All batteries and fluids have congealed inside -with- any possible molds/silts/residues.

Kendra

Oh wait. Yes I can: you got scammed!

wesrubix

Foneguy

And, anyone can certify anything. I myself have been certified as "Excellent". It really depends on how much you value the opinion and reputation of the certifier.

failurate

And I agree with the coffee/soda spill theory, anything with sugar in it combined with the high heat of an interior turns rock hard fast.

wideawake

Ghede

cpoiscrap

Shit what's the point in buying a car if you can't haggle anyway?

And then there's the fact that they fill your volvo with black goo.

RamV10

doctor_cos

Orv

Stitchopoulis

Stitchopoulis

Might I also state I hate that stupid brake pedal interlock in gearshifts. Just because some fuckwit leaves their keys in the car with their kid not straight-jacketed I have to have my foot on the effing brake pedal to put the vehicle into gear.

@Geekybiker: Oh contraire, Ever hear of three on the tree? The manual shifter can go on the column too. What gets my goat is that there's so many vehicles these days sold with that damn console automatic shifter in models that don't even have a manual transmission option. If I drive a standard I reach for the shifter on the floor, I drive an automatic I reach for the column shifter. My first car was a 4 speed, but I absolutely HATE a floor-shifted auto.

MrEvil

failurate

paulprod

Seriously, the problem seems to be that the buyer still isn't satisfied with his original Certified Pre-Owned Volvo purchase because nobody seems to have any clue what this gunk is or care enough to find out for him. In situations like this you just take the car to CarMax (or your local equivalent) and sell it, and consider it a lesson about Volvo.

strathmeyer

@hossfly: Most of the Katrina flooding in the New Orleans area was with fresh/brackish water. My house flooded with "fresh" water due the fact that the parish sent all the pump operators north to safety and then had no way to contact them to come back when the storm passed.

Sudonum

stpauliegirl

Turcicus

If you can take it back, do so.

PotKettleBlack

jarchie219

StevieQ

Well, if you'll notice where he found the goo in the key, and in the shifter in the center console. That theory would allow for most of the onboard electronics to be intact, as well as the seats if you're lucky. I wasn't saying it was a likely scenario, however, there could be the off chance that someone indeed made the vehicle into a project.

Lithium542

Buran

I would guess that some of that goo (and it might indeed be soda; I spilled soda on my dash once and it was a PITA to clean it out) may have damaged that switch or some of the wiring.

In other words, I'm concurring with luckybob. I have not personally experienced this but I've owned a vehicle that was similar to one that did end up being recalled for a switch replacement, and my boss' car did have this problem. Oh, that was fun trying to explain to him why his cruise stopped working (he has a stick so he could still drive it, but since the cruise uses the brake switch to disengage, the cruise is automatically disabled if the switch fails).

He got it fixed and it never failed again since the part was re-engineered by the manufacturer for all future shipments, but for people who don't know the details of how it all works, the "can't get out of park" problem can be quite mysterious and confusing.

Buran

BTW, some VW/Audi products allow the automatic gear shift to operate freely when the ignition key is turned to a certain point--about halfway between "off" and "run."

segfault

The goop within the shifter is more than likely soda/coffee like everyone else has said in here. It could also be a mix of something the previous driver splashed through that worked it's way back. Your car should have a switch somewhere on the shifter console that allows you to manually free the shift lock. If that switch shorts out (as switches will do when covered in sugary, liquidy gunk) or if the solenoid connected to the break pedal shorts out, you won't be able to free the shifter, even if you push the button. Have the shop check the connections. If you're handy, take the console apart and hit everything with some contact cleaner.

There's a forum called www.turbobricks.com that I used when my wife and I owned a 96 850 Turbo. Being that its a Volvo, there are pages and pages of problems and fixes.

Remember kiddies, if the car's name starts with V, you'll be on a first name basis with your mechanic.

luckybob343

hossfly

I wouldn't taste anything from a pre-owned vehicle, who knows where it's been? Annnd, I've also heard that antifreeze tastes lovely...

trujunglist

as far as the gear shift, my volvo has the same sticking problem ('92 240), but it is definatly caused by the 'Shiftlock' and i just reach in there and push it out of the way. As for the gunk...i'd have to guess, and that'd be the flooded thing. does it have an odor? WD40 gumms up something terrible under heat.

valarmorghulis

lestat730

JustAGuy2

elislider

You'll probably be OK from here on, because there's only so many places they could have spilled the stuff, but you should check the seat belt latches if they're in the same between-the-seats area. Too much junk can cause them to not latch properly, which can be bad news in a crash.

If you're really worried it might be a flood car, try to pull up an edge of the carpet and see if there's mud caked underneath.

Orv

I think if I were you, I would inspect the car very closely, even to the point of taking things apart that wouldn't normally be taken apart and looking for signs of damage. Otherwise, just keep pressing the dealership on the issue. If your work is covered by some sort of warranty, look for a lemon clause in the warranty terms.

NightSteel

I think the first thing you should do is blast Jackie Wilson's (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher from a portable stereo and see if your car drives around under it's own "slime" power. Also, be on the lookout for giant Stay Puft Marshmallow men...

bukz68

[www.nicb.org]

chiieddy

Bay State Darren

all this gunk and not one word in that whole story about how it smells

what happens when you try to burn some

not one word about how it tastes

he cares about his car so much but he doesn't take a single step to identify the substance

it's just a mysterious "gunk"

sheesh

Black Bellamy

I would take the car back to the dealership and either exchange it or try to get your money back. I would argue that no "Certified" car should spend as much time as this one in the repair bays of the dealership.

Froggmann

As for the black gunk, there is an aweful lot of black gunk in and on cars. Sucks that you're having problems, but it sounds like the dealer is actually treating you pretty well. Most of the time they pretend they can't replicate the problem and send you on your way.

Geekybiker

Ray Wert

Fitwit

LordieLordie

Victo

jaydez

IphtashuFitz

[as little black squirmy things wriggle into my pores and dark clouds flash over my eyeballs]

Bay State Darren

harumph

ionerox

Did you ask if it was motor oil. Figures that there'd be motor oil on a car, I think that what they run on them.

Call and ask.

coolsright

Abbreviated, what I was saying is it's almost certainly evaporated non-diet soda clogging the solenoid. I've had direct personal experience of this twice in the last couple years, once in an Xterra and once in a Civic. Clean or replace the solenoid and you'll be right. Try to get the crap out of the rest of the shifter mechanism as well, there are frequently position switches and suchlike nearby, none of which like Dr. Pepper. Once fixed, should stay fixed.

theirishscion

vr4z06gt

The location of the damn automatic gear levers in modern cars is just brain dead and asking for this problem. There's no reason to have it down there and lots of reason to have it elsewhere, on the column, on the dash, who cares, just get it out of the way of the falling crud.

theirishscion

loueloui

htrodblder

loueloui

It was fixed by disconnecting the solenoid. Problem solved.

robotprom

Adam Rock

lostsynapse

SoCalGNX

Coder4Life

htrodblder

bsalamon

Hobie-wan

It worked in this one auto manual I read. Except the car was a girl. And I watched it, not read it. But the gunk was the same!

m4ximusprim3

bsalamon

I'd get a car fax report, and send a sample of the black goop to some kind of lab to figure out what it is. If it's sediment, or something really bizarre, you might have some recourse as the dealership in question *cough* CARMAX *cough* promises not to sell wrecks.

Either that, or you could make them fight the guy in the ring of fire.

Lithium542

nacio

bsalamon