Automatic Over-Drive Solenoid Bypass Kit

The thing just worked.

I can finally go 80mph on the L.A. freeway system and the RPM is at 2.5k.

Before the fix the RPMs woluld be at 4k when going 55mph and the engine used to
sound like it was about to explode.

Wish I would have done it sooner because driving at such high RPMs may have caused
some unnecessary wear and tear.

My mechanic charged me 20 bucks for what took him all of 5 minutes to install.

I'm just wondering why it costs $40 for what looks like a stamped piece of metal with a rubber ring?

I bet it only cost 50 cents to make these.

Just put it on last night after a tough time getting the old bolts out...for me i used a short handled 1/4'' ratchet driver w/a standard 12mm socket...worked much better than a bow wrench since most of their circular ends are at a bent angle. The plate works perfectly and my overdrive arrow doesn't come on even unless i press the button. So for less than the cost of possibly fixing the problem by ordering a relay i for sure solved the problem with this part...a great buy!

ipd had it at my door in the promised time, with tracking and all updating one could want. The kit was easy to put on. The car shifts just fine, and the arrow light goes on and off with the button. All went as expected. I am glad I stumbled on to these guys.

Had a bunch of things done while I was out of town, came back to a much different tranny! This thing shifts so nice! Volvo should suggest this to 240 owners! I love my 240, and this just made it better! Thank You IPD!!

I love inventions like this... a device designed to bypass needless complexity in an
aging vehicle. After determining that a difficult to locate electrical fault was causing
my overdrive solenoid to work intermittently, I considered "rigging up" something to
permanently power the device. Realizing what a silly idea this was, I did some
research and discovered IPD's bypass kit! Installation was surprisingly easy, and my
overdrive now engages reliably. The Overdrive Inhibitor button on my shifter has not
worked since the day I bought my dear 740, so no prior functionality has been lost.

P.S. One important note. The instructions mention that the orange overdrive arrow
on the dash will always illuminate after installation of this kit, but I was able to make
it go out by removing the overdrive relay behind the vehicle fuses. The instructions
claim this shouldn't have worked, so my electrical fault may be responsible. It won't
hurt to try, however, as popping out a relay is far less unpleasant than ripping apart
your dashboard to remove a light bulb. (something the instructions do recommend)

This product works well. I can now drive in another lane besides the right hand lane. It was painful hearing my engine groan in 3rd gear for several months.

Here is my advice. If you are going to install it yourself, first see if you can get the bolts off of the overdrive solenoid. I couldn't. I even bought a stubby flex wrench especially for it. I tried PB blaster to loosen it. One of the bolts was completely unwilling. I had to bring it to the mechanic and he installed it for $50.

My point is to not waste a ton of time if it is really really stuck. In retrospect, I wish I had bought a regular length flex wrench.

I recommend this bypass kit!!
Installed it on my old fathers 245 1990 were the solenoid given up.
He never pulls any heavy trailers etc so no need for the option to block the overdrive.
Quick installation and a sweet result. The only negative is the pricing I feel it could be
a bit cheaper especially for us in Europe which have to pay customs and shipping
costs to..

Removed old Solenoid after lowering transmission mount a little to get a wrench on the nuts. Put New bypass Solenoid in and took it out for a drive. DIDN'T Work....keep reading. Thought about it a couple days and looked up the IPD website.. The car was shifting thru the gears real fast except no overdrive. Raised the 91 240 Volvo and slid underneath... remove Plate and found the small O ring from the factory Solenoid was stilll in there. Removed it and now it runs perfect..

By pass worked great. Do Not forget to read and follow the directions, Remove both "O" rings including the little one or it won't work. I did all the work to flush and bypass plate and nothing changed...I was throwing away the directions when I noticed the 2nd box said" remove both o rings" Doh!" I only remember getting one big ring off with solanoid, take plate off and BINGO overdrive bypass complete and fresh fluid in the old 185K trans smooth as butter.

A little pricey, but the savings in frustration is worth it.

If you absolutely don't need to disengage 4th gear, you can't go wrong with this. The solenoid wiring in our '87 240 was rotted all of the way down from the top of the trans tunnel. I just wasn't interested in bothering to fix it... so off with the 22 year-old solenoid, on with the IPD bypass plate, and 10 minutes later we're back in action!

Thanks!