Well, crap. Blinking arrow of doom.

[jblackburn]

And just when I was beginning to enjoy not having to fix anything...

Today I was driving around town running some errands - my car had been acting perfectly fine. I went to take off from a stoplight, and there was a huge thud and my car started flashing the arrow and went into 3rd gear "limp home mode". Even shutting the engine off several times while coasting on the way back couldn't get it to drop out of that.

I took it easy and limped it back the 3 miles home. Once there, I tried rowing the shifter to no avail. Apparently reverse is gone as well.

I tried cleaning the PNP switch; no luck there. Fluid looks fine & is filled to the correct level.

For the moment, it still drives in 3rd gear at least, and I'm going to try to limp it to the Volvo dealer in the morning to see what the news is. It's mostly straight highway driving, so I think it will make it. I'm thinking (hoping) the solenoid that gave me issues a few years ago has just gone bad, but that is only a guess.

Aaaarrrggghhhh

[tailor]

Not too question your superior knowledge, did you try disconnecting the battery ?
I have had some odd behaviour with my 94 850, and have had the odd blinking arrow and limp mode was engaged, I also park on an incline and the vehicle would not shift out of first gear, I think the cold weather and the incline played a part. All seems to be better now with the slightly warmer weather, anyway just a thought.

[jblackburn]

Superior knowledge? Pfft, I'm not that good.

Yeah, it was disconnected (totally removed from the car) when I went in to clean the PNP switch. No such luck there, but if anyone has any ideas feel free to speak up!

[FlyingVolvo]

Concerning what you told me on Facebook... I think your car knows.

[jblackburn]

Hahaha. It is true I have been looking for something smaller and more fuel efficient, but I was still planning on keeping it! I guess depending on what the verdict is tomorrow will affect how soon I have to make that decision. I'm not dropping $1500+ on a transmission

[urbex]

Not too question your superior knowledge, did you try disconnecting the battery ?

I found that just clearing the codes on the underhood box temporarily fixed mine, although temporarily in my case was about two miles, lol. Mine had reverse almost gone when I got the car, but otherwise it worked fine, even under repeated full throttle assaults. Put about 500 miles on the car in one day, nary a hint of a problem. Then in the last 10 miles or so before home, it felt a bit....off, while cruising down the freeway. Almost felt like gear hunting, but RPMs/road speed wasn't changing (like it was doing something that gave the physical thump of sorts that indicated a gear change, but didn't actually change a gear..hard to explain), or perhaps it was slipping a bit. Got off the freeway, about a mile up the road, arrow starts flashing, and went into 3rd gear limp mode. Pulled off the road, cleared the codes from trans, and all seemed well again...for about 1/2 mile, arrow starts flashing, and when I stopped then tried going again - nothing. Just revved in all gears. Found that if I revved high enough (about 4,000RPM), it would move, but barely. Was enough to get it out of traffic.

Had the car towed home, let it sit for a week, then fired it up and pulled out of the parking spot on the side of the side to the driveway with no issues, but when I went to back up and realign in the driveway - revving to the moon again with flashing arrow.

My point in all this? I really believe that aside from high HP abuse, sudden failures like this are 99.99% of the time electrically related, and not full transmission failure, either solenoids or TCM. In my case, I didn't feel like screwing with it (especially considering mine had that reverse issue which is apparently a relatively known seal failure problem), so i just dropped in a used trans. Cost me $150 for the trans, and probably another $100 in seals/gaskets that I replaced while I was in there.

That said, as soon as I finish my move to Detroit this week, I'm going to start looking for a donor 850 with a manual trans to have on hand in case this automatic bites the dust too. I really don't want a 5 speed in there, I prefer autos on my daily drivers, but I love this car enough to deal. Of course, that assumes I don't dump all my money into a 960 to use for a V8 project car

[MatDesign84]

Eff man, I hope, rather im sure you get things sorted out. Add me on FB if you want, just ask for the email. Ive never had transmission problems out of these cars yet. Knock on wood.

[jblackburn]

4th gear is apparently gone too.

The dealer guy just walked in with a list of codes.

"S1 open circuit"
"Torque limiting circuit, open or short"
"Lockup slips or does not engage"
"SL solenoid open circuit"

Their verdict? New transmission, $1800 (who saw THAT one coming!?)

Call me crazy, but this sounds electrical to me and I'm not ready to condemn the transmission just yet - it was working perfectly well until yesterday! I'm going to take it home and check some things out. I can borrow a friend's car for the week at least while I try to fix this, but I need mine going by this weekend.

Orrrrr...hmm
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/2355641804.html

[jimmy57]

With three codes for opens and the sudden onslaught of the problems, I'd pull the TCM and inspect the pins and plinth terminals.
Second place I'd look would be the connector on trans. The no questions asked needs a gearbox codes are the wrong gear ratio and the lockup slipping. But with solenoid codes the lockup slips code doesn't mean much.

[zhenya]

Sorry to hear this Jack - we'd all hate to lose you here if you decide to move on to a new car.

I had actually been thinking about this, because a co-worker brought by a '99 V70 he was looking at buying with a new transmission in it, and I was amazed at how little lash there was compared to mine. Made me want a new trans even though mine is 'fine!' Is there not a decent source for less expensive rebuilt transmissions, say like Clearwater does for heads?