Hey all, looking at a 1990 240 automatic, the guy said -

"Transmission gear switch cable is sticking, so not switching into 3rd gear until ~55 MPH and 4th gear until 80 MPH. But all gears work fine when engaged."

Easy fix, hard fix, or run away?

 

Hmm, no...3rd is mechanical, 4th, the overdrive, is electric... That cable is easy to adjust unless stretched beyond limits, but that cable will affect ALL gears shifting (except the OD). How does it shift into 2nd, at what RPM?

 

sounds like the throttle pressure cable is stuck/broken. if that was teh case, it would also stay in 1st too long before it shifted to 2nd.

I had to drive 30-40 miles home with a broken cable, I found if I 3-2-3'd the shifter it would bump into 3rd gear sooner than it would on its own. I just babied it all the way home, keepiing my speed no more than 50mph...



fairly easy to replace.

 

I'll have to ask him about 2nd gear. But switching into 3rd at 55mph? That doesn't sound good and can lead to major engine west I'd assume.

The more I think about it, I should pass on this one

 

2nd to 3rd at 55 is likely about what you'd get under heavy throttle acceleration, and is probably well short of redline, these things are geared pretty tall.

its almost for sure the 'throttle pressure cable' (which many people call the kickdown cable), that goes from the throttle spool under the hood to the transmission. aftermarket parts are like $15, supposedly OE branded are like $35, real volvo are like $50.

 

Thanks pierce. I'll have to give this some more thought. I don't see this car selling fast, so I'll monitor the price and see if it falls into the risk tolerance range

 

oh. pop the hood. above the intake manifold is this 'throttle spool'. it has 2 or 3 cables going to it, one is the throttle cable from the gas pedal, this turns it. another is the cable to the transmission, this is pulled out as more gas is given. the optional third cable is the cruise control on 740/940 cars (I think 240's have the cruise actuator directly on the gas pedal under the dash board). this pulley/spool also has a pushrod down to the actual throttle body...

anyways, if the transmission cable is broken, it won't be retracting when you let up on the gas.

youcan see this throttle pulley/spool here in a picture from my old 740 turbo wagon.


the cable going to the top of the pulley is the throttle cable from the gas pedal. the cable under the pulley is the transmission cable. it should have a little bead crimped onto it that at idle/rest is about 1-2mm from the end of the adjustment ferrule, and the cable should be just slack, such that when you give it more than a hairs of gas pedal, it starts pulling this transmission cable out, when you let off on the gas, it cleanly retracts back to straight. when the transmission cable is broken, there will be a loose loop of it as it jams in the bowden sheath and won't retract.