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850GLT-new car, new questions

Hi all,

Goodbye 760, hello 850!

I've had a new Volvo for almost 2 months before coming here with a question (that may be a record for me). Our new car is a 1995 850GLT with 160K km and is mainly like new.

I have had one issue to deal with so far and that was tracing the lack of reverse lights (how did it safety?) and the occasional unwillingness to start in P (and having to jiggle the shifter in N to get it to catch) to a failing PNP switch which has since been replaced.

I have two annoyances to deal with right now:

  1. This problem may be related to the PNP and that's what I'm hoping to find out here. In colder weather I find that once the car has been started and I step on the brake the shiftlock remains engaged. I can press the "shiftlock release" button and free it so this is still just an annoyance. In warmer weather I can feel the lock clicking off through the shifter. Also when I park I sometimes have to jiggle the shifter a bit before the ignition will release the key.

So is this problem related to the fine adjustment of the PNP switch and its installation or is it likely that I just need to disassemble and lube something?

  1. All of the signals and lights on the EXTERIOR of the car work but about 75% of the time the left turn indicator arrow on the dash will not light. When it fails the red light above the hazard switch will flicker randomly (sometimes in conjunction with brake use). It has happened once or twice that the indicator will come on steadily instead of flashing but then cancelling+signalling again will rectify that.

Is the relay that controls this likely to be the flaky bit and, if so, is it easy to test/diagnose/access/(fix)/replace?

I guess I'll go looking for an 850 Haynes book too.

Thanks in advance, blurp ps. as an aside, the replacement of the PNP resulted in the discovery that there was NO FILTER IN THE AIRBOX. I had driven it for at least 5 weeks that way but I can't say how long it had been gone before I got the car. Any suggestions as to what I should do (besides put in a filter)? Is there likely to be damage now done that will reduce the life expectancy of the engine and, that said, do I get rid of this car ASAP?

Reply to
blurp
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There's a microswitch that stops the shift lock solenoid from working when the brakes are applied except when the gear shift is in Park. This microswitch fails, causing the solenoid to not work at all.

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time there's one switch causes some other random part to work, it'sa problem with a bad ground. The electricity is finding the ground paththrough the other part.

Reply to
Mike F

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:05:23 -0500, the illustrious Mike F favored us with the following prose:

Thanks Mike, the step-by-step seems like something I can tackle. As for the grounding, is it at all likely that the relay would be the first place to look for the problem? I'm reluctant to pull too much apart since everything else works so well... I don't want to make anything else worse!

Any thoughts on the potential damage of running without an air filter? I may just be over-reacting to that one.

Thanks again, blurp

Reply to
blurp

Every electrical problem is unique. It may be obvious, or you may never find it, no matter how hard you look. If you have access to a relay, then it can't hurt to give it a try.

As far as running without an air filter - some extra wear may have occurred. Change the oil and filter (since some dirt may have ended up in the oil) and hope for the best.

Reply to
Mike F

Really depends on the air quality, if you're driving around in a dusty gravel pit with no air cleaner it would quickly turn the oil into lapping compound and wear down the engine in no time. Driving around on a clean road in a wooded area in the rain there's not likely to be much in the way of hard sandy particles in the air so it won't matter so much. I agree with the advice of install a new filter, change the oil and oil filter and not worry about it.

Reply to
James Sweet

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