Intermittent failure of various functions
 

Hi there, I've searched for this topic, but found nothing similar, so apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere.

I have a '96 Volvo 850 S 2.5 auto wagon. It's done 250+ks. A while ago, the speedo started failing intermittently, but I could fix it by turning the ignition fully off and then restarting the engine. I thought it might have been the sensor but then the indicators started doing the same - a quick restart and they work again. Yesterday, the transmission started doing it. It wouldn't recognised the lower gears, only starting off in the highest. I restarted and all was good. I'm thinking that this has something to do with the computer rather than anything specific to those very different functions. Based on the above, it seems that whatever it is, it's slowly degrading and will probably spread to other functions. Any ideas?

Thanks.

The ignition switch has a few sets of contacts for different items. If they don't all make up perfectly, then sometimes some of the stuff is not working. Every time you start it, the switch springs back and you get a random result.