Actually, mine isn't flashing and I'm not having any drivability issues other thant the alignment which is getting done this week.

I just bought my '86 760 Turbo, but as it had no owners manual from the previous owner (who might not even have gotten it from the previous owner again), I've been left guessing on a few things. The orange light bulb with an X through it was self-explanatory when I noticed the tail lights looked more like a string of my dad's exterior christmas lights. The two fog-light switches became apparent when one of them made everything behind me glow red (rear fog lights! Cool!) I even learned how to operate the dual-function sunroof switch, and when I was done I managed to escape by finding the door opener!

Enough of wasting everyone's time though. There's one thing that's been racking my brain. My gear selector lever has a curious button on the side, which lights up that orange up arrow, but solid, not the dreaded flashing that apparently spells transmission doom. I assume it has something to do with shift modes, and there seem to be two of them - one with the light on, and one with the light off. But, I haven't put my finger on what exactly it does. I've seen "Winter Mode" thrown around - is it a 2nd Gear Start feature or something? Does it change shift logic like my friend's '92 Camry's "Power Mode"? I've got a manual coming thanks to eBay, but that won't be here for a week or so and if my car has a Winter Mode, I'd like to figure it out, as it's snowed here for three days which makes me think winter's fast approaching, or, you know... already here.

Thanks in advance, everyone.

 

From the owner's manual:

You can download a manual free of charge from Volvo Cars US:

http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/...o/86760_00.htm

 

I thought about that today - "Gee, maybe it's just an overdrive lockout"

What's the point of that, anyway? I never understood why you'd want to lock out your overdrive gear(s), especially in a car like this.

 

It may be necessary at some point to hold third gear eg descending a long gradient. It is also necessary when pulling a trailer as page 58 of the owner's manual gives this advice: