Trans mode light on (not flashing)??

Ubbm · Post by **Ubbm** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:43

Yesterday I was driving in the mountains at 9000 feet in northern New Mexico when my transmission mode light came on. It wasn't flashing, just solid light. I checked I was in D drive, and that I was not in Winter mode. Not panicking

I continued driving checking that it was shifting correctly. After about ten miles I pulled over and stopped the engine. Restarted, the light was out and stayed out for the rest of the day.
Driving through the mountains is hard work for a transmission but I wasn't driving hard (my wife won't let me

).
Any ideas

My "Check Engine" light was already on as I think it needs a good PCV (that stuff under the manifold) service.
I will pull the codes today to see if I get anything other than the persistant P0172 that I get.
Thanks....

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:52

PNP switch perhaps? Doubtful you'll get anything from the engine codes - the transmission ones are stored separately and can't be read from a normal scanner.

Turn the car off and row the shifter quickly between P and L 20 times or so.

dbeckwith · Post by **dbeckwith** » 23 Aug 2011, 09:23

jblackburn wrote:PNP switch perhaps? Doubtful you'll get anything from the engine codes - the transmission ones are stored separately and can't be read from a normal scanner.

Turn the car off and row the shifter quickly between P and L 20 times or so.

This doesn't refer to 95 model right? So other than a dealer how would someone read the codes?

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Aug 2011, 09:26

A '96 does not have the OBDI ports that your '95 has.

There has been some discussion recently about getting VIDA and an OBDII laptop cable to connect up. I have not tried it myself. Other than that, a Volvo scan tool is the only other thing that will read the codes.

dbeckwith · Post by **dbeckwith** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:01

jblackburn wrote:A '96 does not have the OBDI ports that your '95 has.

There has been some discussion recently about getting VIDA and an OBDII laptop cable to connect up. I have not tried it myself. Other than that, a Volvo scan tool is the only other thing that will read the codes.

This sounds like something I would like to do just satisfy my curiosity. I have a netbook computer that would be perfect for this. Where would I get VIDA? Sounds like something from an old Star Trek movie

Post by **jblackburn** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:13

Shot ya a PM - it's available "free" as a torrent, but I'm not going to post those up here.

dbeckwith · Post by **dbeckwith** » 23 Aug 2011, 12:19

jblackburn wrote:Shot ya a PM - it's available "free" as a torrent, but I'm not going to post those up here.

Thanks Justin

Ubbm · Post by **Ubbm** » 30 Aug 2011, 19:52

Problem has not returned. All's well that ends well.

Ubbm · Post by **Ubbm** » 05 Sep 2011, 21:18

It happened again

It is altitude related. I was driving through the Jemez Mountains this time, the transmission arrow came on (solid NOT flashing) and I looked at my GPS: 9,200 feet. I tried hard acceleration but it would not downshift. I clicked the trans button from "economy" to "sport" and the light went out; all was back to normal. I switched back to "economy". By then I was below 9000 feet and everything was OK for the next 150 miles which took me home.
Mysterious