I was "pretty careful" when removing the steering wheel and counted three revolutions until the clock spring unwound. How critical is that setting when re-installing the wheel & airbag? This car is the one year only "91 940SE.

 

You should have locked the clockspring in place before removing the steering wheel with the provided screw. Before reinstalling the wheel, yes, you'd have to rotate it three times around, then lock it with the screw, install the wheel, remove the screw afterwards

 

Thanks Lev. I only learned about that secret "screw" from another Forum this morning. I knew it unwound 3 turns when I removed the wheel and I had concluded the whole rotation of the wheel logic but I couldn't find what you just told me when I searched this Forum. So simple when you have the right info. I'm back on the road. Next can of worms is that now the speedo quit and I know that can be one of several things. "Old Volvos never die, just get newer part by part"! TD

 

'91-'92 speedos are the worst, no easy fix... A new one, pricey; a rebuild, pricey; a used one, dicey. Rebulding one yourself, parts are really cheap (diodes) but it takes mini soldering skills and the results are usually not so great. Some use GPS for speedometer.

 

indeed, my 92 72 speedo conked out, it only read ~ 40MPH even if going much faster... I shotgunned all the potentially sketchy caps, I'm quite skilled at PCBA soldering, still didn't help.

 

I have the whole gauge cluster from my wrecked '93 940. Is there a refurbishing outfit either of you would trust? There's no time crunch so I could send this spare one in to get reworked if you think that would be a good way to go. The car is cosmetically so fine I plan on keeping it for the duration. TD

 

a 93 940 cluster will NOT fit in a 91 940SE (960). completely different interiors and electrics.

 

Well that does make sense. The SE is a much "fancier ride". You guys are great. Your wealth of knowledge & experience save me a lot of frustration. I guess it's time to investigate a GPS Speedo. I suspect the odometer isn't working either but I guess that will only make the car worth more when my kids sell it someday!! TD

 

I've used GPS as my speedo and it sucks, it lags just enough that its surprisingly hard to maintain the speed limit smoothly

 

What a shock that old technology is best!! Are you talking about a phone app or a stand-alone GPS speedo?

 

i've actually used both, a garmin in display panel mode, and a phone based gps running a speedometer app.

 

I see some stand alone GPS speedos on eBay for around $60. Have any opinions on going that route? I think some of them require OBDII which off course leaves a '91 Volvo out of the game. TD

 

The clusters are not identical but the speedos are, dimension wise. Unfortunately, the 91-92 are different internally than 93-94-95...

 

It occurred to me that since I'm using the ECU from the '93 car, could there be an incompatibility issue there affecting the speedometer? It worked perfectly for the first week after I completed the engine exchange. I could easily put the '91 ECU back in to see if there is a change. TD

 

speedometer is directly connected to the sender in the rear axle. only thing that cues off the speedometer is the cruise control. the ECU (and ICU) just get engine crank rotation data off the crank position sensor.

 

You could. I don't thing the speedo has much to do with the ECU, let us know... Here si some greatly detailed speedo info:http://cleanflametrap.com/speedo7.html