1994 Auto, Shift knob override and odomiter

Greetings All,
I am in the process of putting a 94 850 w- 4 speed Auto and 2.4L engine
on the road. I had a few questions I am hopping you might help with.

1: The shift knob won't move out of park unless I press the little override
button. Is this some kind of Anti-theft device? I know the car has been
sitting for a while with a dead battery.

2: the Odometer is not working and I need to fix it to get through
inspection. Any thoughts on where to get parts or info on this type of
issue. The book I bought on the car refers to the instrument pod as a sealed
unit that must be replaced all at once. I removed and disassembled it but
could find no obvious reason for the failure. The one I have is made in
Germany.

Any input would be helpful.

Thanks, Charles

2: The Odometer does not work

 

No, it's a safety feature, to stop you from moving the shifter out of
park unless the brake is on. There's a microswitch that often fails,
see:
http://www.volvospeed.com/Repair/Microswitch.htm
While you're in there, replace the bulb that lights up the shift
position.

There's drive gear on the odometer that cracks just like on the old 240
mechanical speedometers. See
http://www.odometergears.com

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

1: The shift knob won't move out of park unless I press the little override
I'm having the same problem! This may sound wacky, but trust me -- go to
Borders and take a look at the current issue of BUST magazine (not a porn mag,
despite the title). There's a little section called something like "Ask
Lucille" that addresses this exact problem. I just about jumped out of my skin
when I read it, as it's the same thing I've been grappling with on my 240
wagon. I actually called Lucille (she runs a chain called Transmissions by
Lucille in the Pittsburgh area) and discussed it with her. I also took the
article in to my mechanic. They've just ordered a new solenoid for the shift
lock release and I'm very confident that will take care of the problem. But do
go to Borders and take a look at the little article. Well worth the read!