Just recently, my 1985 Volvo 740 stopped shifting into overdrive, and just continues to stay in a low gear. It's an automatic transmission, and we can't drive faster than 30 miles an hour. It will not shift into the final gear. I checked the transmission fluid and it seems to be O.K. Any thoughts on what could be wrong?

Could be your shift linkage and or bushings in there. I got mine replaced, once all of them break it doesn't engage into gear. Question for you though, is your actual shifter loose?

No, the shifter doesn't seem to be loose. My husband looked at it today, and he said that the "kickdown cable" appears to be frayed a little. I have no idea if that even matters.

I had a frayed cable that made the shifting really rough before it got fixed. Unfortunately i cant remember what it was called exactly off the top of my head but it wasn't to expensive to get fixed by my mechanic.

its most likely to be 1 of three things.

1. the od switch on the gearstick needs replacing
2. the od relay behind the fuse panel
3. the od valve on the actual gearbox

i had the same problems and i went through these in order 1 2 and then 3 ... it for me unfrotunately was 3. I could however drive at 70 mph with 4500rpm on the clock, and as you can imagine - not good for fuel economy.

Matt

Sorry if I'm a little late but I just found this board. I have 2 volvos, a 90' 240 and a 91' 740. There are really only 3 things that can be the problem and I will get to the most likely last. 1. The contact switch on the button on the gear selector. 2. The over drive relay. And 3. The overdrive solenoid. Its a solenoid that sits on the side of the transmission case. Basically it opens and closes to let in fluid or cut it off to engage or disengage the OD. A new one is around $150. If you go to www.ipdusa.com they sell a cut off plate that bypasses the solenoid. It failed on both of my Volvo's within a month of each other. It works perfectly, you would never know its there unless you live in a state with mountains or do alot of towing because you will loose the ability to toggle between the top 2 gears, which is fine as long as you dont tow or live in the mountains. If you are handy you can do it in less than an hour.
You can find it at www.ipdusa.com