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7 SEATER VOLVO ESTATE - AVAILLES LIMOUZINE


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Hi, I have a house in france and have a Volvo estate down there to drive.  I am pretty useless with cars and have found that there seems tobe something wrong with the gearbox.  I took it to the garage and they just havent got a clue how to look at it or what is wrong with it.  It is a lovely car and great condition it just doesnt seem to want to get out of 1st gear (it is automatic), has anyone any ideas of where I can take it or if you know anyone that can look at it without it costing a fortune.  My friend said if the gearbox has gone it would not be worth fixing, but I cannot find this out..............HELP.  I suppose if I cant fix it then I can just sell it for scrap if anyone is intersted, I'm at a loss, please can anyone help.  I will be in france from 31 March until 15th April and I am in availles limouzine which is near confolens. 

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For some bizarre reason I could not reply to the original post. If the car moves in first and will reach the speed at which it will normally change into second but does not change and there are no pools of liquid underneath then it is probably faily cheap to fix as it is likely to be linkages or inhibitor switches. 

Does it run in reverse ?

Have your tried squirting the slector leaver with WD40 ?

How old is the car approximately and which model is it ?

Assuming the body work is in good conditon I would either find a decent garage which is used to problem solving on autos or try posting on the Vovlo owners Club site

 

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It is an L reg Volvo 940 SE Wentworth.  yes it is ok in first (its auto)  but then if you get any faster it cuts out and the steering wheel locks.  I have taken it to local garage but they nothing about Volvo's help.................
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[quote user="LindaP"]It is an L reg Volvo .............[/quote]

That makes it 1972 or thereabouts , surely by now you've had your money's worth and it can be allowed to retire gracefully ? [:(]

Perhaps you need to find a garage that understands autos as there do not seem to be very many Volvos around.

John

not

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Of course it could be an  L in front of the number on the plate,  which dates it as a 1993, not like you to post wrong info John , I'm stll rushing around trying to find French Mother's Day cards for March[Www]

Just one thought that occurred to me, apart from finding a Volvo garage, (have you tried pages jaune?) Is this actually an L reg?  As in a UK plated L Reg car?  This is not one of those untaxed no MOT bangers the sort that you see littered all over airport car parks in France is it ? 

If it is French registered Linda and insured then it is as one would expect,  but is it is a UK plated car, left in France and only used for the holidays?  If so, how do you keep it UK legal as in getting it MOT'd and taxed so that it can be legally used and insured while you are here? 

I apologise unreservedly if your Volvo is UK or French legal, but as you may be aware one of the things that really annoys UK people living  in France is the UK registered untaxed, uninsured and unroadworthy bangers that infest the roads of France every summer, putting all our lives and livelihoods at risk,  as some have found recently to their very great personal cost.

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If it's an L reg 940 then it's 1993. Mine did about 125,000 miles before a sensor went and I ended up getting rid of it in favour of a more powerful model. I was told that a new box on a 940 would cost about £1000, but that wasn't an official estimate by any means.

I would suggest you find either a Volvo dealer or else an auto box specialist and get an estimate.

On the other hand, a replacement 940 isn't going to be any more I would imagine.

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[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Of course it could be an  L in front of the number on the plate,  which dates it as a 1993, not like you to post wrong info John , I'm stll rushing around trying to find French Mother's Day cards for March[Www]

[/quote]

Ron, sadly I believed the rumours about legendary Volvo longevity, reliability etc and it did not occur to me that a mere stripling of 15 or so could have serious gearbox probs. [:D] Another illusion shattered. [:(]

John

not

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I believe when Ford purchased Volvo the first thing they did was tripple the prices of some key spare parts. The first impact was to radically reduce the average age at which Volvos were scrapped in Sweden. The second thing that happended was that Mercedes Benz greatly increased their sales in Sweden.

I believe the percentage of automatics is far lower in France than the UK. So my first step would be to find a garage that regularly services them

If we all started trading in for newer mnodels after 30 years it would be a sad World.

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[quote user="Anton Redman"]

then it is probably faily cheap to fix as it is likely to be linkages or inhibitor switches. 

[/quote]

I would tend to agree with that as automatics don't usually give problems. I actually had a very similar problem on my Nissan. The kick down wouldn't work either.  I traced some electric cables from the auto box to near the engine air intake/throttle assembly and found a switch which I sprayed with WD40. It was fine after that.

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It's not just something as simple as topping up the gearbox oil is it?  My neighbour had a similar problem (wouldn't change up) and found the oil was very low.  More oil cured the problem but the real fault was a leaky gasket which let the oil go in the first place.  No drips under the car strangely.
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[quote user="Iceni"][quote user="Ron Avery"]

Of course it could be an  L in front of the number on the plate,  which dates it as a 1993, not like you to post wrong info John , I'm stll rushing around trying to find French Mother's Day cards for March[Www]

[/quote]

Ron, sadly I believed the rumours about legendary Volvo longevity, reliability etc and it did not occur to me that a mere stripling of 15 or so could have serious gearbox probs. [:D] Another illusion shattered. [:(]

John

not

[/quote]

Not true Sir. I have owned a Volvo estate since 1982 and it's still as sweet as the day it was made.

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In passing you would not believe how angry I will be if either the manual gearbox or diesel engine fail on the Pug  at under 300,000 miles. Find another garage. Our local not franchised for 25 years Citreon garage owner, has an SM for sale, he wants outrageous money and I am using the Pug as a builders wagon, if he still has it in two years I will buy it. However as he knows enough to get a SM back on the road a Volvo Auto would be easy.
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