I recently picked this car up and have found lots of info regarding other questions I've had. One I haven't been able to find is why the car will roll when off but in gear. If I put the trans in reverse it wont roll. I have all the records from service completed so if there are any questions to help diagnose I can answer them. Otherwise i am brand new at working on volvo. Thanks in advance,

Tyler

 

Assuming you are correctly in 1st gear, then the parking will be the same as putting the car in reverse. The braking is actually done by the engine's compression not the transmission so unless you have low engine compression or a mechanical failure within the transmission (which would show up when driving), the car should stay stopped. With that said, it may take a small amount of rotation of the crank to build the compression so the car may roll a small bit (ie a foot or so). If you have low compression, then I'd assume 1st gear and reverse would behave similarly. The only difference with putting in R or 1st vs 2nd-5th is the gear ratios which multiply torque from the downhill slope.

 

All of this makes sense. I'm not having issues at all with the clutch or getting properly into any gear. I'm not sure why reverse works when first doesn't while parking on flat ground. It seems to make plenty of power. I'm not burning oil and fuel consumption is where it should be. Are there other symptoms of poor compression? I'll see if the car will come to a stop at some point when I park in first. Thanks
Tyler