writing on 08/13/2001 at about 7pm.......

Just got home from dinner and on the way home the gearshift came off in my hands. Luckily I was able to get the boot off, with the help of my passenger, and expose a stub sticking up from the tranny (real 5 speed-dont have the model handy right now) about 3-3-1/2 inches long which I used to shift.

The post sheared off right at the level a pin went through the gear shift post from front to back, and the outer sleeve, a nylon bushing, a short spring, some sort of strap, the pin, and the gearshift knob all came off.

Actually the gearshift knob fits over the gearshift stub sticking up, and the linkage feels better (easier and tighter) than it has for several thousand miles.

MY questions are these:

....Oh I should add there is about 182,000 miles on the vehicle, a 4dr 240DL sedan, of which I am the third owner, after a Volvo repair tech and the original owner a single schoolteacher who only drove the car back and forth to school from 1989 until 1997 when she retired and traded it in on a new Volvo.....

1. What would the "full" repair involve, and cost approximately?

2. Is this what is recommended, or are there other fixes or workarounds out there?

3. Is there anyplace or anybody to get more information from?

4. How much if any of the work could I go myself, and how much requires a dealer or transmission shop?

5. While I am fixing, repairing, etc, is there anything else I should be checking for?

6. Is there any problem with affixing the gearshift knob to the stub of the shifter and using it like that?

7. There is a wire or cable running into the transmission fitting--it comes up and over the housing from the direction of the firewall--what is it? Is it the "economy" shift indicator sensor for the light on the dash?

8. Any other comments or suggestions I am too stupid to raise right now?

Guess my initial reaction, after being thankful we were stopped at the light, is that I am lucky the Volvo had this stub sticking up out of the transmission, and lucky we were not hit, etc while stopped in traffic for those few minutes required to strip away the rubber boot and the broken parts......... phew......

Thanks