1995 Volvo 960 Yellow Arrow Stays On

[KCB1988]

I have a 95 Volvo 960 with 200k miles. About 4 months ago the yellow arrow on my dash board stayed on and it was stuck in "wet mode" or "limp mode". I have heard of it flashing but not staying on like mine does. When I put the car in drive it seems as though it is in 3rd gear and is slow to take off. Therefor I usually put it in first to take off and at about 30mph switch to drive and it seems to do just fine. I have tried the whole shift all the gears things about 50 times and it does not help. I have heard that changing out the PNP switch usually fixes this issue and I am thinking about doing that. My question is ,is does that seem like its the issue and if I change it should that fix my problem?

[danr960]

Yes, it does sound like the PNP switch. Fix it soon, eventually the computer will not be able to tell if it is in park and will not let the starter activate. Then you might be inconvenienced at a bad time. Also, with the trans not shifting at proper times it will overheat and shorten it's life.

Check your trans fluid, should be nice and red with no acrid odors.

The switch most likely has the internal grease cooked because of it's closeness to the exhaust down pipe. The grease gets hard and does not allow the little springs in the contacts to work and causes problems. Many times it is the engine that refuses to turn over because of a bad PNP switch. They are easy to change, but may take some time adjusting it to work correctly. The switch itself can be disassembled, cleaned and regreased.

DanR '94 964 387,000 miles (153,000 on the new engine)