Hi guys.

I have a 1996 850 Turbo, Platinum edition (just read that there were only 1500 made, how cool!). Anyways, tonight I was driving on the highway and my check engine light came on. Prior to that, it was driving fine. After it came on I drove for about 5 more minutes and turned off the highway.

Every time I came to a stop, my car felt like it was in "winter" mode (can't think of another way to describe it), where the wheels spun slower and I had to put my foot down on the accelerator much harder to get it up to speed (25mph) than normal.

Going up a hill was work, and I almost had my foot the floor just to get it to go 30 up a hill.

I only drove it about 10 minutes after the light came on and then parked it and turned it off. I opened the hood, didn't notice any odd smells or noises coming from it. About an hour later I turned it back on and waited a minute. The check engine light was off until I put my car into reverse, and then it stayed on.

I drove it around the block and it felt back to normal, but I didn't go over 15mph, but it was able to get up to speed normally from a stop, unlike earlier when I was coming off the highway.

Any idea what this could mean? My dad has the diagnostic thing to check for the codes, but I won't be back over there until tomorrow.

I bought my car from a mechanic a couple years ago and has since had regular oil changes and maintenance. Prior to that, whoever owned it before me blew the engine so it has a rebuilt engine and a bunch of other new parts. It has about 183,000 miles on it.

Thanks guys!

 

Sounds like you might have transmission codes.
Was the up arrow flashing as well?

 

The light for the up arrow has been burned out for about 6 months, so it may have been.

 

I will be it would have been on if it worked.
I would say it is possibly a bad PNP switch.

 

If it were a bad PNP switch, would that be something difficult/expensive to fix?

 

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exe...ategory_id/208
Part and between 1 and 2 hours labor.

 

That's not too bad then. Thanks for the help, I'll update once we diagnose it.

 

Hope it is an easy fix.

 

My dad's scanner didn't pick up any codes at all, so I don't really know what that means. The check engine light is still on but it seems to be running normal. I'm calling my mechanic in the morning and going to try to get it in this week. Grr.

 

Your Dad's just might be read the Volvo codes.
Most scanners only read engine codes anyway.

 

Take your car to a shop that specialized volvo. They can pull the code for you.
Similar things happened to me except no limp mode for me.
I took my car to the nearest shop, but a mechanic couldn't pull the code. I took my car to a volvo specialized shop, and I got a code for faulty speed sensor. The mechanic cleared the code for now, and if it comes back, it's time to change the speed sensor.

 

Brought it to the mechanic and the labor operations sheet said:

"Access on-board diagnostics found code P0734= "4th gear out of ratio." " He cleared the code and test drove it and found the transmission shifting okay but the transmission fluid was dark so he drained and refilled, drove it, and drained and refilled it again. So hopefully that's it.