850 will go into gear but not move?

[Yeslekquinn]

I've got a '94 Volvo 850 STICK SHIFT 5-speed. Today I went to park in a spot and pulled the E brake while still in first gear. I tossed it into neutral and the car made a sound like something underneath the front end might have broke or snapped, the engine did not cease or anything (as any other time I'd made the mistake of pulling the E brake before throwing it back into neutral, it turns off). I turned off the engine and turned it on again and it was fine. It went into gear fine (I tried both reverse and 1st) but it did not move at all as I let off the clutch and into the gas.

I got it towed. We were able to push it out easily in neutral and have me turn the wheel to get it onto the tow truck alright, so no wheels or brakes were locked up. No noises were made or anything. All normal, went into gear fine, never shut off in the process of my troubleshooting, but it wouldn't move at all.

MAYBE UNRELATED, BUT MY ONLY OTHER EXPERIENCE/SIMILAR ISSUE I put on new front brakes about a month ago and refilled the brake fluid, as that seemed to be triggering my "brake" light on the dash to go for a couple months prior. The only other time I'd had an issue at all similar was a few months ago, only once, when I was driving through town going between 3rd and 4th on winding roads and at one point after changing gears I went to accelerate and it didn't "go"... rpms went up with my gas pedal push, but no acceleration. It kicked back in and was okay for a few minutes, then again it quit trying to "go", and also the brake pedal was tight and didn't want to go in. So I put it in neutral until the engine wound down to the point of naturally stopping (I was on a nice easy slight incline so it slowed down) and I pulled the E brake, turned off the car, restarted and no problems ever again.

ANY ADVICE, THANK YOU!

[scot850]

Have you had the axles out recently? I lost drive in my auto V70 when the replaced axle did not lock in properly and it popped out when driving losing all drive.

If that is ok and neither axle is broken at the CV joints, then chances are something in the clutch has broken. Either the pressure plate/clutch release bearing, and lastly if there is a release bearing arm it may have broken or become dis-connected.

Neil.

[tjkoyen]

Not sure exactly how it's setup on a manual 850, but I know on my old P2R, it was somewhat common for the slave cylinder to fail and cause loss of brake fluid as well as functionality of the clutch. Might be worth a check.

Also would check the shift cables.

[tryingbe]

when I was driving through town going between 3rd and 4th on winding roads and at one point after changing gears I went to accelerate and it didn't "go"... rpms went up with my gas pedal push, but no acceleration.

Sounds like your clutch is roasted. Take apart and find out for sure.

I've got a '94 Volvo 850 STICK SHIFT 5-speed. Today I went to park in a spot and pulled the E brake while still in first gear. I tossed it into neutral and the car made a sound like something underneath the front end might have broke or snapped, the engine did not cease or anything (as any other time I'd made the mistake of pulling the E brake before throwing it back into neutral, it turns off)

That's a bad habit to have.

[polskamafia mjl]

Not sure exactly how it's setup on a manual 850, but I know on my old P2R, it was somewhat common for the slave cylinder to fail and cause loss of brake fluid as well as functionality of the clutch. Might be worth a check.

Also would check the shift cables.

That would make it difficult to disengage the clutch; the clutch is engaged by spring force from the pressure plate which wouldn't be affected by loss of hydraulic pressure.

[wizechatmgr]

Throw out bearing may have went, the clutch is finally in need of replacement, or both. I know of someone recently that had the ball bearings of the throw out bearing dropping from the bell housing of the transmission while removing the engine...

Having to add brake fluid usually indicates you have a leak somewhere, especially if the pads were just replaced.