Volvo Repair: 240 DL clutch, clutch fork, hydraulic clutch

Question
Oh hey Roger,

I just bought a 1989 240DL a little bit ago and it ran fine...until today. I was coming off of the interstate and I was holding in the clutch and slowing down using only the brake, not the gears, and I came to a stop on the off ramp. First gear was really hard to get into, but I muscled the shifter into first. I proceeded to pull out of the off ramp and when I went to shift to second gear, It would not let me. I let out the clutch and it onlt came out half way. I can get underneath and push some kind of contral arm so that the cluth comes the whole way up, but it will just sit normally at about half mast. If I push the clutch in, it seems as though the gears do not disengage all the way, like It may only be able to stop the gears half way. I cannot get the car into any gear right now. I had to call a tow truck and get a 75 mile tow back to my apartment. The tow truck driver told me it may have been my slave cylinder that went out, although I'm not sure whether my car has a hydraulic clutch or not. I used to own an 83 turbo 240, so I know these cars pretty well, but I've never worked on any kind of manual transmission before. Do you think you could maybe tell me what I'm up against? I'm praying I didn't throw out that clutch. I can do many jobs myslef because I have the tools and the mechanical skills, but I have no idea what the problem is and I was just wondering if you could shed some light on this for me. Anything you have would be great, because when I tell my dad that I screwed up my clutch, he is gonna kill me, because he would know no more than i do right now. Thanks for your time.

Adam

Answer
Adam, The first thing I would do is disconnect the clutch cable.  There is no Slave Cylinder on these.  Then you can see if the clutch fork travel is okay.  The cable is fairly inexpensive. If that doesnt fix it then its either the clutch or something internal in the Trans.  For now, try to adjust the cable.  If you have a Volvo shop in your ares other than the dealer, they would be able to help more reasonably than the dealer would.  Roger