We have a 1993 940 Wagon that has been having a random issue the last couple years...was typically once per year. 2017, the car started up and ran perfectly and then the lights dimmed, the turn signal and wipers were weak and slow and the gas gauge and tachometer began bouncing around. Headed home and it stalled in the driveway. Started fine next day. Drove to dealer. Issues did not duplicate for dealer. They stated lights and gauges checked OK. Tested battery and charging system, no faults found. No. draws. Just to be safe we bought a new battery. One year later, 2018, same issues while driving. Exited freeway and made it to a parking lot where car stalled. Was able to start it later. Dealer found alternator not charging. Fault traced to charging system - found no power at D+ wire on alternator. They removed instrument panel and tightened loose connections for instrument panel circuit board. One year later, 2019, same issues. Dealer said instrument panel circuit board getting bad connection again, tightened circuit board screws. Yesterday, less than two months later this time, had same issue. Started fine this morning, but I have not driven it as I am not confident about doing so. Debating whether to take it back to the dealer again or deciding if it is time to let it go. Has anyone experienced a similar issue and know if something else could be causing this? Thank you.

 

Change your dealer and mechanic!

 

not the car to take to a Volvo dealer ... the techs were probably in diapers when this car was new!
try to find a good indy mechanic in your area that knows these cars.

 

It has nothing to do with the circuit board other than possibly the alternator light being out, and not getting the alternator to charge.
Agree that new Volvo dealers' techs are not up to the task for these cars now.
Although I've never heard of this exact type of a problem I'd guess it has to do with the charging system, possibly related to the charging/exciter alternator combination. Hard to say for sure without seeing it in person and doing some tests.

 

We don't know any local shops and have always had service done at the dealer. They have a tech that has been there for many years...apparently worked on these when they came out. We are the original owners but are getting to the point that since we can't work on it ourselves, we are trying to decide how much longer to hang on to it...feel like it's a part of the family Over last couple years we had to have a fuel pump put in, tail lights replaced and replaced rear shocks and strut inserts and exhaust system. Each time you throw many $ at it, you hope nothing will come up, but this one with has been a mystery. Speedometer and odometer have not worked for several years....quit at 226,000 miles so we think it probably has around 275,000 miles. Fortunately, the Garmin lets us know how fast we are traveling. I did order an instrument cluster on eBay hoping it might help. Taking the car and the cluster to the dealer to see if it will work. Thank you for your responses.

 

If youre good with electronics you can fix the cluster yourself, they're easy to remove and dissect as long as you're careful. Sometimes its just the soldering itself that goes bad and needs to be redone.

As far as the stalling goes I think the ECU uses the speedometer to determine the idle speed, but correct me if Im wrong.

 

Thank you for all of your replies. I took the instrument cluster to the dealer and had it installed. Cluster was $60 on eBay and labor was $150 at dealer. I am so pleased to report that so far all is well. Especially nice is that I now have a working speedometer and odometer, which I have not had in 8 years!