Hello everyone.
I bought a volvo 244 GL for $200 back in December. All it needed was an ignition coil. It ran perfectly fine until about 2 weeks ago. The car died on me on the way to work. I charged the battery and it soon died out ago. I thought it was the battery because it was old, so I installed a new one. The battery drained itself to death about a week later. So I installed a new alternator. I returned the dead battery and exchanged it for a new one :P
I was able to turn it on.. but my multimeter read 11.8 volts while the car was on. 12.6 volts on the battery when the car was off. So next thing would be the alternator cable right?
I checked all the wiring today.. and now the car won't even crank.
So I'm back to square one. The battery is still at 12.6 volts; therefore, it's not the battery. Ignition coil, spark plugs, distributor cap & wires are all new.
When I turn the ignition switch the dash lights come on but the car is silent.
The battery terminals are tight, no corrosion.
Here she is

 

$200? You make me sick, the rims alone are worth half that...

Nonetheless, welcome to the forum, super nice find, so far...

Anyways, I assume it is an automatic? The first place I would check would be the neutral safety switch. Try pushing the gear selector to the right when starting the car. What year is this? Looks like an 87, 88? Hopefully the wiring is not deteriorating.

 

The previous owner was a friend who wanted to get it out of their garage :P
I'll try that in the morning.
Can anyone send me a diagram of the alternator connections for a 240?
I'm follow the wiring that the previous owner had it set up as.
This is where they've hooked up the ground, and it doesn't seem to be a likely place to have a ground wire to me.

 

My ground connects to the stud in the bottom right of the picture, so try moving it there. The large stud is a positive pole. The wire that connects to that one goes to the starter and battery positive poles. It's direct. That's easy to follow. The small stud near the the one I just mentioned should go straight to the ignition switch.

I'd check continuity and resistance on the connection from the battery lead to the alternator pole. Nice find for $200!

 

I'll go out on a limb and say your car does not have a volt gauge? And, no tach? And, we know it is an automatic. I'm gonna say your excitor wire is not functioning. An alternator without an excitor wire will not start generating electricity until somewhere between 2000-3200 rpm's. With an automatic, no tach or volt gauge...it's easy to drive around town and never get the rpm's high enough for the alternator to self-excite. That means you're driving around solely on the battery...which sounds exactly what you're doing.
The ground wire can attach anywhere on the case, but Joe is correct as to the small stud on the lower right...that's what it is there for. The power cable is pretty obvious. The third small wire near the power terminal is the wire that goes to the ignition and is the excitor wire. I've seen them break internally and the insulation still be intact. I've driven Volvos for months with a broken excitor wire. With a tach and a volt gauge, after starting, you just blip the throttle to get the rpm's high enough for the gauge to show charging. When the excitor wire isn't in the circuit, you will get no charge light on the dash. A quick test is to turn the key on, engine off. The alternator light and oil light should be lit. If only the oil light is lit, that's your problem. Look for a break, poor connection, corrosion, etc. I also like to run a separate, heavy gauge ground wire independent of the stock one. Because Volvo alternators are somewhat isolated by reason of the rubber bushings, a proper ground is essential. Often, especially on older Volvos, the stock ground wire is inefficient. I do this...note the yellow wire...

It can be attached anywhere to the case of the alternator and then to the body.

 

I forgot to mention that the car is running again, but the alternator isn't charging the battery.
I apologize if I sound like a retard. I'm not a mechanic, I just wanted to save this Volvo from a scrap yard.

Alright, now for starters. This car is an automatic and it's an 88.
I've switched the ground to the obvious placement but had no luck.
When I turn the ignition switch to the on position (without igniting the engine) all of the dash lights power on but there is no alternator light on this 240.
I am powering my car solely on the battery. Since I have ruled out the alternator (since this is my 3rd alternator in my car.) It would have to be one of the wires correct?
Does this still sound like the exciter wire is faulty? even though my dash lights power on.
I'll go attach a second ground wire and see if that gives it any luck. I'll also take a picture of my connections to see if I'm doing something retarded.

