lights flashing on dash and shifter

Don't know

Is it ready yet?

That's a symptom of a failing neutral safety switch or PNP switch. They fail because they're plastic and are exposed to engine heat and weather. You will eventually get stuck in 2nd gear [limp home mode] Your back up lights may stop working, as the device acts as a switch for those lights too. Temporary fix will be to turn car to on, but don't start it, then run the gear shift lever back and forth through the gears repeatedly. This may unclog the PNP switch for a short time. This is not uncommon.

I have a 1993 Volvo 960 Wagon and was experiencing the same issues as "iceman". MarcinWeho gave a great explanation of the problem and I ran through the scenario he described. It was a temporary fix as the next day the same problem came up. Ultimately I took the car into the Volvo repair shop and they diagnosed what MarcinWeho said almost exactly to his wording. The repairs will run close to $700 because of the complexity of having to drop the transmission and having to cut the exhaust pipe which seemed a bit out of line ... but having owned several Volvo's higher that expected repair costs are pretty much the norm.

The job is probably worth $700 if it includes the $200[?] part. But you could do it yourself since there's no need to cut the exhaust pipe or drop the transmission. You don't need special tools; you just need nimble hands to get into the space, remove the old switch and fish the new one's wire harness up to the connection.

Thanks for the input. I guess I'm getting "taken to cleaners' somewhat as the service rep told me that the cost was so high because they needed to drop the transmission and cut the exhaust pipe. I'm not to keenest person when it comes to auto mechanics so I guess ... for that I pay the price! I might also add that they are draining the transmission fluids and refilling it ... and that's part of the $700. Thanks for your insight. My 1993 Volvo 960 Wagon only has 72,000 miles on it, isn't driven on a regular basis, and if it wasn't for someone bashing the right front fender and taking off the car is in decent shape. So it's not like this vehicle has been driven hard so for the PNP part failure it seems like the failure is a bit premature. The most I ever drove the car was 9,000 miles in 1996 and that was a trip from CA to MA and back via Canada. After that the car's been run maybe a couple of thousand miles a year.