94 850 turbo No engagement of auto transmission

[rmmagow]

More than the car's worth if you have to pay for installation. Was it a good indy shop or a tranny shop? 109K is young for these boxes.

[jsepe1126]

It was a import shop specialized in Volvo they say. U can text me 5706475034 so we can talk about it more please

[abscate]

Used transmissions running about 450 USD here in NE

[rspi]

I have a tranny that you can have real cheap.

These and other trannies rarely fail full out. So, it should do something. It will usually go into reverse, if not that, it will go forward in some gear. Did you try to get it going by selecting the WINTER mode? That will cause the tranny to start in 3rd gear.

If this was not a gradual death, it's likely a drive shaft. Broken or popped out. Even a good mechanic can overlook this.

[jsepe1126]

update:the guy at shop said he bypassed a bunch of stuff including the transmission computer??? he started it and it ran only in first gear and wouldnt shift out of first....suggestions??????

[wheelsup]

update:the guy at shop said he bypassed a bunch of stuff including the transmission computer??? he started it and it ran only in first gear and wouldnt shift out of first....suggestions??????

Hopefully you did not pay much for the car

As for suggestions, when my transmission was on it's way out, I was fortunate to have enough time to find another 850 with a bad motor. Paid $250 for the car. I stripped it down and sold the car for $100 and got another $30 in scrap for the motor. So around $120 for the car, of which I pulled the good transmission off and got a brand new radiator amongst other things. I actually paid more for all the new seals and bolts from Volvo ($140) to put it back together.

If you want to do it for cheap, that is about the best way to do it. Assuming you have a garage to do it in, it would probably take 5 days from start to finish to pull the transmission on one and install it in another.

If you pay a shop, you're talking $800-$1200 in labor plus seals/parts plus the cost of the used transmission. If the car is in excellent condition overall, I would certainly consider that repair provided you bought the car for really cheap.

Good luck

[jsepe1126]

bought the car for 700...so u thni kthe transmission is still bad? or its the transmission computer

[Ozark Lee]

Has anyone checked for codes in port A-1?

You can read all of the transmission diagnostic codes from that DTC port on a '94. If the transmission got hot wired as you describe it is going to come up with a bunch of additional codes so read and write down all of them, clear them, and try to run the car again with the transmission hooked up normally. If it still won't move it is not going to post a complete set of codes.

If the DTC boxes work on the other ports but not on port A-1 it might be as simple as replacing the TCU.

...Lee

[wheelsup]

There are 4 solenoids inside the transmission, two are shift solenoids, one is a lockup for the torque converter (non-factor in this case), and one is the pressure control solenoid. The first 3 are testable via a multimeter & replaceable. It's entirely possible a shift solenoid has failed which I believe would throw a code.

There is some sort of a test procedure you can run with the OBI-1 port but I'm not quite sure how to determine if it has passed or not.

It's highly unlikely (IMO) the transmission computer has failed, although it certainly is possible, personally I haven't read about one ever failing but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

Also, not sure if it was mentioned, but make sure the transmission fluid is full, on a car I bought it had a pump seal leak and the lack of fluid caused the tranny to go into "freak out" mode, it thru numerous codes and stranded the previous owner prompting the sale of the car.

[dairyqueen814]

you might need to replace the pnp switch
i only say this because on the 4 volvo 850s ive owned 3 of them have had this problem
i dont have a guide to doing the job but it's not any major surgery