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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?

Reply to
Jimbo
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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.

Reply to
Peter K L Milnes

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

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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.

Reply to
jg

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

Reply to
Michael Pardee

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.

Reply to
jg

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?

Reply to
Jimbo

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

Reply to
jg

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.
Reply to
Mike F

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.

Reply to
Peter K L Milnes

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

Reply to
James Sweet

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?

Reply to
Jimbo

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