"...the timing mark neve even gets close to being in sight..."

Could be the front damper has begun to separate and the timing index mark on the outer portion has moved out of alignment.

"Is it possible the coil is faulty causing this miss?"

Possible, but unlikely. The coil must perform exactly the same for each of the four cylinders. It's more likely to be the cap, wires, plug, or an injector. It might be a burned valve, but this is very uncommon on the Volvo overhead cam engine, and it generally results in a regular skip, which is more pronounced at idle (until the valve gets bad).

You must determine if the skip is always the same cylinder, which you can do by unplugging one injector at a time, effectively killing each cylinder in sequence. Then you evaluate the drop in RPM as you disable each cylinder. The one that causes the least drop is the one that was contributing the least -- and skipping.

Another trick is to start the engine cold in the morning and let it idle for 15-30 seconds, then shut it off. Then feel each exhaust header. The coldest header is the cylinder that fired the least, the hottest fired the most.

You must determine if the skip is fuel or ignition. An ignition scope really helps with this diagnostic.

"...upshift arrow for the overdrive sometimes is turne on when I start the car and other times it isnt..."

Resolder the OD relay. Do the fuel pump relay, too. This is explained fully in the archives and FAQs. $0, 15 minutes work, no risk, easy to do. If it doesn't help then you've lost $0.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)