1989 - 780 4cylincer turbo, overdrive works after about thirty minutes of driving at 60 mph. Started about four days ago, each time the OD will not kick in until after thirty minutes of driving. I resoldered the od relay, I checked the wire from the od activator on the stick, which looks Ok, no frays. Any other suggestions, I also looked at the FAQ. Thanks for any suggestions.

Thank you MES, KlausC, Stucco, I appreciate your replies and will try each of your suggestions.

GO TO: http://www.mikeponte.com

THEN: Click on his VOLVO PAGE.

THEN: Click on Relay Identification and Repair



This is a great page to bookmark for future reference.

I had a similar experience on my '88 740 GLE non-turbo and found out that the overdrive relay was bad even though the connections, etc. looked fine. Easy to swap one out; mine was located behind the fuses under the center dash ashtray, and only cost $20 at a local independent Volvo mechanic.

I would try the relay first before flushing & servicing the tranny.

Good Luck :)

The 780 tranny is the same as that in the 760T. If the OD won't engage and the light is off, you could try flushing the tranny. Make sure the down shift cable is also free and moves easily. You shouldn't have to wait for the tranny to get hot before shifting to 4th, only in the winter time in Minnesota.
Klaus
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95 854T, 88 780, 88 245

I recently had a similar situation. Just before I had decided to get the tranny flush, I found two OD/relays out of a later-model 740 than my own (mine is an 86, and I pulled the relays out of a 90 and 91) swapped it and the overdrive problem immediately disappeared. Transmission has been shifting just like it is supposed to.