No overdrive in 89 240

[alpine]

I recently purchased a volvo 240 dl 1989, the previous owner had the overdrive disconnected on the advice of the volvo mechanic, can any of you shed some light on this? Why would you disconnect the overdrive? thanks alpine

[Henry]

Beats me too. OD needed on highway trips to save gas.

[Burn Stains]

To save the life of it if he only drove in the city? Still...

[pierce]

is the overdrive actually disconnected or is just the overdrive disable button on the shifter disabled? I've heard of a few people doing the latter because they were so spastic they kept pressing it accidentally (geez, should they be driving?!?).

they shift into overdrive automatically when you reach sufficient speed and aren't accelerating hard... I think our 87 240 will go into OD at about 45 mph if you're just coasting along, and in OD its turning over 3000 rpm at somewhere above 65MPH.

the button on the shifter disables it so it can't go into overdrive and will stay in 3rd gear, and it lights the yellow arrow on the dash to tell you that its disabled.

try this experiment... go about 35mph on an open road. shift it manually into second, engine revs up... shift it back into drive, and it should shift into 3rd and you hear the engine rev back down, now gently accelerate to about 60mph, and somewhere in there you shoudl hear/feel another shift. if you do, then the overdrive is working, its just the disable circuit thats been disabled.

[Henry]

Thank you Alpine and Pierce for your posts.

I also just acquired an 89 240 automatic and was concerned about the OD.

It was a great relief to learn it goes into overdrive automatically, and the switch on the side of the gear shift disables it. I was used to a manual 82 DL and you had to push the switch atop the shifter to enable OD.

So, on my first highway drive with an automatic I kept pushing that side button but with no noticeable change. Could it be the disable switch is disabled? Also, no yellow light goes on when the switch is depressed.

Thank you Pierce for your info, and Alpine for the question...that's how I found this forum.





One question, a yellow light you mentioned doesn't go on when I push the OD
switch

[zloetakoe]

Originally Posted by Henry

Thank you Alpine and Pierce for your posts.

I also just acquired an 89 240 automatic and was concerned about the OD.

It was a great relief to learn it goes into overdrive automatically, and the switch on the side of the gear shift disables it. I was used to a manual 82 DL and you had to push the switch atop the shifter to enable OD.

So, on my first highway drive with an automatic I kept pushing that side button but with no noticeable change. Could it be the disable switch is disabled? Also, no yellow light goes on when the switch is depressed.

Thank you Pierce for your info, and Alpine for the question...that's how I found this forum.





One question, a yellow light you mentioned doesn't go on when I push the OD
switch

My 88 240 automatic has the same issue. The button doesn't respond to being pushed but the car does have OD. I'd like to be able to use the button once in a while though.

[pierce]

If the light doesn't go on, and it doesn't kick out of OD, then its probably the OD control relay or the wiring. The button controls a relay, the relay controls the solenoid on the transmission and the light.

On a 240, I believe that relay is somewhere behind the dashboard, accessible by removing the glovebox. see cleanflametrap.com
also a bunch more 240 OD stuff Overdrive Transmission FAQs

[zloetakoe]

Originally Posted by pierce

If the light doesn't go on, and it doesn't kick out of OD, then its probably the OD control relay or the wiring. The button controls a relay, the relay controls the solenoid on the transmission and the light.

On a 240, I believe that relay is somewhere behind the dashboard, accessible by removing the glovebox. see cleanflametrap.com
also a bunch more 240 OD stuff Overdrive Transmission FAQs

perfect timing. I've got the whole dash ripped apart right now to put in the new blower motor.

[volvoguy2323]

Originally Posted by zloetakoe

perfect timing. I've got the whole dash ripped apart right now to put in the new blower motor.

If there is no light that means there is no power or the bulb is burned out in the instrument cluster...check your fuses first and foremost if they are good it's a bulb. If light stays on all the time or goes on and off but no OD response it is most commonly a bad relay however it could be wiring or a bad solenoid. The switch itself on the shifter rarely goes bad it's usually bad or more common broken wiring. Light should be off at all times unless you do not want to engage 4th gear. Light on means 4th gear or OD disengaged...or there's a problem.

[zloetakoe]

Originally Posted by volvoguy2323

If there is no light that means there is no power or the bulb is burned out in the instrument cluster...check your fuses first and foremost if they are good it's a bulb. If light stays on all the time or goes on and off but no OD response it is most commonly a bad relay however it could be wiring or a bad solenoid. The switch itself on the shifter rarely goes bad it's usually bad or more common broken wiring. Light should be off at all times unless you do not want to engage 4th gear. Light on means 4th gear or OD disengaged...or there's a problem.

Thanks volvoguy. I actually was playing around with this today while driving. The switch does indeed work, must be the light that is just burnt out, which I don't mind actually.