I have had a chronic problem with the OD relay in my volvo but I removed the glove box and have easy access to the relay. The relay gets stuck in OD and if I tap it against the casing of the glove box assembly it turns off. I've been managing the situation like this for 2 years now no problems.

2 weeks ago the shifter assembly completely broke on my. I put the car in reverse and suddenly the shift assembly just became loose. I couldn't get the car out of reverse and the shifter just flopped around.

Car repair shop had to order a new shifter assembly. And I just got the car back 1 week ago (took a while to get the part ordered). I have been driving it daily since then no problems, I rarely drive the car over 60mph but its my daily commuter.

I noticed since getting the car back that sometimes the OD light comes on if the relay is engaged, BUT now sometimes not. When I press the OD button i distinctly hear the OD relay click on and click off as normal but now most of the time the relay indicator on the dash is off regardless if I hear the relay engage or disengage. And then sometimes when driving the OD lamp in the dash will just pop on when I hit a bump...

I JUST took the car out on a longer trip on the highway and once it got past 60mph I realized the engine was revving at to high an RPM at over 60mph. I clicked the realized that the OD light was not coming on, but depressing the button caused the relay to click on and off.

I am assuming now at this point that something must have occurred in the replacement of the shift assembly that has caused the car to default to engaged in OD at all times, and even though the relay is acting appropriately the car will not shift out of OD. I am curious if anyone has any ideas, I know most likely I need to take it back in but like i said its my daily commuter and its working fine other than being stuck in overdrive. It will be a few days before I can take it back in and have them look at it.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

open up that relay and see if A) it has any cold solder joints that need reflowing with a bit of fresh solder, or B) the contacts are really crusty. most of the time they can be fixed and give you many more years of service.