when i was driving down the freeway 2 weeks ago with the fuel maybe a quarter tank i heard a loud whining sound, a guy at ipd said it was the fuel pump, so i bought both in tank and the main pump and am about to replace them today.

but last night when i started the car to go home the service light and the battery and parking and brake lights came on...as the car picked up speed the lights went out with the exception of the service light which flickered faintly...and when i'd press the accel all four lights would brighten and then dim as i let off the accel...and i was close to the red in the tank. just making sure this is also a fuel pump issue?

 

Sounds to me like the lights, and possibly the pump whining, could be an issue with a relay or fuses. On my 1984 244 GL, I get fuel trouble AND all the service lights come on when something's wrong with fuse #13

 

Oh and just to clarify, I have also had the fuel pump whining, and the same light behavior you had, it was all fixed by replacing fuses. IPD has a great ceramic fuse set, and dielectric grease to coat the fuse connections. Don't forget to clean the fuse box with a wire brush.

 

A whining main pump can be an indicator of a failed in-tank pump. I have had two 240s that the main pump started making noise and when I found that the in-tank pump had failed in both of them. For one, replacing the in-tank pump fixed the whining problem while the other did not.

Basically a failed in-tank pump causes the main pump to work harder and thus whine. If left that way, the main pump will eventually fail. Before replacing, check the operation of the in-tank pump. There is a great write-up on how to check and replace the pump here:

In the Tank - 240 Volvo Tank Pump and Sender

 

so i replaced the main and in-tank fuel pumps and the pump relay and i was still having the service light, brake lights and battery light up, but this time they were solid and i looked at my voltmeter and it showed 10-11 volts. sooo i guess it's a battery/alternator problem...even tho i changed out the battery 1/11 and alternator with a refurb one from fcp at the same time... :0-/

 

So...what year is the car?

 

it's an 88 245 wagon...well i took the battery to the auto store and they said it holds 12v so the battery is fine they said...will have to check the alternator wiring and such now...

 

while i definitely think it's an electrical problem, my alternator seems to be doing fine...i guess last resort is to go to the auto mechanic...unless anyone else has some other insights...btw, i checked my fuse box as someone suggested earlier and all my fuses are clean, no corrosion anywhere after i cleaned it off with a wire brush, and i had applied dielectric grease to them about a year ago