Hey all,

I'm driving a 1988 244, true 5 speed and I've got two problems that I'm beginning to think are related. For the last six months or so, whenever I'm idling in neutral, speedometer needle will randomly jump up to about 10 mph every 20 seconds or so. The tach isn't working, but I've been driving in 240s for the last 10 years, and the engine sounds fine, there's no unexpected revving associated with the needle jumps.

Second, about a year ago, I started having periodic difficulty shifting into first. I took the car in to my Volvo dude (I've since moved, and am Volvo dude-less) and he said all the linkages looked fine. He changed out the transmission fluid, but the problem persists. Since the needle jumping started, this problem has gotten progressively worse, to the point where I frequently cannot shift into any gear except reverse, and doing so causes an unpleasant crunch. After forcing the car into reverse, all the gears shift as they normally would.

So my questions: am I crazy in thinking these are related issues? Is there anything me, a wrench, and my Bentley Bible could do before taking my girl into the shop? If I do have to take it in, is there any better information I can give the mechanic so I don't look like quite as much of a fool?

Thanks everyone in advance.