About two days ago, I lost 4th gear in my 1991 240. I see this is a fairly common problem as I’ve read over several posts discussing this issue. When I lost 4th, I checked all the usual.

· Swapped the OD relay in the dash.
· Verified connections at the OD button on the gearshift.
· Verified the wiring was all connected under the carpet and coming from the gear shift assembly.
· Checked fuse in fuse box. Verified the rear defroster worked this morning as they share the same fuse.
· Swapped solenoid with used on from salvage yard.

This is what I’m puzzled by. I pulled 4 solenoids from the salvage yard today. When I unseated each one, tranny fluid leaked and continued to leak from the tranny for several minutes, as I suspected. However, when I removed mine, not only was the top all cracked up, no fluid leaked. I thought maybe the solenoid was clogged, but shouldn’t I still have gotten some tranny fluid to leak? Once I replaced the solenoid, I still had no fourth gear. I know the replacement could be faulty, but what should I check or do next? Thanks so much.

 

Any leaks you can tell us?

by or through the Torque Converter cooling grille?
back of tranny where drive shaft meet?
trans oil cooler return line fittings?
trans cover gasket?


You were probably low on trans fluid
OR
Radiator got clogged(trans cooling side)
TRANS FILTER IS VERY CLOGGED AND IT DID NOT ALLOW FLUID TO PASS THROUGH IT...
POP THE TRANS COVER AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE FILTER...
EASY JOB TO DO AND THE FILTER/GASKETS ARE CHEAP.

 

I finally got around to changing the fluid and filter today. I’ve been laying tile in the bathroom. There are no leaks from the tranny in any of those areas. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. I still cannot get 4th gear. I used a filter and gasket kit from FCP Groton and used Valvoline Dexron/Mercon fluid. I drove the car and checked it several times to be sure I had the fluid level correct.

When I removed the filter, it was not clogged at all. The old fluid was pretty clean. It wasn’t bright red as new, but not brown or burnt at all either. There was no odor or anything abnormal as far as I could tell. Also, two to three days after I initially lost 4th gear, it would finally shift but not until the speed reached about 60 mph. This happened only twice and on the same day, this past Monday. I’ve been running third every since. I’m about ready to conclude that the tranny is bad.

My odometer shows 203K miles, but that’s after the gear had been broken from 1995 until 2009 when I finally fixed it, so who knows what the actual mileage is. Is replacing a transmission in the 240 difficult? Anybody done it before? What do you suggest? Thanks.

 

check out this post as it may help out....this guy has a similar problem.....includes a nice diagram...

My automatic 88' 240 won't shift out of reverse! Rocco Caravelli

top of my head you should prepare alignment screws or a metal rod the diameter of the trans bolts to help with putting back the transmission....or taking off...just to stick in the holes to allow for support while you align the other bolts..

ps.if you don't have jack stands but have lumber no less than 2x6 you can make car ramps by making wood steps using the 2x6 cut in steps: bottom 3 feet, middle 2foot5inch and so on...youtube videos....

 

I think I got it licked . I followed what another guy did on the Turbo Bricks forum. I loosened the solenoid, started the car, ran it for about 10 seconds, revved it just a bit and shut it off. This was an attempt to force out any clogged material that may have been blocking the flow of transmission fluid since, as originally stated, no fluid leaked when I removed the solenoid. I reinstalled the solenoid and took the car for a drive. Initially, nothing changed; I still couldn't get 4th gear. So, I thought that if it is in fact clogged up, maybe some pressure will help. So, I got on the interstate and floored it a few times. From the first time doing this, the tranny shifted into 4th gear properly. I did a few more aggressive starts and kick downs and all is well... so far. I think it was the hard driving as opposed to the 10 second rev that fixed the problem. I’ve been driving the car a few days now and the transmission shifts properly and smoothly.

In the process though, I may have jacked up my water pump . When I went to dump the old tranny fluid, I saw a leak when I came out of the parts store. I popped the hood and saw white residue and could smell coolant. All the coolant hoses were dry and I could see a steady drip from right where the water pump rests against the engine. I think I just blew the gasket or something with all the hard accelerating. In subsequent days, the leak has all but stopped. Now, I’m losing very little coolant, but I think this will increase as the weather warms and I get back to using the AC.

Is there a way to verify whether or not I should replace the entire pump or just the gasket? In addition to genuine Volvo, FCP Groton has GMB and Hepu water pumps on their site. Should I stick with the Volvo brand or are the lower cost options reliable? I think Bosch makes a pump too.

 

I got an answer on the water pump recommendation. I'm not even gonna try just a seal. Going for the whole pump job. Thanks everybody!

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...mp-best-23421/