New-to-me '96 960 Estate / wagon 3L - Question

[doingitsideways]

Hmm... Not sure about your fluid levels, but easiest way to get out of limp mode is to reset the ecu.

Do this by disconnecting the battery and leaving for a good few hours, ideally over night.

If I were you I wouldn't drive at at all until I'd figured out the levels properly, too much fluid could in theory cause bad, expensive noises!

Are you sure you couldn't have knocked the PNP at all? They do become quite fragile with age.

Aside from these words of wisdom, I'm afraid I can't be any more help. My 960 has three pedals!

Steve

[tosoutherncars]

With some adding and subtracting of ATF, I'm now in the middle of the "Hot" range. The transmission has gone back to acting / shifting normally, starting in 1st gear etc., but continues to flash.

I'm now also getting a check engine light, who knows what from; am I right in thinking that from '96 onward, I need an OBD code reader to read / clear codes (unless I want to disconnect the battery as suggested)?

Edit - yes, the car is OBDII. I'll eventually get a reader, but for now I have unplugged the battery. I'll update my post tomorrow when I reconnect, and see if it's still throwing codes.

[Paul-C]

Hi, Duncan,
My experience with the auto box oil goes like this.
I had a small leak that I thought was from the gasket on my 3ltr Auto box.
It had 140K miles on the clock and hadn't had a oil change so I dropped the oil through the sump plug and measured the quantity then removed the sump cover and checked the filter. the oil was in good condition and the filter was relatively clean but whilst I was cleaning the sump I found a small bolt that I was able to replace after a day of searching for its home.
I have changed this quantity of oil by this method at 160K and think that introducing the new oil in this quantity takes away the potential shock a full oil change might have on the neoprene seals in the box at this mileage.
The oil leak I mentioned was actually coming from the lip seal that's on the gear change shaft at the PNP switch end.
Although I made the mistake of identifying the actual cause of the leak the removal of the sump probably averted a bigger problem finding the bolt
Good luck
Paul

[tosoutherncars]

Thanks Paul!

I have plugged everything back in. Initially, no codes came up (key in position 2). After starting, the CEL light came back; and a few seconds after start-up, I'm hearing a fairly loud whirring sound from under the car or hood, that lasts maybe 10 seconds. (Air pump, maybe?) I haven't yet taken a drive to see if the transmission throws another code; it has stopped flashing, for now.

My local shop has a cheap OBD reader on sale, I'll go pick one up and investigate further.

[doingitsideways]

Many cheap readers can't read the codes on 940s/960s as they are not fully OBD2 compliant.

When the gearbox threw it's toys out of the pram on my old 960 (that one was an auto) I had to take it to my friendly local Volvo independent as no one else could read the codes.

There is a how to on here somewhere though to make your own flash code reader which works the same as the older built in code readers on earlier (pre-95) models.

Steve

[tosoutherncars]

Well, got one of these; http://www.canobd2.com/en-US/Product...c-af3ba9dc04fb

I couldn't get it to display an error code, but it did allow me to reset the CEL, and neither it nor the transmission error / flashing arrows / limp-home have reoccurred. Went for a nice long drive into the country, and everything is acting as it should. I'll call it a win, for now, and keep an eye on the dash. (And fluid levels!)

Next up is the rear brakes; e-brake cables, e-brake drums and rear pads. I'll start a separate thread with the many questions I am doubtless going to have!