Went and checked out a 960 today. It's a 96 with 177k. Drove ok but there were 2 issues:
There was a light on the cluster on the bottom left, looked like a snow flake with a green or yellow light in the middle. Owners manual didn't even mention it. Owner said it'd been on for years.

I took it for a spin and upon take off, it almost feels like it's starting in 2nd gear then downshifts then upshifts again in a jerky sort of motion. Stopping kinda did the same thing, felt like it went to first then realized thats too low and went to second only to go back into first. The transmission was in E mode and has been it's whole life, owner didn't even know what S and W meant.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

sounds similar to my story - except for the snowflake (I have a 95 though, so could be a diff cluster?)

Check my thread "Faulty trans (solenoid?)"

What I was told, so far, was that this is a common problem, and it's a pnp switch that can go bad and cause real problems, but you can temp fix it by running the car, and when stopped (foot on brake) run through each gear manually on the shifter like 20 times. I'm about to do that with my 95 960.

Good luck! (It's a great car, though - parts cost an arm and a leg from dealer, but other than that it's like driving to work in your 'going to the opera' car every day)

 

Here is what I am refering to: pic stolen from ebay with my editing job
cluster.jpg?t=1286224613

 

That is the OUTSIDE temp sensor (under the car near the ground) tells you if the roads are 'near freezing' temps, so to be careful on the road. On mine, I just have a red warning light, no snowflake, but i think it should be the same ;-)

My temp sensor is either disconnected or is lost (I hit some ice/snow that fell off a minivan last winter and it scraped some parts off the bottom of my car) so mine always is red and reads "-188F" lol. Is it cold where you are? Does that LCD read any numbers? (should be telling you outside temps - if it's above 40f or 45f then the snowflake should not be there...afaik)

 

That green area should show the outside temp. The dot in the flake will light up when the outside temp gets close to freezing on the roads. Mine will be lit between 23' and 38'. The sensor for the guage is just below the front bumper/radiator. Look in the slot between the lower lip and bumper.
http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/...60_201.htm#2:2

 

ok my book says 40 - I was close! (and yes, there is a lower limit... guess if it's cold enough you're supposed to know the ground is frozen? idk...)