86' Volvo 240 Overdrive Problem......

Hello, i'm new to the boards. I own a 1986 volvo 240 DL sedan with th
aw70 automatic transmission. About two years ago I had a complete o
overhaul of the transmission. Since then I have had no problems, wit
one exception. Sometime between 3 and 4 months after the overhaul,
noticed that the overdrive was no longer working. It took severa
months to realize because I do mostly city driving, and at the time
was new to volvos and unaware of what the arrow on the dash indicated.
Now I have changed jobs, which requires me to do some fairly regula
expressway driving and I am interested in repairing this issue. I too
the car to my transmission shop and after a couple of hours to m
suprise they called to say that they were unable to locate th
overdrive problem. Apparently from what I gather, they did check th
overdrive solenoid and nearby wiring. They did say they repaired
damaged wire emanating from the solenoid but that did not solve th
problem. They did not mention whether they checked the overdriv
relay so i'm assuming they did not. The symptoms are that th
overdrive arrow light ALWAYS remains on. However, when I press the O
button on the shifter lever, I hear a click and the OD arrow ligh
becomes ever so slightly dimmer, but remains on. If i press the butto
again, it clicks and the light returns to its brighter state. Als
occasionally I hear what sounds like a faint buzzing noise eminatin
from the dashboard (usually after I start the car, but sometimes i
just starts on its own) When I press the OD button, the noise stops.
The overdrive does not ever engage no matter how many times I press th
button or what the speed, driving time or weather is like. Any thought
or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

 

Hi,

My '87 240 GL had exactly the same symptoms. The overdrive arrow light
was always on, but the car wasn't in overdrive and was straining at the
highway speeds. I also got the slightly dimmer light when I pressed
the overdrive button.

I took this in to the repair guy, and they replaced the overdrive relay
and all was good. It was a very cheap fix in the end.

Han.

 

Replace the relay. The transmission needs a constant 12 volts to be able to
go into overdrive. When you push on the shifter button, the relay turns off
the power to the transmission and turns on the light. Usefull for towing or
more power on long hills.

Since the light dims instead of going out, the relay is still preventing
power from getting to the transmission so the transmission cannot get into
overdrive.

I'm supprised the transmission people did not know this. This is a fairly
common transmission used also by Japanese automakers.

 

Sounds very much like the overdrive relay. It's located behind the
dash, easily accessed by removing the glove compartment. They have an
annoying tendency to go bad.

Bill

 

Pop the cover off the relay and resolder the large connections on the
circuit board, or just replace it as others have suggested.

 

Being an amatuer in every sense of the word, I don't have the tools o
the skills to repair the OD relay. However, I would like to replac
it. Could someone please direct me to precisely where the relay i
located and how to replace it. I would appreciate it, thank you

 

Open the glove compartment, remove the screws holding in the glove
compartment. Remove the glove compartment (it will just pull out). The
Relay will be located to the left of the opening. There's a metal clip
holding it there, you can just slide it off with the clip attached.
After that it's just plug/unplug.

Bill

 

I wanted to thank all the members that responded to my question. Toda
I changed out the relay and the OD is working as good as new. The onl
small issue was that i was unable to clip the new relay in place lik
the old one was, it was too difficult to see or feel the clip due t
the sharp angle at which the relay plug is located. But I simpl
wedged it against two molded pieces within that space, so I don'
anticipate a problem, especially considering the tightness of th
connection with the plug. But otherwise this was a very easy repai
and the relay only cost me 30 dollars, so I think that it was
bargain, especially with the increase in gas mileage i'm likely to ge
on highway driving trips. Thanks again for the assistance

 

Just as well you couldn't get the death clip reinstalled. Spring steel
and plastic cold creep don't get along very well.

Bob

 

Glad that was it. Enjoy your new lower revs and higher mileage!

Bill