I bought a 1990 Volvo 240 DL Station Wagon and it has 176,000 miles on it. When I first took it for a test drive last Saturday everything worked fine. Last Monday the seller called to tell me they took it on a final farewell drive and it wouldn't upshift ( Its an automatic transmission ) past second gear so it only goes about 20 mph !
I took a gamble that its not a complete failure but rather a sensor or something. I paid 400.00 for the car.

Any ideas as to what it could be ?

Also , when doing the front ball joints does the coil spring have to be compressed before you remove the old balljoints ?

 

Check to see if the upshift cable on the car is stuck that would hold it from going into you're more road friendly gears.

I haven't done a ball joint on a 240 in forever, but i believe I i just un bolted it and didn't need to compress anything. I'm sure it would make it easier if you had a set.

 

Do you mean the kickdown cable that is linked to the accelerator pedal and throttle ?

 

Thats what I meant, it's been a long day

 

It moves freely when I step on the pedal. Maybe its stretched out too much and needs adjustment ?

 

Did you find a solution same problem

 

again. Did you find the problem. I have the same issue with mine.

 

Just changed the ball joints on mine, pretty easy to do. Took me about 2 hours for the whole job. Remember, there are only lower ball joints, so there is no coil compression needed.

 

Which cable do you adjust to make the 240 shift gears sooner, the top or the bottom and which way turning tightens it?