G/box: 850 Auto: Limp Home

[carpetbelly]

I happily purchased a new car (for me anyway) the other week private sale...

I'm very happy with my new 850 Glt 2lt 20v auto but tonight the box played up a bit. It went into limp home mode with the orange light on the dash flashing away.

But after pulling over and pulling away again I got full power again and she feels absolutely fine. Had even a mechanic friend have a brief look at her but he's not an auto specialist by any means and in his opinion she feels fine and might be a dodgy sensor.

I've done a forum search and saw something about codes to read and what not but new cars are a mystery to me. I got the sensible family car as the misses was fed up of me having a capri even though they're my first love car wise.

I'm digressing (mainly as I'm so impressed with the 850 and my first auto), but would it be easy to get the codes myself? Just my local dealership wants £50 for doing so and from the search I've done it looks like it might be doable to get myself.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[bigandquick]

Hi
What year is it? There are two methods of reading codes on the 850 depending on the model year.

Doh! Just seen the year in your sig. I believe the 94 models had flash code readers under the bonnet, but am not totally sure.

[Chris_Rogers]

Use thi method:

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/a1.html

[scr8pdo]

Originally Posted by bigandquick

Hi
What year is it? There are two methods of reading codes on the 850 depending on the model year.

Doh! Just seen the year in your sig. I believe the 94 models had flash code readers under the bonnet, but am not totally sure.

How do you check 1995 model, do you need code reader?
I had an iffy battery a while back and when car wouldnt start cause of low battery that orange arrow came up and started flashing and the radio code needed re doing, when orange light flashing car seemed gutless i suppose limp home mode? But if i turned car off and restarted after a min or so car had full power back but arrow still flashed for around ten miles turned car off and on again light went out this has happened a few times only in that situation when battery really low, but wondered if there was a problem somewhere, regards ste...

[bigandquick]

Originally Posted by scr8pdo

How do you check 1995 model, do you need code reader?
I had an iffy battery a while back and when car wouldnt start cause of low battery that orange arrow came up and started flashing and the radio code needed re doing, when orange light flashing car seemed gutless i suppose limp home mode? But if i turned car off and restarted after a min or so car had full power back but arrow still flashed for around ten miles turned car off and on again light went out this has happened a few times only in that situation when battery really low, but wondered if there was a problem somewhere, regards ste...

Chris's link above covers models up to 95, so you should be able to use that.

[scr8pdo]

Originally Posted by bigandquick

Chris's link above covers models up to 95, so you should be able to use that.

Its not the same, it has got OBD11 socket under ashtray, but when I had car remapped I was told it wasnt OBD11 and couldnt be remapped through that socket so wondered if it was in use?

[bigandquick]

Jod has done a 'How to...' article on how to make a home-made code reader http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=46943.
Otherwise it's buy one or shop around to see if you can find a better price for reading them.

Edit: Not sure you'll pick the auto box codes up through this. I'm sure Jod or Chris will put you straight.

[Juzzaman]

Vol FCR (available from ilexa.com or .co.uk :S) reads autobox codes on ODBii cars (96 and over????). Flash read on ODBii is for engine management ecu, climate, and cruise ecu's. Even though i havent found where the codes are for the latter two..

Regards

Justin

[carpetbelly]

Originally Posted by Chris_Rogers

Use thi method:

http://volvospeed.com/Repair/a1.html

Thanks for this, worked a treat... finally got to get the codes this morning, now to just work out what needs doing to fix the solution.

Got a 1 1 4
and a 3 1 3

Time for search and google, again, thanks for the help

[bigandquick]

1-1-4 Break in driving mode selector circuit
3-1-3 Incorrect signal from gear position sensor

From these codes it would appear any problems are electrical and not mechanical, so there's a bonus.

Might be as well to have a go at cleaning the PNP switch. Move the gear selector from the P to L position and back at least 20 times. This should clear any crud which has collected on the contacts.