So I was sitting at a stop light the other day (as I find myself all too often during my commute), and had a thought cross my mind as I was looking at the shifter in my AW70L-equipped 740. The shifter has positions for 1, 2, and D (3/4), and by using the lockout button you can keep the car in 3rd. Now, I know in general terms how auto transmissions work, but not enough to know if my thought is best kept an idle speculation: would it be possible and/or wise to manually control the transmission while driving by moving it between 1, 2, and D and using the lockout button? Would there be any benefit, or any harm done to the transmission? Not that I'm seriously considering doing such a thing, but the mind wanders while at stop lights (and at work). Have at it!

jeff daigle
'89 745GL 142,000mi

I hope there is no harm to it I shift that way quite a bit especially down shifting some times up shifts as well... down side, well watching the tach I'm guessing the fuel economy goes in the toilet, and agressive driving always has it's price in accelerated wear of all parts involved, but I'm betting less on a volvo than most others, just cause they're tuff. Hey if they did not want me to use em they should not have put them where I could reach em.
Bret
--
rust free in west Texas

I do it quite often. Makes it more fun for me to drive an auto. I believe the only real harm you're doing when doing this is that you're putting some extra wear on the shift linkage.
--
Kenric Tam
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'

i use a manual, but you can do the same thing i do when coming to a red light or going downhill - shift down, so the engine takes a lot of the braking energy and your brake pads don't get worn out so fast and the more important thing - if you go downhill for a long time - your brakes don't overheat. (otherwise your brakes are less efficient) So, shift down if you go downhill and you don't have to stand all the time on the brake.

-st.
740T 220k

No problem, I shift my auto tranny manually quite often. The AW70 is very easy to control manually. It's useful when preparing to pass or climbing a long hill. Sometimes, it's just fun to wind it out in 2nd gear.

I prefer a manual tranny, but SWMBO always vetoes it.

-Ron
'89 244DL 208Kmiles
'90 245DL 188Kmiles