1983 Volvo 240DL manual overdrive question

When I recently got my '83 240 DL with manual transmission, I was told it was "only a 4-speed."I got it through an agent for elderly owners who would not be able to provide accurate information.

It has the button for overdrive on the gearshift lever. Although it does not function when pressed, does that mean that it should? It doesn't seem likely that it would be there if there had been no option for its use, as in cars that have, for lack of a better term, "dummy" spaces for options they don't have.

I have tried shifting it into 4th with the ignition switch on, then pressing the OD button, but the dashboard does not light on the square to the left of the trip-odometer reset light.

Also, if it is meant to have OD, will it harm it to drive at high-ish (over 55-65 mph) speeds in 4th gear?

For that matter, were there Volvos of that year/model that had only the four gears?I really like this car (How could I not?) and want to get the most from it before my next Volvo.

Thanks, Karl

Reply to
nojinx
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You should use the OD when driving over 65 miles per hour (90 - 100 Km/h). If you engage the button (the gearstick must be in fourth) you must hear two things: the relais clicking and the sollenoid. The last is mounnted on the side of the OD unit.

Check the oil in it, they tend to leak, also clean the filter with brake cleaner. No oil, or less oil, means no pressure to shift up.

You should also check the wireing form the relais unit to the OD, wires/connections tend to corrode. Perhaps your 4 gear switch is broken or the wires that lead just under the little switch on the gearstick are loose.

Mine works fine afther I checked all these points. The relais is situated on the right site under the cover (where the left knee is), just below the fan openings.

PMl me if you have questions,

Cheers,

Martijn

3 old Volvo'

Reply to
Martijn

No harm, just lousy gas mileage. If you have a tachometer you can see that 65 is well under the redline (on my cars it's about 3500 RPM, yours will be lower).

Go post on the brickboard (may be down for a day or two while the DNS changes get picked up), with any luck Duane the OD guru will post a good diagnostic guide.

- alex

'85 244 Turbo '84 245 Turbo

Reply to
Alex Zepeda

Check the fuse, then the wiring in the shifter, it often breaks right by the base of the stick where it flexes, also sometimes the knob pops off and pulls the wires off the button and nobody bothers to put them back on. The OD is nice on the highway, generally you should engage it when going more than about 40 mph on flat ground.

Reply to
James Sweet

I'll do that, and (forgive my thick-headedness) does your and the other answers, mean that it could _not_ be "only a 4-speed" as I was told? Were there 4-speed manuals in '83?

- NJ

Reply to
nojinx

In article , snipped-for-privacy@euronet.nl by Martijn dropped his wrench, scratched his head and mumbled,

The relay is only there on right hand drive cars. On left hand drive cars you have to remove the glove box, and it's toward the center of the car next to the face level vent.

Bob

Reply to
volvowrench

In article , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com by nojinx dropped his wrench, scratched his head and mumbled, [snip]>

There were some, very rare. I don't think many were imported to the US.

Bob

Reply to
volvowrench

North American cars all got overdrive transmissions by 83 (except for some cars.. I the 260 V6s the Canadian cars with carbs).

Outside the US, YMMV. However, Volvo didn't put shift knobs with the OD button on the cars that got the M45 transmission. Actually this is all really extremely simple to check.

Look under your car. If the transmission looks small, like a normal MT would.. you don't have an OD. If you've got what looks like a small automatic transmission on the back of a manual transmission with a big square grate thing on the bottom.. you've got an M46.

- alex

Reply to
Alex Zepeda

my relay was giving me serious problems. first the switch died so i replaced it with one on the dashboard. then the relay started going flakey, so i just bypassed it. still works great. just put in a big NASA surplus switch. in the middle of the switch console.

caveats:

remember to disengauge it when not in 4th gear over 60! it'll work fine for any of the forward drives, just give you zero torque, but so help you god if you coast off the freeway home and try and back out of your drive way the next day. ***Grrrrriinnnnddd***** ooh... i'm sorry!

bonuses:

friends asking what that random switch is on your dash. saying rocket thrusters is really fun, but overdrive is equally impressive. :-]

switching into overdrive becomes so much more amusing.