 

The battery light has to come on in key position 2 or else the alternator will not charge, it's the small red wire.

 

The battery light does come on when in key position 2.
All the lights come on when in key position 2
Here are my connects
Ground- Black
Red- exciter wire (I crimped a new wire connector to it.), large power wire
I also added a second ground with no luck.

 

I can't see your picture because photobucket is blocked at my work. This is a little tricky to do, but try to measure the voltage on the large red wire terminal when the car is running. My guess is you have a bad connection between the battery and the alternator.

 

I get a voltage reading of 7.75 volts from the large red wire on the alternator

 

Well, I don't think you're learning challenged! Chasing charging faults can be daunting the first couple of times. So...if the charge light comes on with key on, engine off, does it also come on when the engine is running? If it does, trying revving the engine and see if it goes out. You could also check output voltage of the alternator before and after revving the engine...

 

I attached a new large positive wire from the starter to the alternator.
Not much of a difference then the old one, the battery had 11.72 volts on it.

 

Well thanks :P
All the dash lights turn off when the car is running.
Here is what the dash looks like when the key is in the second position (when car is not running)

 

OK...let's back up. If the alternator IS lighting, then the excitor circuit is complete so that's not the issue. Before you swap any more parts and possibly muddy the water, let's proceed in an orderly manner. Now, you have 11.72V at the battery...what do you have at the alternator output? Test from output to chassis ground then check output to battery ground. Voltage drop on a good system should only be about .1V. I read you have already swapped alternators? Were they JY, used or rebuilt or new? It could be the regulator brushes within the alternator. In desperation, you could pull the alternator and have AZ check it for free.

 

Okay,
So I retested the charge that the alternator was receiving and it was at 11.70 volts from the large positive wire and the alternators ground.
This is the 3rd alternator I've installed
the first one was rebuilt, second one was used, and this one is new from auto zone
I returned the 2 other alternators thinking they were faulty, so I know this one isn't faulty too.

 

No offense, but you don't know it is good. You assume it is good. Pretty sure AZ does not sell new alternators, only Duralast reman's. Their prices are great, but too often for me, the parts are lacking. Other folks reman's aren't much better these days either. If the excitor circuit has continuity...which it does...and you have that little output voltage at the alternator, then most likely the regulator is no good. Ever wondered about the difference between a "rebuilt" and a "remanufactured" unit? Traditionally, rebuilt meant the unit was opened up and worn/defective items were replaced. Reman was better because all wear items, whether bad or not, were replaced...effectively giving you a new unit. Today, the lines have blurred so much that often, a reman unit has barely been rebuilt. At this point, if it were me, I'd pull the alternator and have AZ test it. I once bought 4 rebuilt carburetors from AZ trying to get one that worked correctly. And, here at the shop, we've had brand new AC Delco fuel pumps fail...right out of the box. So...better to assume nothing. Parts today are crap.

 

Thanks for the heads up, and your right. It is a remanufactured alternator. The guy at the counter told me it was new but I just looked at a sticker on it stating "100% guaranteed remanufactured". Should have figured not to listen to the dude at the counter.
I'll get this one tested.

 

Okay, so I dropped my Volvo off at a local shop. It needed an inspection anyways, so I decided that they could find the problem for me. They tested the alternator, it passed. It also passed the inspection and they said they couldn't find the problem.. Lazy mechanics.. I'll pick up the car tomorrow and start at square one. I'll probably get the alternator tested again, somewhere besides auto zone.
Is there a relay that could possibly interfere with the alternator charging the battery?

 

Nope. If the voltage is at the output terminal of the alternator, it goes straight to the battery. I did have a situation one time where the cable clamp was bad at the battery. With the tester on the clamp, I got good voltage but when I put the tester to the center post, I got little. Doubt that's your issue, but it's an example of how something so minor can cause big headaches.