I bought a used 850 a little over a month ago with 150K on it. I started to have problems with her a couple days ago as she started to stutter when she shifted. Last night she had a lot of trouble shifting out of 2nd and eventually wouldn't shift at all. The transmission fluid was changed today (the old filter is still in) and still no positive result. I'm praying it's not the whole tranny and need some help thinking of ideas/fixes that may be of use. HELP PLEASE!

 

You might want to look at the throttle position sensor. I disconnected mine while trying to solve another problem and the tranny wouldn't shift. Car ran great but no shifting.

 

Is that a problem that would come up after 2 days?

I also forgot to mention I drove thru a puddle in a parking lot at slow speed that had been a lot deeper then expected 3 days ago and she shut off on me before I got thru it. Could that have flooded the tranny?

 

I suppose it could go bad anytime with cars of this age, or it could get wet. It's just a simple potentiometer in a plastic housing. But they do seem to be pretty reliable. the one in my 96 Na with 215k still works fine.

The only reason I suggested this is because of my experience when I un plugged it. Car ran fine but no shifting. My trans have never given me one bit of trouble so? (oh crap I said I'm doomed) BTW.. There is no filter.

 

HAHA! obviously, I'm uneducated about Volvos (or foreign cars in general). Would you by chance be able to tell me where I can find the sensor?

 

I'm not saying this is your problem, but it "might" be. You should wait for other member input. Do some research on google and you'll find more info

here's a thread

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...=24078&start=0

here's a pic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...g?t=1256688045

here's where you can buy one

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exe...ategory_id/194

 

If you have an ohm meter you can test the TPS by doing a sweep test. The outside pins should have a constant resistance, don't remember what it is but it doesn't matter as ling as it isn't 0 or infinite. The center pin in the wiper so if you hook the meter to one of the outside pins and the center and then slowly turn the TPS you should see a nice sweep of resistance. What you are looking for are spots where the resistance jumps up by big amounts. The sweep should be smooth and linear.

edit me and my big mouth. first the position of the fixed resistance pins and the wiper is not as I stated above. How do I know? guess who has a TPS problem? yes me. After I put silicone turbo hoses on the car it's throwing TPS codes and it stalls. I'm pretty sure its in the wiring because the sweep test passed and I put a spare i had in.

and dyin2live21 you should get your codes pulled. is the check engine light on?