*grin* matt.
Reply to
Myren

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Ryan

Reply to
James Sweet

Gas mileage is of little concern, since I have the ever-popular (as in "common") option of non-functioning speedometer and odometer. ;)

It's a Canada car, no tach.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've a few other questions I'll ask separately.- NJ

Reply to
nojinx

Actually the non functioning speedo is fairly rare, though the odometer does break sometimes. Have you checked the cable? It may have simply come unhooked, or it may be broken. Tach is fairly easily added if you find one in a junkyard.

Reply to
James Sweet

"James Sweet" wrote in message news:...

I think I'm sorry to hear that about the speedo. Since there are numerous "small" problems with the car, I have searched online and didn't pick up on this, and both the speed- and od- ometers stopped working at the same time.

But maybe that indicates a problem whose solution won't require parts, or it might be practical to add a tach at the same time. This week I will be checking area junkyards for availability of things I need.

I am "fairly" certain that I didn't reset the trip odometer while driving, as I did know this is ill-advised. . . but "fairly isn't

100%. - NJ
Reply to
nojinx

You can't break the speedometer by doing anything with the trip odometer, the speedo cable connects to the transmission and runs directly into the back of the speedo, this also drives the odometer but if the speedometer isn't working then you have either a broken or disconnected cable, or the gear that clips in the transmission to drive it has stripped, this happened to my dad's car when the bearing on the gear shaft siezed. A brand new speedo cable is only about $30, it's easier to just buy a brand new one than to get one from a junkyard, it's too easy to put a kink in it removing one and then your speedo needle will bounce.

Reply to
James Sweet

Odometer problems are common, speedos aren't. My wagon had a non-op speedo, when I finally dug in to remove the tach.. I found that the speedometer was disconnected from the cable. Other places to look would be any of the mechanical boxes that the speedo cable would hook up to, and the transmission.

If your speedometer is indeed dead, getting one from a junkyard is pretty easy. If you don't have any junkyards around where you are (doubtful), check car-part.com, or ask here.

As stated elsewhere, adding a tach is pretty trivial.

- alex

Reply to
Alex Zepeda

If you can get under the car make sure the wire that runs from the shifter to the OD on the side of the transmission is intact. I had a non-functioning OD for a year while various garages here in Toronto suggested everything from a new Overdrive Solenoid to a complete rebuild of the wiring harness until a resourceful fellow hoisted the car and looked to see that the Overdrive wire had wrapped itself around the driveshaft and just ripped out. The new wire was in and secure in about 5 minutes.

I guess just add it to the list of things to check.

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 07:41:56 GMT, the illustrious snipped-for-privacy@blarf.homeip.net (Alex Zepeda) favored us with the following prose:

Reply to
blurp

I guess I'd better humble myself and post the great fix.Everything checked out. . . except that James' reference to a fuse went over my head -- or through the empty space between my ears.

After a miserable 125-mile trip last week I vowed to never take this car any distance again; meantime I decided to check the fuses to see whether the rear defroster might have a faulty one.

Both OD and the defroster are on the same fuse, and there wasn't even a fuse there! I must have thought that empty one wasn't supposed to be used.So-o-o, I'm just back from a far more pleasant 300-mile trip. It just wasn't supposed to be so easy, I guess.

Thank you all for your help. And I'm going to check the speedo cable soon. Before I ask about the cruise control, which _is_ on the same fuse as other things that work properly. Karl

Reply to
nojinx

The cruise control connects to the speedo, so if the speedo cable is bad the cruise control won't work either.

Reply to
James Sweet

my 740 turbo M46 gear box had broken cables and jammed overdrive solenoid. The broken cable was due to the bad cabling routing under the gear changer leveler. The overdrive solenoid sticked with steel powders and tar-like mixture. Once it was clean no problem at all. To keep your OD alive, better to change the gearbox oil at least once two yearly.

Keith Beast E14 4NS Docklands

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Beast

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