850 1997 Keeps getting stuck in low gear/winter mode

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 05 Mar 2009, 11:54

Would a manual conversion be ridiculous or cure my problems for life?

It might. Is your car a turbo or an N/A? The turbo ECU is programmed for an automatic transmission and you will have a perpetual CEL with a stick. If you have an N/A you can get the ECU for a stick and not have that problem.

I think all of the 850 AW50-42 transmission are essentially the same, some of the older models, through '95, had a vehicle speed sensor on them that you wouldn't use.

...Lee

progg · Post by **progg** » 05 Mar 2009, 15:12

Ozark Lee wrote:
Would a manual conversion be ridiculous or cure my problems for life?
It might. Is your car a turbo or an N/A? The turbo ECU is programmed for an automatic transmission and you will have a perpetual CEL with a stick. If you have an N/A you can get the ECU for a stick and not have that problem.

...Lee

N/A, I'm going to look into a manual and ECU. Hopefully I get lucky and find one cheap.

progg · Post by **progg** » 05 Mar 2009, 15:26

progg wrote:
Ozark Lee wrote:
Would a manual conversion be ridiculous or cure my problems for life?
It might. Is your car a turbo or an N/A? The turbo ECU is programmed for an automatic transmission and you will have a perpetual CEL with a stick. If you have an N/A you can get the ECU for a stick and not have that problem.

...Lee

N/A, I'm going to look into a manual and ECU. Hopefully I get lucky and find one cheap.

Edit: I'm looking at parts online and the only manual's I can find are from a GLT which I don't think I can swap the ECU into a N/A.

I think I'll just stick to the cheap auto

progg · Post by **progg** » 05 Mar 2009, 15:28

Ozark Lee wrote:
Would a manual conversion be ridiculous or cure my problems for life?
It might. Is your car a turbo or an N/A? The turbo ECU is programmed for an automatic transmission and you will have a perpetual CEL with a stick. If you have an N/A you can get the ECU for a stick and not have that problem.

...Lee

N/A, I'm going to look into a manual and ECU. Hopefully I get lucky and find one cheap.

Edit: I'm looking at parts online and the only manual I can find are from a GLT which I don't think I can swap ECUs with.

I'll just stick to the cheap automatic

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 05 Mar 2009, 16:22

GLT is a trim level, mechanically any manual N/A ECU will work so long as it was the same system as before (ie: Motronic 4.3).

...Lee

Post by **matthew1** » 05 Mar 2009, 16:50

^^^ Lee, I think he may be concerned about GLT's being turbo. If I recall correctly, 1996 and older GLTs were N/A. 1997 and newer GLT are light pressure turbo.

progg · Post by **progg** » 05 Mar 2009, 18:55

matthew1 wrote:^^^ Lee, I think he may be concerned about GLT's being turbo. If I recall correctly, 1996 and older GLTs were N/A. 1997 and newer GLT are light pressure turbo.

Good to know, I'll see what else I can find out about the GLT

progg · Post by **progg** » 10 Apr 2009, 20:43

So through all this crap I ended up putting a used transmission from a roll over into the car. After a few weekends of fun I get it back together and now it has no reverse. Other than that its fine.

I'm trying to sell the car for $1500 on craigslist. This sucks.

After all this I've come to the conclusion that Volvos will always be turds as long as they're equipped with disposable transmissions.

Any ideas to save the car?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 10 Apr 2009, 21:09

Sounds like the typical PNP switch failure or lack of adjustment when it was installed.

progg · Post by **progg** » 11 Apr 2009, 10:37

MadeInJapan wrote:Sounds like the typical PNP switch failure or lack of adjustment when it was installed.

Can you post the link on how to adjust it?

850 1997 Keeps getting stuck in low gear/winter mode

Re: 850 1997 Keeps getting stuck in low gear/winter mode