Brief Specs: Volvo 240DL 215,000+ miles
Problem Summary: Vehicle won't shift into 4th gear. Overdrive uparrow on dash board appears as soon as ignition starts. Arrow on dash stays on regardless of any changing conditions besides turning car off. Overdrive button on side of shifter is unresponsive.
History:
I was driving across country from Massachusetts to California, and around the last exit on rte. 90 in upstate New York, my automatic transmission dropped out of 4th gear and into 3rd gear, while the yellow overdrive arrow appeared on my dashboard. I immeadiately stopped, turned off the engine, pressed the overdrive button on the side of the shifter, and restarted the engine. As soon as the ignition started, the overdrive arrow appeared on the dash, and wouldn't dissappear if the overdrive button was depressed on the side of the shifter. The transmission shifts fine for the first three gears, but won't go into fourth gear. I had to drive 2000+ miles in 3rd gear, trying to keep the speed around 60MPH, as to try and limit the wear on the engine and third gear. I have been told that losing fourth gear is a sign that the transmission is going, but I have also read on google groups that it might be my overdrive relay. I hope that this is a rather benign overdrive problem as opposed to a substaintal transmisson problem, which would likely be too expensive to fix. Does anybody have any suggestion?
Brad in CA