Starting last fall, when temps fell below 40 my 94 850 Turbo Wagon did not want to go trough the shift pattern and remained in low gear. Shifting down into drive 3 or lower and back to "D" seemed to eliminate the problem and nothing happens the rest of the day, the car then runs fine. Comes morning the same aggrevating pattern. Now, that the weather is warm, it does iteven in warmer temps. Just until the engine (or tranny) is sufficiently warmed. Tranny fluid (Dextron 3) was changed and tranny flushed twice to no avail. My wife loves this car, help please....

 

Hello Andy,

Sorry to hear the problem, as well as delayed reply; I was on a trip for 11 days with no access to the Internet.

As to the gearbox problem, it may be the solenoid that is misbehaving. If the solenoid assembly turn out ok, then it may be another electronic control problem.

I would try pulling the codes from the ECU. Do you know the procedure to access OBD-I diagnostic terminal? If you don't, let me know and I'll walk you through. Since your 850 is of '94, no tools/test equipment is necessary to retrieve codes from the ECU.

Also, double-check on the fluid level. My 850's gearboxused to misbehave, due to low fluid which was low only by a half quart.

Lastly, make sure to post the same question in the 850 forum; this is a new member's greetings area and is somewhat dismal. 850 forum seems to be the most active of all forums at volvoforums.com.

Regards,


JPN