I recently dropped hundreds of dollars at the Volvo dealership, and after a couple of visits, they suggested I needed a NEW Volvo. That the cost to repair everything I wanted and needed repaired outweighed value.

I know I need new struts, but they also suggested that I need a new transmission, new ECM? (computer control?) or something like that - the cost of which is $1100!

The initial issue was that my car would often not start and it appeared related to gearshift because sometimes you could move the position and it would start. They replaced a PNP switch, which alleviated the car not starting. It also stopped the problem of the transmission being sluggish to shift into drive when it was first ran on cold engine.

They said my transmission was going bad because of the above.

ALSO, my temperature guage began only working sporadically and car overheated a couple of times when guage never hot and fan didn't kick on. They said this was a problem connected to the ECM? part? However, since then I have seen a relay switch for the cooling fan. Couldn't that be it?

What would have caused my temperature guage to stop working? Volvo hooked up a temporary thing to manually make my fan come on so I could get home, which has now been turned into a toggle switch so I don't have to lift the hood to turn fan on.

My transmission seems fine now. But a new issue has developed that appears to have to do with the shifter position. Sometimes my keys won't come out, but if I reshift back into drive and back to park, they will usually release. IS THIS A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM OR SOMETHING ELSE?

My son can do pretty much anything to my car that I ask. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I am happy with my car, and don't feel I need a new one, especially since I have gone back to school full time and cannot really afford to pay for a new Volvo.