This just happened and I have no idea what to do - engine running fine. No noise, nothing and the shifter will not move the transmission. I went to put it in reverse and the shifter stuck. The gears will not switch and I can wiggle the thing back and forth all I like. It won't do anything. Any ideas? The button shift, the transmission will not move, the stick doesn't seem to be engaging anything.

 

I have EXACT same problem on my 91 940 turbo wgn. car starts and runs fine but gears will not engage as shift lever ismoved. Hope to see you get a respone soon!

 

Okay: this is what I got off another board -

Sounds like the linkage, just like tripleb said.

The shift lever on the tranny itself is about 2 feet forward of the lever that the the in-cabin shifter operates. There is a long bar between them, easily visible by looking under ('way under) from the left side. It should be real easy now 'cause one end is probably lying on the ground.

If possible, get to a Volvo dealer ship and sweet-talk the parts guy/girl into showing an exploded view on their computer screen, and printing a copy for you. This has worked well for me, especially on a Saturday when their work load is a little lighter.

Buy the bushings and hold-on clips (maybe "E-clips") that hold the things on, for both ends of the long bar.

Then when you get under there to look, you can repair it. Not a hard job. The length adjuster is probably not turned, so don't turn it. 45 minutes. Raise the left front of the car and put it on a jackstand or an oil change ramp.

The usual warning clue is forward-rearward slop in the shifting. You can feel the in-cabin shifter hit a detent and then the on-tranny lever hit the detent separately. When things are right the system hits both detents simultaneously, you can't tell there are two.

Sometimes these problems are brought on by a failed RH motor mount and/or failed tranny mount.

Good Luck,