Hi guys.
I have a 88 Volvo turbo automatic. It used to drive very smooth, except the slightest jerk when it went into 2nd gear. All of a sudden, now it seems like when I am going 50 or more it either stays in 3rd gear until I depress the accelerator (my uncle told me how to do that) or it will shift into 4th gear on its own but when I slow down to like 40 or so I can see the RPMs go up to 30000 and it feels like it drops back to 3rd gear. It may or may not go into 4th gear when I increase my speed after this happens. Considering this is a 16 year old original transmission I'm not surprised, but I'm trying to keep from getting jacked when I take it to a repair shop to ask them to find out what's going on. Is there something I can check or replace prior to going there or at least something I can know when I go in there so they won't think I'm a total idiot. Also I put some transmission (LUCAS) lubricant in there about 3 months ago but it was running fine up until two days ago when I noticed this problem. I saw something about a overdrive relay which I think I have when I pulled a bunch of them from some wrecks at a pick and pull.

You should check that the kickdown cable to your transmission is properly adjusted. And quick FYI, the 4th gear on your auto is actually an overdrive unit. That may help in the diagnosis of the problem. I would recommend searching the forums for previous posts, I have seen this issue pop up more than once.

Good luck,
Eamon
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'Where's your common sense?' 'It left me when I was 5' http://members.sounddomain.com/ladeadhead