My flashers dont work so I opened up the dash to look for the relay found it but I also found a birdsnest Of wiring some not even connected to a thing some cut.
I'm guess this has a purpose but I dont know if I should just leave it alone or try to fix it.

 

ummmmmmmmm.

if you're expecting some help here, it would be useful to mention what year/model car, and show a picture of said birds nest.

if this is a 240, the factory wiring behind the dash is pretty random with relays scattered all over. on 740/940's all the relays are on the central fuse panel behind the ashtray, and the wiring is much better organized.

was this behind the instrument panel? behind the glove box? behind the center console pillar? or what?

 

cut wiring is a bad sign. stereo and alarm installlers in particular are notorious for hackery.

 

The car is a 1985 245 and the nest is in the instrument panel. Here's some pictures of the lose wires and a switch in the panel that I think controls the ac compressor

 

Hey guys thanks for helping me out with this. I'm 16 and this is my 1st car so I'm kinda overwhelmed. If anyone has any pictures of intact wiring that would be great. I'd like to get it all back to original.

 

the red/white wire is likely the ignition timing signal right off the coil pin 1, which goes to tachometer. you definitely don't want that to short against anything or your engine will stall.

many of those other wires look stereo related, and i'm gonna guess someone hacked a aftermarket stereo in and didn't do a very nice job of it.

none of those blue inline crimps are stock. that light bulb in your first two pics was probably stuck in the back of an instrument, hard to say what

your best bet would be to get your hands on a 1985 240 wiring diagram, and match up the wire colors of the stock wiring (as opposed to anything added) and figure out what it all is. the best wiring diagrams are from the volvo "Green Books", which are year specific and quite accurate and clearly drawn. you can get a CDROM from Volvo Owners Club with nearly every year 240 wiring diagrams as well as most of the rest of the greenbooks. I have this but its very copy protected so I can't simply copy those diagrams.

 

oooh, you have a M46 4-speed overdrive stick. ok.

there's a white-red ignition timing wire that goes to the upshift indicator 'relay' (its not a relay) that lights the up arrow when its time to shift.

upshift indicator control relay/module:
pin 31 - brown, ground
pin G - brown, speedometer sensor
pin 30 - green-white, always on power from fuse 9
pin C - brown, clutch switch
pin OD - grey, OD relay output
pin 1 - white-red, timing signal from ignition coil
pin L - yellow-red, upshift indicator light

the wiring diagram says this module is behind and under the left-most vent


huh there's ALSO another white-red wire which has nothing to do with the ignition timing... this one comes off the ignition switch and goes to the seat belt reminder. eeew. maybe someone lobotomized this at some point in the past.

 

Thanks a lot pierce! I'll try to get my hands in the green book. I got a bently but the diagrams are pretty confusing.

 

I am not at all an expert on the 240 but I just want to say cool car especially with that transmission. I love wiring, and I find most people don't. The jumble, seeing it as a jumble, really holds you back. If you see it as individual wires, you can easily see just from the components what is original and what's not. In some cases you can find where wires have been cut and you can find both ends. In that case the original configuration of the car is obvious. You don't necessarily need to fix anything, but if you wanted to, you can easily remove (or just ignore) everything that is not original, and then looking at what you have left, at most you'd have 4 or 5 questions about the wiring itself. If you take some time to learn to read the wiring diagram, then you'd be able to figure those out. I am sure you'll get great help from this group and other enthusiasts, but I am just saying the diagrams are helpful to understand. The question of "what does this plug fit" is harder, but people here will help with that. In my own history I found that owning several identical cars is a good way to figure that out. Anyway, good luck. Hope you learn a lot without too much frustration.

 

I'm always amazed at the damage and carnage that gets done when someone tries to install an aftermarket radio or other device in a car. They basically end up creating a mess.

 

fyi, the 1985 240 Wiring Diagrams greenbook is TP-30808-1 .... sadly, these are all out of print now, but as I said, VCOA sells a CDRom with them

 

Ok - i found a pdf of the green book and that has helped a lot. http://volvowiringdiagrams.com/volvo...20Diagrams.pdf
I have hazards, defrost, seat belt light and cigarette lighter all hooked up. Thgere are a few wires Im still confused about.
The car has ac and there is a red and white wire coming out of the fan switch, no idea where that is supposed to go. then there is a green wire that originates from under ignition area. and lastly a yellow wire with a black stripe. If anyone can help me with those 3 that would be great

 

Any ideas? Thank you

 

yellow-black comes off fuse 1 and is hot in run and accessory, and goes a bunch of places (refer to the fuses page near the front of that PDF).

green comes off fuse 8 and is always-on-power that goes to a bunch of places like power locks, courtesy lights.

there's a white-red wire that comes off the fan switch and goes to the AC thermostat ****'s microswitch, see page 142 and 144 in that PDF