1999 volvo drove fine and went/shifted into all appropriate gears when I bought it from a personal owner. I took it to a mechanic to look it over and now for some strange reason he said that the car won't go into park and has trouble going into reverse. He quoted a price of $4000.00 to fix a list of Items that he found wrong with the vehicle. After I viewd the estimate I told him that I decided against having the costly repairs done. When I went to pick it up the side panel or molding look as if it were torn or pulled away. Also after driving it for a while, when I parked it the park gear was working? Please can you help me understand this.

I'm assuming its a 4 speed shifter on the floor. More than likely he screwed up the linkage.
Bring it back and tell him to call you when he:
a. Fixes it himself
or
b. Hires someone to fix it for him.

This isn't not your problem. You didn't screw it up and I'm assuming you paid him $$ to do the work for you.
If he can't fix it in a timely manner. About twice as long as he took to do the work in the first place, Then ask him for the telephone number for his insurance agent and tell them you want to file a claim for damages to your vehicle caused by the mechanic while he was working on your car

if the gears were "melted together" then the trans wouldn't shift at all. since the car runs fine sometimes and sometimes it doesn't it sounds like an electronic problem. the trans uses shift solenoids to acheive gear changes. is the fluid dark brown in color or smell burnt? if so you may have some slipping of the clutch discs/ bands, but it doesn't sound severe if the car runs fine at times. i suggest you have a trans shop to drive the car and get a more accurate diagnosis.

B sure to check the wire oink to the starter for corrosion and check the ground under the hood also your problem is one of those okay thanx Chris

to save monies I would tell my daughter to go to an auto parts store and let them scan the code, then once the problem is found someone there may be able to put the part on for her or fix whatever problem there may be. Hope this helped Tim

My car had the same problem. Turns out the gear shift was not correctly going into Park. My mechanic adjusted the gear shift and now it's fine.

prob need 2 change the filter...

Perhaps I'm crazy, but when I ran a shop, the vehicle did not go home 'till the problem was solved and I never charged for items that did not fix the vehicle...( I had the silly idea that the customer should not pay for my mistakes .therefore in my world they already have abdicated.)
The problem may be beyond the skill level of anyone in the shop...therefore doing the same thing over and over will give you the same results. You need a fresh "eye" on the situation. Only then will you get a different result. There are "flight tests" and other diagnostics that can be done that should give you an idea what is going on.
If the repair is going to cost more than what the vehicles value is, then it's your decision about what to do. You can have the repair done, buy a different car and/or you may have some legal means of recovering all or part of what you spent not fixing the problem.These are decisions you need to make, but decide after you have the facts in front of you.

shift fork loose or worn .shift linkage need adjustment.worn or strip gear or worn synchronizer.clutch can be slipping also.

The cheap fix: Speed sensor connected to the Transmission Control Module (TCM). That screws up the engine control module and could throw you into limp home mode. Expensive fix: Transmission control module. Start with the speed sensor. Suggest that to your mechanic and get a second opinion before changing out the TCM. It's a simple plug and swap, but the module is expensive. I bought a spare on Ebay for my Volvo for $10. The TCU, I believe, lives under the right front kick panel, at least that's where it is on my 740.

just purchased a 1999 hyundai accent, i was told that it needs a tranny because the car would not come out of first gear. but when i test drove it when i bought it, the gears were shifting fine. i put 50 miles on the car and there's no signs of any tranny problems. i checked tranny fluid and it was about 20 ounces low. would this cause this to come out of first gear?

p.s. the car only has 47,000 miles on it.

-Tim