'94 850 Wagon Turbo. Has a lot of miles. Car would not start at gas station yesterday. Towed to mechanic. Fuel pump needed to be replaced. An hour ago, I reversed out of mechanic's bay, put car in park, paid the shop. Restarted car, reversed car to drive off, put the gear lever into D, and nuthin. Car is like it is in neutral. No forward movement, no reverse movement. Checked tranny fluid level, it is fine. Any ideas? My tranny gone? I had no CV joint clicking, so it's not as though they are gone. Could this day get any worse?

 

Could be your throttle linkage came loose. Does the engine rev?

 

Yes, engine revs fine. There is oil in the transmission too.

 

Did anyone verify that the transmission linkage moved when the shifter was placed in D? Tranny's don't usually just fall out of a car, nor do both axels.

Oh, the most common thing for such a sudden loss of movement is the emergency brake. They lock up sometimes when the cable breaks. Can you feel the car try to move? Jack the car on either side and try to spin a back tire.

 

Check to see if the shifter is still connected to the transmission. Down from the distirbutor between it and the air cleaner should be the PNP, kind of a neutral safety switch that sits on the shaft that shifts the internals of the transmission. You'd want to make sure if you move the shifter that it's moving that arm.

 

Went back to the shop today where the car has been parked for the past 2 days. Started it, put it in Reverse, car moved. Put in drive, and it moved forward. Drove about 20 feet and the forward motion stopped. Put it in Park, then reverse. Nothin. Tried "D" again, nothin. Pushed the car back into a parking spot. Tried the same sequence 2 hours later, same thing. Reversed out of the parking spot, and drove about 10 feet this time, then forward motion stopped. It is like the car is in "neutral" when the tranny gets warm. I have driven cars for like 20 years and have never experienced anything like this on any car before. I'm wondering if Lucas Transmission Treatment will solve this weird problem. Also, what exactly does the PNP switch do? Thanks guys.

 

Sorry to hear that. I promise you, your transmission is NOT getting warm in 20 feet of driving. Did you jack the car and see if the rear wheels were locked? When I had my transmission problem, while going in reverse for about 10 feet, a forward gear would kick in and the two directions would fight each other. I did eventually change the tranny.

 

My '96 850R wagon did basically the same thing a year or so ago. However, when mine would stop moving...it would lock up...as in stop the car with a violent jerk and it would not roll/move in ANY gear...neutral, etc. I figured out the problem and fixed it...it was automatic and wanted to be manual. Now it's manual transmission and I have no more issues. Happy car, and VERY happy me!

 

Lucas is a good additive, can't say it would help but it can't hurt and it's a relatively cheap attempt.

The PNP switch tells the computer what gear the transmission is in. It's also the neutral safety switch and I think the switch for the reverse lights but on that last one I'm just guessing.

If it will move at all your linkage is ok but it may be an internal pressure issue where a sticky solenoid isn't allowing full pressure to hold the clutches together. Because it "sticks" it doesn't fully open or close to allow the correct pressure to pass through the valve body of the transmission, Lucas might help if that's the cause.

I'd still check the fluid again per the service manual procedure and maybe toss in a little extra even if it says it's full but no more than a quart (the Lucas is a quart) just in case you have a filter getting plugged and it's somehow starving for fluid.