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240 Automatic trans shifter lock...woun't unlock occasionally

Sorry to revive this old thread, but having same shifter issues w 93 240 (gets stuck in Park - hard to return to Park, etc). Fuses good, brake lights intermittent. When you say "trash" plastic shifter-lock guts, can I just enter from top and snap/break out all plastic pieces and cut cable? Or must I remove entire assembly and surgically remove?
Any help appreciated.
Brickman93.
 
If it were my car, I would test for 12v as close as I could to the solenoid. I am thinking, under carpet under my right knee. That can be pretty easy to pull back or to pull the panel to get access.


You find the wire that leads to the solenoid and see if it has 12v when you hit the brake. If so, and no click, solenoid bad=replace. If NO voltage=fix circuit.
 
Sorry to revive this old thread, but having same shifter issues w 93 240 (gets stuck in Park - hard to return to Park, etc). Fuses good, brake lights intermittent. When you say "trash" plastic shifter-lock guts, can I just enter from top and snap/break out all plastic pieces and cut cable? Or must I remove entire assembly and surgically remove?
Any help appreciated.
Brickman93.

You already answered you problem right in your post. "Brake lights intermittent". It sounds like you have an intermittent brake switch. If the switch doesn't close the circuit when you step on the brake pedal, it doesn't send the signal to the brake lights AND the circuit for the shifter lock solenoid.
 
Sorry to revive this old thread, but having same shifter issues w 93 240 (gets stuck in Park - hard to return to Park, etc). Fuses good, brake lights intermittent. When you say "trash" plastic shifter-lock guts, can I just enter from top and snap/break out all plastic pieces and cut cable? Or must I remove entire assembly and surgically remove?
Any help appreciated.
Brickman93.

You already answered you problem right in your post, "brake lights intermittent". It sounds like you have an intermittent brake switch. If the switch doesn't close the circuit when you step on the brake pedal, it doesn't send the signal to the brake lights AND the circuit for the shifter lock solenoid.
 
ok. Thx. Will have brake switch checked. When I said "intermittent," it was in traffic and the bulb failure light (on dashboard) would occasionally illuminate when I braked, ie; I couldnt actually see if brake lights were working or not - just assumed they werent.
I think solenoid is working as I can see "plunger" moving & clicking when i step on brakes.
Thx again.
Brickman93
 
Well, shop says brake switch good. They "think" its the shifter solenoid, as it's not extending plunger enough to release shifter from Park. He's also having trouble locating a replacement solenoid (says nobody stocks em anymore). May need to bypass or disengage shiftlock altogether.
Makes no difference to me - just need to get this brick rolling...

Brickman93
 
Thx Blue245. That is indeed my Plan B. Can you be more specific?
For example: The 2 thin side by side plastic pieces (gate?) left of shifter, that go down as shifter button is depressed - appears that only the one on left (driver side) gets hung up. Must both pieces be removed? Or can I only remove the one on left?
Also, suppose the manual release (above shifter - closest to ashtray) must come out too..?
If so, once removed - will shifter top button serve any purpose?
Any add'l insight appreciated.

Brickman93
 
Brickman,

Guess I was going on the original poster's '92. You'll need to look at the diagrams that Art (CleanFlameTrap) posted and see what needs to get removed. The 1991-92 cars use a modified version of the 1972-90 shifter console, which has a yellow tab at the back that gets flipped out of the way to allow the shifter to be moved out of P when the brake lights don't work.

-John
 
Thank you very much for this thread!
I'm driving my 1991 244.. I am a multi Volvo 240 car owner.
I was at O'Reilly's getting the correct break light bulbs.
I got the passenger side brake light to work but I was unable to get the driver side brake light work. so I kind of gave up for the evening as it was dark getting late and very cold. I went to leave and she was stuck in parking
Thanks to this thread, I counted down to the 7th fuse, and number 7 was blown. Changed it, got out of park and off I went.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for everybody who still loves volvo 240's. It's all I driven for the past 24 years :-)

later in the evening I heard back from my Volvo Guru mechanic and he told me about the LED light bulbs for the Volvo and how if it gets too hot back there it's shorts things out. And the light bulbs that I read placed we're all blue inside which indicated they had gotten too hot.
this is what he suggested :-)

ledlight.com for the LEDs.
He said " you can replace them all, but you need these little balancer things to put in line with the signals or they flash very fast. "
 
Trying revival of this thread, tooo.
Interlock cable disabling...howza bout a 1, 2, 3 guide..
And the brake thing disable too.. 1, 2, 3

Gotta get them outta the way before i can think about a defective ignition switch...IPD would sell a duff one would they?
 
I found a 1 in 50 issue with my shifter button depress in Park with good brake switch, and relays. While I have not yet confirmed the solenoid lock out function, I did find that the manual override lever would not do anything when pushed to the left in this condition- made me think the solenoid was stuck out- but pushing the lever to the right made it pop out with a click- then I was free to shift. Gently setting the manual override level back to where it was locked me back out. Again with a right movement it will click out of position and then I can shift out of P. Current assumption is that the selenoid is stuck or broken closed and this manual lever is getting enough travel to gum things up.
 
I just found my solenoid to be sticking this past spring (92 245). I had been using the manual lever for a while until I had time to inspect. After hitting the post of the solenoid with some fader cleaning spray and pressing the brake pedal, it will now retract when called and comes back in to position after 3-10 seconds. Hopefully with some more pedal presses it will clear out the gunk in the housing.

Interesting note on my by pass lever- interestingly when pressing the lever to the left to push in the solenoid post, it then seems to lock in position, thus locking everything out. A very hard press to the right frees the lever...I'm not certain how many of those this little piece of plastic can take but I found it odd that the manual bypass lever itself has a locking mechanism to keep it in (a bad) position for trying to shift out of P. Perhaps its just age and catching on some piece of plastic on the bottom it is not supposed to.
 
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