Hi,

I'm new here, but a long time Volvo owner back to my first '74 240 sedan. My loved S60R now at 58,000 suddenly will not go into 5th gear. Nothing unusual happened save for suddenly going down the highway one morning it acted as though there was a "solid" obstruction stopping the shifter from going into 5th. It drives perfectly well otherwise.

Is there anyone out there who has experienced this issue? Any ideas short of a 5000 dollar R/R and a new/rebuilt 6 speed?

 

Have you pulled the air box and looked at the linkage under there. That's where the cables come to connect to two arms on the transmission. If you are lucky, maybe it is just an obstruction. I'm not sure why is would only effect 5th gear. Even if it does not have an obstruction, you may be able to pull the top of the transmission and check out the shift controllers if you are feeling ambitious. I can imagine having a shop do this being way too expensive.

Another thought is is could be something that prevents the car from shifting into reverse from high gears and it broke and moved now preventing it from going into 5th. I'm not sure how that systems work if it even exists, but I think does, since every now and then I cannot go into reverse without putting the shifter in the the 1-2 throw.