Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is my second topical posting so far to the Brickboard. A few months ago my turbo hoses question brought forth a lot of great and useful information. Thank you all again very much.

Now a new topic has arisen and it is quite a mystery. My car is a 1990 745T with automatic. There is also a 2 1/2-inch exhaust, new catalytic converter, ipd sway bars fore and aft. The car has 189,000 mi. on the odometer and I have been the owner for the last 100,000 mi. I am only the second owner of the car. I have also been flushing the transmission about every 20,000 mi. since about 115-120,000 mi.. I had the transmission pan open at least once during the last couple of flushes and the screen was clean and clear of metal. The transmission shifts fine. I always let the car warm up pretty thoroughly with gentle driving before standing on the gas. By the way, highway cruising mileage is 25 mpg with mixed premium and mid-grade gasoline of 91 octane.

Twice now in the last two or three months the following has occurred: upon restarting the warm motor after short stops of only a few minutes during long road trips (the stops were to check the road map while driving on state highways from Chicago to central Wisconsin, then to get gas while driving on I-80 from Connecticut to central Wisconsin),

a) the motor restarted normally, but
b) upon restarting the motor, there immediately ensued a continuous metallic screeching sound coming from, as near as I could tell, the front of the transmission,
c) the metallic screeching was being made only while the shift lever was in Park or Neutral, the metallic screeching sound ceased when I moved the shift lever into any of the gears, that is, into Reverse, Drive and 1 and 2,
d) the car also had normal movement traction respectively forward or backwards with the shift lever in any of the gears,
e) the instrument lighting - and both occurrences were while driving at night - was blacked out, a i.e., not working, except for the ABS (anti-lock) and the air bag (SRS) warning lights,
f) and all the forward lighting on the car, i.e., headlights, both low beam and high beam and even, I think, the forward running lights, were also blacked out, that is, not functioning at all,
g) and the after lights on the car, I mean here taillights, brake lights and backup lights, still were working normally.

Both times, I shut off the engine and the metallic screeching sound disappeared but then resumed upon my quickly restarting the engine. But then, both times, when I let the car sit with the motor off for three or four minutes, restarting the engine produced normal operation again. Then I continued driving to central Wisconsin in both cases without further incident.

I thought, the first time about two months ago, that I had maybe drawn a branch or twig, while parked on the gravel roadside to check the road map, up into the transmission housing because, at that time, one of the two square-shaped rubber grates for the bottom side of the transmission bell housing was missing. It had been missing for many tens of thousands of miles.

But by the second time this screeching sound and lack of instrument and forward road lighting - but for the ABS and SRS warning lights - happened with the transmission about a week ago, I had long since replaced the one missing square-shaped rubber grate on the bottom side of the transmission housing. Further, the second time this happened I was parked on a gasoline station tarmac in eastern Pennsylvania - there were no twigs or branches there.

If any of you could please comment, I would greatly appreciate it. A significant maintenance slot is opening in the next few days with my local competent and conscientious mechanic neighbor here in central Wisconsin. We will be able to take some remedial action if we know what to do.

The first time this happened, i.e., two months ago , my wife was in the car with me. She likes the Volvo plenty, but she has become somewhat increasingly aware of the car's age and is starting to talk of buying a new Honda or Toyota.

I will be genuinely happy to read any suggestions any of you can post for fixing this apparent transmission phenomenon on my Volvo.

I hope all your cars are running right. Mine is running great but for normal quirks of aging and the above. I sure like the car a lot.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you all.

Paul Scesniak