My 240 was not lighting up when I inserted the key into the ignition, as though the battery was disconnected. After a few minutes, I gently pressed the key in further and was able to start and drive nearly home.

After a stop at the grocery store, same issue. I checked and spun the fuses in the cab, checked that the dome light would not even come on, and opened the drivers side door. While I had the door open, the dome light lit and the console dinged as it does with an open door. I Starred the car, made it a few blocks, but the car died again once I signaled to turn, with the battery warning light lit this time.

This continued twice more on the way home, with the time in between dying and restarting taking longer each time. I finally got it parked at home just in time to lose all electric once more, and it would not start or even behave as though it had battery.

I drive a lot in the day and am starting the ignition a lot- could this be the behavior of a worn ignition switch? Something else in the ignition system?

 

not sure why a bad ignition key/switch would cause the dome lights to not work. the 'dinger' normally only dings when the key is in the ignition and the door is open.

sounds like time for some troubleshooting with a volt meter. make sure your battery has a charge (fully charged would be 12.6V at 68F, so anythign in that ballpark is good... note that right after the engine has been running or the battery has been on a charger, it will read a 'surface charge' about a volt higher, this surface charge dissipates in an hour or so).

(from memory, verify this!) fuses 6-7-8 should be powered even with the car off, check this against a chassis ground.

 

I agree with Pierce...this doesn't sound like a switch issue to me. A digital multi-meter is your friend on rwd Volvos. This could be a bad ground, bad battery or alternator, loose alternator belt or...my personal favorite...the old broken alternator excitor wire. If you have an automatic and drive around in the city in a prudent fashion, there's a good chance you never get the rpm's up to ~2K to get the alternator to self excite. Add to that not having a dash mounted volt gauge and you'll be under the hood often. Make certain the battery takes and holds a good charge. Have it load tested (AZ does it for free but don't buy whatever they say you need). Check the alternator output. Look at the tiny excitor wire on the alternator, it often gets damaged at oil change time as it is so close to the filter.

 

I poked my battery with the voltmeter and got readings varying from 8v to 11.8v without a change in load (just as the battery was resting, but still connected to the leads). Autozone found it would not hold a charge, and gave me a new battery. Also changed all the fuses.

There is a small blue wire comingbfrom the same sleeve as a red wire. The red wire is spaded to the alternator- the blue wire is not connected to anything. There is also a plug, in the block above and to the right of the oil filter, which does not have a wire connected to it at all. Is this my issue?

What is that plug (looks like a sensor)?

Does anyone have a picture of an alternator wired correctly?

 

that sensor on the block near the oil filter is the oil pressure sensor

the alternator is very simple. big fat red wire from starter goes to B+, normal sized red wire goes to D+, and there's a ground wire

 

 

Thanks Pierce and Swift.

My volt regulator brushes are juuust 3/8th of an inch long- from what I've read, thats the point in which they lose contact.

I seem to be missing the screw that holds the ground wire.

 

It looks like the head of the screw that holds the ground is sheered off. Can I ground between the volt regulator and the alternator, on the side of the regulator that doesn't have an electrical contact?

Also, on closer inspection, the brushes are worn to about 5/16ths at their shortest point. Does this account for my issues?

 

worn brushes would definitely not work well, but I'm not sure what the acceptible minimum is.

of course, without the ground wire, it won't work at ALL regardless of the brushes.