Good Morning,
I have a 95 940 Volvo, auto transmission with about 250,000 miles on the car. A year ago I started having problems with my transmission not going into overdrive, took it to a mechanic and he drained the fluid and it helped until now! All of a sudden this last week, while we were on vacation, it started again. When it was very hot outdoors, in the 90's, the tranny wouldn't shift to overdrive when it cooled off outside it was fine! Suddenly my fuel gauge also quit working. My service engine light came on, but would go off after driving about 1/3 of a mile. After the car warmed up the oil light would flash off and on but that too would go out and only come back on after driving a good distance. I need HELP! Any info would be greatly appreciated, in these economical hard times I don't want to buy a new car, plus I like my volvo! Oil is changed regularly, 10W-40. Could this all be related to an electrical problem?

 

Service light is a miles meter. All it does is come on at certain intervals to let you know it's time to change the oil etc. Behind the dash display is a black switch right by the speedometer. Flick that switch it'll go off, but you really should be servicing the car before you do that. The odds are that you have a bad tranny, which is expensive and there's no easy fix either way. However, if draining the fluid helped, then get it done again.

If you still have a working odometer, use that as a fuel gauge (if you have an idea of how many miles you get a tank). Mine is being screwy also, and like you, i have little money so I haven't bothered to work with it yet. The fact that it just flat out died (as opposed to reading wrong at random times) means it might be a wire. Try and trace the wires, check the fuses, and mayeb resurface a few connections.

The oil light flashes if the oil is low or the pressure is low. Did you check your oil level? You probably need some oil. Which is fine because you will be doing your oil change, right?

 

I assume you have a 940 since there's no 740 in 1995...
You transmission is probably dying... considering the symptoms... you can get a used one cheap, as low as $200... but somebody who knows must guide you through the process... Fuel gauge-sender unit in the tank, expensive or the gauge in the cluster, not so much... Service light comes on every 5k miles, you can shut it off by depressing the black button behind the rubber plug on the face of the instrument panel. Oil light flickering when the car is hot, you may try heavier oil for starters, depends on what oil is in the car now... but it may need oil pump or more extensive repairs... what is the history of oil changes? May be just an oil change can fix it, if you are lucky, or may be the sensor, still lucky... Overall, you need more help that a novice can glean from a forum for a DIY... but your questions are welcome.