? or what do i need to do? by the way its a 240gl



Check fuse 12: intact, ends are clean and it fits tightly.
Check for fraying or severing of the wires to the solenoid - under the car on the left side of the transmission. Pay particular attention to the metal retaining clamp near the front end of the shift lever where the wires pass through.
Make sure the wires to the switch on the shifter head are in good order. You can remove the relay and test for continuity between terminals 1 (15 on the relay) and 4 (86 on the relay) which are the switch wire terminals.
You can test the relay and solenoid by jumpering with a spade-terminal jumper wire. Pull the relay, jumper between terminals 1 (15 on the relay, or +12V) and 3 (87 on the relay, or the solenoid). This bypasses the relay and energizes the solenoid directly. Or run +12V directly to the solenoid through a long jumper wire from the battery.
[Don Foster] All this having been noted, 90%+ of overdrive failures result from relay solder cracks. See below for instructions for relay repair.

I've done this on both of my 240's. The wiring in the shifter and down to the OD solenoid allways gives out over time from either chaffing or melting from the heat of the exhaust. Here is a cheap easy way to fix it.
1. you will need an extra defroster switch (the NON-TIMER type) from an older 240 or some kind of dashboard switch. The Volvo switch looks more at home in the dash. 2. about 4 feet of wire. 3. Some heat shielding or wire loom to protect the wire underneath from heat and moisture.
Bypass everything all together. Run a hot wire from the fuse panel with a spade connector to the OD's fuse. Take the wire up through the dash to the spare defroster switch. Run another wire through the floor directly to the overdrive solenoid. It's grounded through the transmission case so there's only one wire to deal with. It's either on or off... that's it. Cheap fix that will last about as long as the car.
Ben

On my '88 auto 240 the first thing I've done when I bought it a few years ago was to open the fuel pump and overdrive relays to resolder the bad connections as a precaution, just to find that there were already bad soldering from the factory. Next was to open the OD switch and power windows switches to clean them, and all of a sudden the power windows actually worked at normal speed. The OD also switched much better than before (button would not do much).

Even if the relay switches over, it does not mean the relay contacts are sufficiently connected to the relay terminal. My first bet would eb resolder the relay, then get a good quality contact cleaner spray that does not attack plastics and squirt it into the switch. But don't do both at the same time, always 1 job and then check what the difference is.

Have fun...

I don't know about manual tranny, but do know about auto.

Symptoms sound like fraying and finally torn wire on the way to the solenoid.

It ususally wears and breaks right after it goes down out the front of the plastic-covered shift lever housing, into the tranny tunnel. Breaks inside the tunnel, on passenger side, giving you just a few inches of wire to work with.

If wire is broken, no amount of replaced relays or solenoids will help you.

Skinny under there and have a look. Or get it on a lift with a cooperative shop, that makes it much easier to find the wire if you don't know where.

It goes out the shift lever box, down into tunnel, forward along passenger side of tranny, over top of tranny somehow/somewhere, then rearward along driver's side of tranny to the solenoid.

If confirmed broken:
Take cover from shift lever housing, slide to one side.
Find wire going out grommet at front of metal shift lever box.
Pull broken wire up into pass. compartment.
Splice on about 1 foot good wire.
Push about 6 inches of wire forwards out thru grommet.
Use needle-nose pliers and patience for that, or a 5-year-old kid helper.
(DON'T remove grommet, you'll never get it back in)
Skiny back under and pull some more wire as needed out of grommet.
Splice to wire in tunnel, leading to solenoid.
Cover and protect exterior splice as well as you can.
Vaccuum tubing for protection maybe?
OK to leave the wire a bit longer than needed, with the extra in the box.
That way, if it breaks again, no splicing will be needed up above - just pull some more down into the tranny tunnel.

What year do you have and is it an auto or manual?

Tony T
--
Tony Turner 89 Volvo 240DL 257K, 92 Jeep Cherokee 250K, 93 Jeep Grand Cherokee 215K, 1980 Mercedes 240D 360K

From my experience with the od relay on the auto box the relay seems to be to turn the od off. Ie you use it to stop the od from activating. So, in an auto box the electrical problem is not the issue. If it is a ,manual box just run a hot wire to the relay to see if it will engage at highway speeds. switch the wire from the driver's seat using the cig lighter or something. If it's not electrical there are ways to fix the soleniode without gettinng a new one.
--
Patrick, '68 220, '83 245, '92 Eurovan (work truck).