White Wire Under Shifter Housing Bare and Cut By PO

[jericl2010]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and very excited about it cause I just bought a 1992 240 sedan. Shortly after buying it I looked up the orange arrow that would never go off on my dash board. I found out the problem could be a few things. Well, I decided to get to work. first thing I did was to check the wire going to transmission. Underneath it didn't look too bad just mostly dirty. So I went back inside the car and removed the shifter housing to find two cut gray wires coming from OD button. The other gray cables were taped off with electrical tape. I found a white wire also cut with electrical tape placed over the copper. then I found a bare, unwound wire (other part of white wire I am assuming) leaving the housing and going out if the body to the tranny. I have two questions. There are two solid gray wires How do I know which ones connect to which. Also, how in the world do I change the white wire from under the shifter to the tranny. Like I said, it was cut with wire cutters so the side leading to the relay is fine. It's the white wire from under the housing to the tranny I need to change. Pics would be very helpful if there are any out there. Thanks for your help and time.
Jason

[billofdurham]

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

Some people are dangerous when let loose with wire cutters. However, why did he cut the white wire which runs from the overdrive relay 87 connector to the solenoid on the side of the gearbox? It is possible the overdrive isn't working but until you join up the wires you won't know. The grey wires from the overdrive button go to the relay. I don't think it really matters which connects to which as they only provide the power to the relay via the button.

I would be looking a running a bridging wire to the two ends of the white wire. Doing this would mean you aren't struggling to join the two ends together under the shifter. Connect one end, preferably soldered and wrapped in shrink tubing, to the white wire inside the car. Feed the other end through the hole and connect it to the wire coming from the solenoid without making it too long. Again, a soldered and shrink tubed joint is better.

You should now be able to test the overdrive. If it doesn't work you can find instructions on the forum for checking the solenoid, replacing the solenoid or removing the solenoid and replacing it with a by-pass kit from our sponsor IPD.

The attached wiring diagram should help.

240 1992 Overdrive wiring diagram.pdf

(119.91 KiB) Downloaded 301 times

Bill.

[fazool]

They cut the wires to overcome or hide some problem that pushing the button didn't fix. O/D was either stuck on or stuck off. Probably stuck off due to a faulty relay or solenoid. A quick Google search showed a common bypass kit solution, which removes the solenoid entirely.

I question that relay PDF. Usually pin 87 OR 87A is powered, which would mean the arrow lights up when the solenoid is not powered and vice versa.


So......

Your dashlight is stuck on and the O/D switch is removed from the circuit with the cut grey wires.

You need to check three things (With the cut wires it's easy):

1) does the O/D switch work ?

Put a simple continuity/ohmeter on the wires to the switch. See if it works when you push it. If so, connect the switch to the grey wires. If not, then temporarily twist wires together and untwist to simulate a switch.

2) does the O/D relay work ?

With a simple voltmeter (or lightbulb) and a jumper wire you can test this relay. Obviously, you have 12v coming out of 87A so your fuse and supply are good. What you need to test is if the relay will switch OFF and ON. Leave the original connections in place, measure voltage across pins 87 & 31. Now, jumper 16 & 31. The voltage across 87 should change (either on or off - it should reverse). If so, your relay is working. If not, you need a new relay.

3) does the O/D solenoid work ?

If the switch and the relay work, you may have a bad solenoid. Twist a wire from 87 to 31 and drive the car. Disconnect this jumper and see if the O/D changes (on or off). If it does, then your solenoid is working and you just need to reconnect everything with good wires. If not, you might replace the solenoid.

[jericl2010]

Just in case anyone reads this and needs to know how i fixed it I wound up putting in the overdrive bypass plate and it works perfectly now.
Thanks for the help.