Volvo Repair: Shorted defroster light. now overdrive light stays on, volvo 240 dl, overdrive switch

Question
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Followup To
Question -
Mr. Tenbrook,

I have a little dilemma.  I realize you are best in new volvos but I saw that you specialize in electrical. Okay to the point...  I was replacing a light bulb for the seat heater switch and the rear window defroster switch and accidently shorted out the two light bulb terminals on the back of the defroster switch while testing the wires for voltage, and now, the overdrive light turned on and it won't turn off. I'm not sure if the car is actually stuck in overdrive because i'm getting the car ready for safety and emissions inspections (a required inspection in VA to have your car on the road), and can't drive it yet because of that. By the way, I also tried switching it via the overdrive switch. It didn't work.  It sounds like the relay went out... Any Suggestions?

Car-
1985 Volvo 240 DL
Station Wagon
Auto. Transmission
B230F Engine
Fuel Injected

Thanks in advance
Answer -
If its the bulb then just pulling it out will turn it off and probably pass the test.  Even so the overdrive engaged just conserves fuel when it reaches top gear, it shouldn't cause you to fail the test.  I'm not sure what the requirments of your states tests are though.  Do they need to see the overdrive engage and disengage?  Let me see if I have any diagrams for that model at work tomorrow and I'll see if I can try to locate where the problem could be.

James

Mr TenBrook,
I could pull out the bulb, but is there a way that I could short out the relay in a way that the overdrive light turns off and I can get into 4th gear?  I need to go on Rt.66 in order to get to the inspection shop and the speed limit is 65, but most people go around 75.  The overdrive light goes on, so that means that I can only go into 3rd gear; correct?   They don't need to see if overdrive works, but it the light is on, they will probably want to see it go off.  Thanks for your help so far.

Danny

Answer
You could jump the relay if that would activate it all the time.  Just go from terminal 87 to 30 with a jumper wire.  There should be a picture on the side of the relay describing which terminal is which.  4th gear is only for efficiency too, you should still be able to go 75 still but the engine will probably be at 4-5 thousand rpms instead of 3-4.  May not be your first choice but it won't harm anything.

James