No third gear on 1992 740GL....

I have a 1992 Volvo GL Wagon, its the stock turbo engine. To get the tranny
to shift at the proper point in to second, you have to back off the
accelerator a little, at which point the tranny then shifts to second. If
you don't do this, it shifts very late. It is NEVER shifting into third, so
to run it at 65 mph, you have to wind the RPM up to about 4500 RPM.
Obviously we can only use the car for short trips around town.
I hear that you can loosen the nut on the control cable and reposition it,
shortening or lengthening it to adjust the shift points. But I also hear
that if you go too far with it, so that it shifts earlier, that you can burn
up the clutches in the tranny. Do you think that the third gear is just
gone, and there isn't an adjustment of the cable that will get it shifting
into third? Can I safely try adjusting the cable myself? Would I want to
shorten or lengthen it?

 

Check setting and operation of kick-down cable. Remove gearbox sump plate
and clean thoroughly followed by thorough wash-out of gearbox and replace
ATF. Check operation of overdrive solenoid and relay and if overdrive is
working correctly. If the above does not cure the boxes problems replace the
gearbox.

Cheers, Peter.

 

I'm with Peter - this sounds like the infamous "sticking kick-down cable."
It shouldn't need adjustment, just some graphite. If you look at the metal
spool where the cables come together at the throttle body you will see one
cable wound the opposite way from the other two. That is the kickdown cable.
My guess is that it is either slack or has been at some point and is now
riding on top of the others. I like Lock Ease, graphite suspended in
kerosene for easy spraying.

Mike

 

My kickdown cable was looser than the book said it should be, so I tightened
it a bit. The clunk as it changed down to second got worse and it held onto
second gear too long before it got into third/top. So I slackened it even
more than it was originally and it now changes very smoothly and at about
the right speed, although the revs are a little low at change when
accelerating... I suspect that's just how they are.

 

I'd still be concerned about the cable sticking. If that is what is
happening (and from your description I'd bet on it - the effects were
backward from what they should have been) it will only get worse. I've never
had to adjust the kickdown cable on our '85. The "low rpm" condition is
consistent with a too slack cable.

Mike

Mike

 

I did check first and it seems quite free, and the operation is very
consistent. I suspect it's a symptom of age (25yrs) but it's very smooth
with the cable backed off - still kicks down but later. It looks like the
previous mechanic had already loosened it.

 

I checked the kickdown cable, there is not slack in it at all. I can pull
the cable out full travel and let it back in, it feels normal. I have
another Volvo 740 which shifts fine, and the kickdown cable on the wagon
feels and works the same way . As it was set there were 10 threads behind
the rear adjustment nut, same as good Volvo. I moved the cable rearward,
until the front adjustment nut was at the very front end of the threaded
barrel. Drove it around, and Although I didn't have to back off the
accelerator to get it to shift into 2nd, it was very late, and I never felt
it shift into 3rd. Doing 65, it was running at about 3500 RPM.. Is the
tranny just foo-barred? Needs overhaul?

 

Isn't that tightening the cable? - if it is the problem it would be because
it is too tight already.

 

The kickdown cable would affect all shifts equally. This seems to be
the most common failure of these transmissions, the 2-3 shift keeps
getting later and later until it doesn't happen at all. I'm sure
there's some little problem with something sticking or worn out in the
valve body, but as to what it is, I have no idea. My neighbour's '90
740 Turbo had the late shift problem, but we had access to a
transmission out of a '93 940 Turbo that had a lock up convertor, a
feature not in the '90, so we didn't even try to find the problem.

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

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

 

You will get nowhere fast if you do not set up the kick-down cable
correctly. Check on Brickboard FAQs for setting of cable.

Cheers, Peter.

 

I haven't kept up on this thread, did you say you'd changed the fluid? How
about the filter?

 

Well, its my brothers car. Despite what *I* saw it doing, he got the car
back later that day, drove it, and says that it still shifts late, but on
the highway, it is now shifting into 3rd, and apparently into overdrive
also, as the cruising RPM is about 2400.....that is just what my own Volvo
740 does. WIll hit 3500 and then drops down to 2400. I need specific
info on setting it the kickdown cable....as I heard going too far with it
can burn out the clutches in the tranny. Brickboard? Would that be
Brickboard.com, or what?