Hi, I just bought an old Volvo 850 1993 model two months ago. I know very little about cars and I was hoping to get some help here.
I´ve been having some trouble with the transmission. Three times now the transmission has been stuck in Winter mode (that´s my guess) and the transmission light starts to flash rapidly (along with the lights on the economy/sport mode button).

Here´s my story
About a month ago I stared the car and it felt really heavy, like 2o tons heavy. I only drove it about 20 meters before noticing that the transmission light was flashing. I turned the car off and checked the manual that said "Transmission failure... see local volvo dealer". I rang the loacal Volvo dealer and they said that if I could I should just drive the car to a workshop and have it checked out.
So I drove the car to a workshop and the the technician was interested in the malfunction from my description, so he took a look at it straight away. I had aldeady parked the car and he just turned it on and drove away like nothing had happened, the transmission was behaving normally. But the transmission light was still flashing so I had him check out the car just in case. He didn´t find anything wrong with the car and only switched the transmission fluid. He also read from the cars onboard computer and he said that there was no malfunction notice. When I got the car back the light had stopped flashing. His explonation was that the car had been stuck in Winter mode (even if the button had never been pressed).
Now a month later the same thing has happened twice. Each time it has been enough to start the car, take off in "3" gear and then shift to "D" and the car shifts and get´s fine speeds. I do that and drive 2-3 circles around the block (less than a mile) and then turn the car off. Minutes later or even an hour later I turn it on again and the transmission seems just fine, not stuck in Winter mode anymore. But the transmission light stil flashes. I can still put the car in and out of Winter mode when I choose to... (It´s freezing out right now and snowing).

Anybody care to give me some advice?

P.s.: How can I read from the internal computer (so I can see if the computer is sending out a code)? This is a Volvo 850 1993 model and it has an in-build light that flashes (like morse code style).

 

Transmission port is A1
http://www.troublecodes.net/Volvo/

 

Some additional info.

It seems like an intermittent problem in the TCM (Transmission Control Module, or Tranny ECU), could be connection problem, wiring problem, witch problem, etc... I would assume there should be a code within the TCM, see if you can retrieve codes by yourself. You do not need any testers/tools, see attached.

Good luck to you & keep warm,


JPN

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I have a problem that sounds very close to yours, it seems to get stuck in winter mode. I purchased an ODBII reader and found out it's "Shift Solinoid B" After a few minutes of driving I can clear the code and the trans is back to normal.