Hi guys! I have a question about the transmissions on these cars i was hoping someone here would be able to help me. I just bought a nice high mileage Volvo for my first experience, i was actually very impressed with how well it worked at its age till this transmission problem popped up, it wont shift down to drive. I've already taken the time to unnecessarily rip apart the shifter and linkage to check that, realizing i could just disconnect the linkage and manually shift the trans by hand i tried that, couldn't get it past reverse, whacked it a few times and i got neutral back but the mallet wont get it into drive, my question here is if this is a common issue that i can take care of in the driveway or something a transmission shop could fix without having to spend 5 grand on a 1600 dollar car? transmission is the last part on any car ive bothered to learn about as i don't have the room to be removing them but i just cant imagine how many things inside of there can physically prevent the trans from shifting? This kind of happened immediately, went to the store and had a hard time getting it into gear, after a few tries it went in fine and just never came out of park after i got it home. any help would be appreciated! I was looking into joining the Volvo cult and even get something cooler but i might have to go back to my series 3 jags if im expecting a lot of trans issues Oh yeah and its an automatic trans.

 

there's a shifter interlock where the brake pedal needs to be pressed to release the shifter. Did you try pressing the override button on the shifter? Another trick is to put the parking brake on and try rocking the car back and forth to see if that can fool the shifter. Not sure if your diassembly and wacking has done some permanent damage or no at this point. The good news is this sounds like a shifter issue and not anything to do the transmission itself.

 

Ive tried multiple things inside the shifter, Would i still not be able to manually shift the transmission with my hand inside the engine bay if the shifter itself is completely disconnected from the linkage? i went into the engine bay and removed the cable linkage and can still only manually get it down to neutral (was only reverse till i got the hammer out) . i thought the same thing you did based off my research, but after pulling the shifter apart it is still the same with the linkage connected. Also tried taking out the rod in the middle of the shifter. Shifter works fine with the linkage disconnected at the trans. Ive never heard of this happening in a transmission. gears stop working, shifters wont move because broken innards ect. I dont doubt anything is possible or that i made it worse with whacking. im fairly adept with my mechanical skills, ive rebuilt engines, done swaps, learned basic electrical ect. but this is leading my to believe something inside the trans has gone awry or there's some stupid unnecessary electrical part somewhere not working.
Hopefully i missed something in my newfound frustration?
I could show you a picture of the mayhem i caused on the shifter if i really have to but i assure you this thing is about as stripped as it gets without removing it from the car.

I did a little more research and see that the thing im looking at where im manually shifting it and was thinking about removing is a PNP switch, could this create a problem? If not im 1000% lost as it seems to be one of the last things i can see thats physically accessible while trans is in the car.