This is my first car and I pretty much have it fixed up. I am trying to replace the radio in my 1988 240dl. I never installed a car radio before and I can't find a guide or tutorial on how to replace the radio or stereo in a 1988 240dl. I can only find the 90s. Can someone please point me in the right direction. I can always take pictures for more clarification. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

what does the car have in it now? our 87 GL, radios were dealer installed, and there were a variety of them, which could b einstalled either on top or bottom of the center console.

I opted to install our stereo down in the lowest space, made my own facia plate (but you can buy adapter kits for this to fit standard DIN mount stereos). I pretty much ran my own wiring to everything, speakers, power, fished the antenna cable out from behind the dash and fed it to where it needed to be.

IF you can find the original radio plug, its a 3x3 pin plug somewhere behind the center dash...

pin 1 is green - always-on power from fuse 8 for antenna motor and radio memory
pin 2 is yellow-black - switched power from fuse 1 for radio
pin 3 is red - control signal to power antenna in trunk
pin 4 is yellow-white - left door speaker +
pin 5 is grey-yellow - right door speaker +
pin 6 is NC
pin 7 is white - left door speaker -
pin 8 is grey - right door speaker -
pin 9 is black - ground

the factory setup had no rear speakers on the 240's, any such were aftermarket/dealer addons.

 

****...just did that this weekend. I love my 240 wagon, but I gotta tell ya, it is a complicated car to install a aftermarket radio.
I got my stuff from sonicelectronix.com and they will send you the fascia and connectors for free. my car had the factory AMP behind the lower insert in the dash, I had to loop the sound using the provided connectx. It was a bitch.

 

On our 87 240, I just got the power from the fuse panel, and ran my own speaker wires. The car didn't even come with speakers installed when we bought it new and declined the dealer stereo. I ran speaker wiring to the back and installed a pair of nice beefy oversized JL Audio component 6.5"s with seperate crossovers, sounds quite good (ok, actually, the frist time around, it was a pair of circa 1988 vintage JBL Touring GT 6.5", but after 20 years, the cones were failing, so I replaced with the JL Audio components...)

 

I ran my own wires on my BMW e30 all amped w/ a 10inch sub mono amp. I know how it sounds, you have used even bigger speakers. it must sound awesome.

 

Thanks for explaining the scheme! I am also planning to replace the original radio with an aftermarket stereo in the 240 wagon. This should be helpful.

 

So, I've pulled out the radio.. However, the connector going into the radio seems to be different from what you describe, see pics below. Does it mean there is an original connector somewhere before this one?

 

that went into a Volvo brand stereo? it kinda looks like the typical connector on a generic aftermarket stereo (no two quite the same, even within the same brand), although those wires don't follow all the 'normal' aftermarket stereo colors

yes, its quite possible the 3x3 connector shown in my diagrams is on the other end of those wires, somewhere deep behind the dash. try pulling the under-dash kick panel below the glovebox, then removing the glovebox, and the panel on the passenger footwell side of the center console, and you might just get better access to find it...

this 3x3 connector is square, and one side has indents like "nnn", like the connector shown on the far left here,

 

Yes, it seems to be the original radio.. Now I wonder if I have to search deeper in the dash or try to guess the colors..

See pictures of the stereo below

 

ok, the diagram I have shows the connector is behind the lower pocket at the bottom of the console, forward of the shifter. thats where I put my stereo too, where your stereo was mounted on top, our 87 240 has a 'pocket' useful for sunglasses, and such.

I prefer the stereo mounted down low, its less obvious from outside hte car, and aftermarket stereo lights aren't in your face on a dark night. (why is it so many new aftermarket stereos are freekin' blingtastically fugly light shows?!?)

 

ah. googled 'volvo cr-4123', and found this pic showing the harness.



so yeah, its that 3x3 9 pin connector to the right. probably down below...

 

Thanks for clarifying things. Though, before taking stuff apart I would ask for another advice. The wires seems to go down on the side of the steering wheel. Does it mean that I have to get the instrument cluster out? If not, which part of the dash assembly should I remove to get to the original wires?

Regarding the place where to put the radio, I have the kit for the installation in the upper pocket.. I understand your reasoning, but probably would go the easier way.

 

my 240's (ok, its my daughter's car now), the radio is 'mounted' in the bottom pocket by taking a plumbers strap bent into an L, a small piece of wood, and a block of foam under the stereo, and a facial plate made of thick cardboard spraypainted flat black. the strap is bolted to the stud on the back of the radio and goes down, and then under the sandwich of wood + foam + radio, the facia is stapled to the wood. this is friction fit into the radio pocket, and has worked for 25 years, with 3-4 different stereos.

as I think I said, I never bothered with that 3x3 connector, I ran my own wires to the door speakers, and rear deck speakers, and power wires to the fuse panel. I did find the wire for the factory power antenna to connect to the 'blue' wire on the stereo.

 

I've got the 3x3 connector. Actually, have 3 questions.

1) There are fuses between this connector and original stereos. Is it fine to discard those? Stereo has it's own fuse, but who knows.

2) There was another strange yellow wire with a fuse entering original stereo bypassing the 3x3 connector. It also can be seen on the Pierce's picture. I wonder where this guy comes from, and what should I do with it?..

3) Since I got the instrument cluster out I wonder if I can address the turning light issue. Somehow the blinking frequency of left turn signal recently became much faster than normal. Is it fixable and how?

 

yeah, use the fuses that came with your stereo. I'd take the plug from the original harness and cut it off so there's ideally 6" or so of wire left, and splice your stereo's harness onto that.

that other yellow wire might have been power for an optional amplifier or equalizer, I dunno. ignore. cut and tape or heatshink the end so it won''t short.

fast-blinking is usually a sign there's a bad turnsignal bulb on that side (or a bad connection or socket). check your left turn signals, front and rear...

 

I'm installing a new radio in the '89 244, but beside the red, black orange and yellow wires which I can match to the new radio's, I only have one grey from the car's bundle
to go for the speakers to the new radio wires which are grey, white , grey-white, grey-black. I have available from the remaining unconnected wires: white-blue, white-green,
blue and green. I don't know what to make of this. Advice much appreciated.

 

stock 240's just had 2 speakers in the front doors. according to my wiring diagram, these are left: yellow-white(+) and white(-), right: grey-yellow(+) and grey(-)

any rear speakers were added aftermarket,

the stock power wiring for the radio was black (ground), yellow-black (switched power on fuse 1), and red (antenna control). there apparently was no always-on power to the radio, so any such would have to be wired from the fuse panel.