What did the overdrive switch in an old Volvo do?

What did the overdrive switch in an old Volvo do?

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ScotHill

Original Poster:

3,192 posts

110 months

Thursday 28th March
quotequote all
My dad had some kind of Volvo sedan/coupé with four (possibly five) gears and an overdrive switch back in the mid-80s. The gears I understood even back then, probably because I had the massive Technic Lego chassis set, but the overdrive was literally a switch on top of the gear lever.

What did it do to the engine/gearing, and what physically did that switch do, was it purely electronic or did it shift some gearing around somewhere?

It was the first car we ever had with a sunroof, and probably the last now I think about it. Tiny boot though.

ScotHill

Original Poster:

3,192 posts

110 months

Friday 29th March
quotequote all
Cheers, the solenoid is probably what I was missing, the rest makes sense.