hello, I am having a problem with my instrument cluster in my 1990 740 Turbo. Yesterday everything but the speedometer worked, I bought the car with the speedometer not working. So I bring it to my mechainc, and he checks the car and he says its the cluster. So that the today the turbo boost stopped working, the anti-freeze gage stops working also. So I buy a new cluster, put it in and it doesnt work. So know in my cluster the only thing that works is the turbo gage. The battery/gas gage doesnt work but it did this morning. The mechanic thinks its the wires thats conneted to the cluster. He checked the fuses, relays its fine he says. Does anybody else have any ideas on what it could be? TIA

 

He will have to back trace the wires and check all the grounds good.

 

Thanks for the reply, I am going to an electric mechanic to see what he says.

 

Sounds good keep us posted.

 

So I went to the electric mechanic and he says he doesnt work on Volvos. Anybody know a good volvo mechainc in the Nyc area? Also when I was driving, the horn stopped working, so I left and went home. I got home and the car just died, when its in P its ok, put it into D and it sputters. then dies out, not a gas problem. Maybe battery/alternator problem?

 

The idle motor might not be working.

Have you checked the fuse box for melting?

 

Well yesterday my mechanic checked the fuses 2x over. But then I read a faq at brickboards, and I think it can be the ingnition switch or the module. The idle motor is the IAC?

 

Yes the idle motor is the IAC.

 

So the idle motor is the idle air control. Now the car will not start unless it is jumped. I can open the car doors, hear the radio when I go to start nothing. Once it gets jumped, its ok until I remove the battery jumper then it sputters and die. I have a pocket multimeter and later on I will check to see if I need a new alternator, do you think if I put in a new alternator I can drive the car to my mechanic?

 

It does sound like a bad alternator.

If it is not putting out ady power try replacing the regulator first. Then if it is putting out power then you will be fine.

 

By regualtor you mean voltage regulator?

 

Yes that is what I mean. Atleast 80% of the time the regulator is bad only. And the Alt is good.

 

Is the regulator in the alternator or on the side of it?

 

It mounts into the back of the Alternator with 2 phillips screws.

When you install the new one you will have to kind of turn it in there and then hold it while you install the screws.

 

Thanks thats good to know, I have a chiltons book but it didnt say if the regulator was inside the alternator or outside.

 

New problem. Now I bought a new alternator and I think its defective. It didnt come with a pulley and one other piece thats on the back of the alternator, I think it was a radio thing or something?? So the mechanic took the radio piece off the old alternator and put it on the new one, so afterwards the alternator gets tested and it was 12volts. The car all day but it died when I got home. Do you think I could have a wiring problem that can make the alternator no good? or was it really defective?

 

Rebuilt alternators often do NOT come with the drive pulley or the radio suppression capacitor. These items vary car-to-car.

The mechanic should have stopped right there when he "only" read 12 volts. A properly working Alternator will put out a minimum of 13.5 volts. It appears as if you ran off battery voltage until it got so low the car wouldn't run.

Sometimes leaving the wire to the BATTERY warning lamp disconnected will result in a "no charge" condition. Other times the rebuilt alternators just don't last. (That's why Tech's advice, to just replace the Regulator first, is smart.)

You should charge the battery (use jumper cables from a running car to get some "juice" in it) and bring it back to the mechanic to be checked out. It's probably something simple.

If I were you I would have the battery checked also. The excess load imposed by a failing battery can cause the alternator to fail. This can sometimes be intermittant...I had one battery that "cooked" three alternators before I wised up and replaced the battery...it wasn't that old.

 

The mechanic didnt check the alternator, I went to autozone and there it read at 12volts. I have a brand new battery diehard, thats why the car lasted. The last alternator I bought, it did come with a pulley. This time I will have the alternator bench tested before I go back to the mechanic.

 

Still, 12V of output is NOT a healthy alternator. FWIW

Does Autozone do a load test? You can do one on your own car, by running the engine above idle (roughly 1500 RPM at least, does not have to be "racing"). Turn on all the lights, heater fan, a/c etc, and the voltage across the battery should be within 1/2 volt of the same conditions without all that stuff on.


But, my money's on a loose wire...

 

Had another alternator put on and it does the same problem. It has to be something electrical just dont know what it is? The wires to the battery/alternator look good. Bad ground?