Just picked this wagon up yesterday for dirt cheap, and although it runs strong, it has quirks. The most significant one at the moment is that the key warning buzzer WILL NOT stop beeping as long as there is a key in the ignition. I can't seem to figure out what fuse controls this item, since nothing is blatantly labled as 'warning buzzer' or anything like that...anybody have any tips for me?

Thanks in advance,
Karla

 

Congrats on your find. A wealth of information can be found here:


http://www.k-jet.org/files/greenbook...985_PRELIM.pdf

Some suspects here could be, a faulty door switch, or the ignition switch itself.

Good Luck

 

check your fuses again...

 

yeah, driver's door switch would be the numero uno probable cause of that. if it was the ignition switch, it either wouldn't bing at all, or it wouldn't stop when you removed the key.

note the drivers door switch, and only the drivers door, has two switch contacts, one for the courtesy lights (wired in parallel with the other 3 doors), and the other just for the key reminder chime. per the schematics on darkdelta's links, its the white-black ('w-sb') wire from the drivers door switch that controls this, if its shorted to ground, or the switch is stuck closed, BING BING BING....

oh. there's no fuse shown in the circuit in the greenbook.

 

So I stopped in to talk to our local independent Volvo specialist last night...wanted to find out what he would charge to go through the car from one end to the other to help me figure out what needs to be fixed. I've got a year to make it completely roadworthy (car is going to be my sons first.) As I started explaining what I had and what I was looking for, he kind of glazed over and appeared to go into a bit of a trance. When I was done speaking, he told me he didnt want to disappoint me, but the car was just too old and he didn't want to mess with it. He even went as far as to tell me to drive it down the street to our local junkyard and sell it for scrap!

Aside from him not wanting anything to do with the car, he gave me some good advice as far as the buzzer was concerned. I went home, removed all fused, hit the contacts with a wire brush, and then replaced fuses with brand new ones. Guess what? Buzzer is off! I was also able to get 3 of the power windows working again (front passenger window is still dead...motor maybe?)

Volvo mechanic also told me to check the ground wire coming from the alternator, but since I am a complete novice (and totally a girl), I'm not entirely sure what I am looking at. There is one itty bitty skinny little wire that comes off the back of the alternator and disappears into the engine somewhere. It is COMPLETE crap...no coating left on it whatsoever and crumbly to the touch. Is that the ground wire? If not, what is it?

One last thing, anybody from the Seattle-Tacoma area? Looking for a good (preferably independent) shop to help me prioritize and plan this project :-)

Thanks guys!

Karla

 

a ground wire would be attached to the metal case as opposed to an insulated stud, and run to the chassis or engine block somewhere. it would be a big heavy fat cable... except, I think alternators just ground through their mounting bolts and not a separate cable??

the skinny wire off the alternator is -probably- the wire to the alternator light on the dashboard, the one thats red if your charging isn't working.... that light is an important part of the circuit, if its open, the alternator won't charge the battery, if its shorted to ground, all kinda bad stuff is possible.

the 2 pages labeled 'CHARGING CIRCUIT' on that PDF posted above show the alternator circuit, its really quite simple.

 

just opened up that PDF link (on my lunchbreak) - what a wealth of info! Thanks for posting it, darkdelta!