Put $10 in today and magically gained half a tank. It's like when the needle gets near the middle it just drops down to just above the red. Got the third row to lock down and with the layer of tape under the **** the squeak is gone and the most annoying of the rattles is gone.

 

Bah. Some good today, some bad. Went to two junkyards over an hour away and found literally one 240. It actually wasn't that bad, hadn't been there for a long time. It was a 92 DL sedan with an auto. Grabbed the cluster, handful of switches, and the gas cap. I was going to get the tank, but then I learned that they drill those. Someone bent the hood up back so the hinges were ruined.. I regret not taking the alternator. I'll get to that in a minute.

The gauge cluster all works, minus the odometer.. Bypassed the compensator board because why not. Took it apart to look at the odometer gear, one tooth missing. So now my speedo always works, the temp gauge works, and I haven't seen my gas gauge go below how much I actually have yet. What's the difference between the K10042 and the K9800?

So, after work my car wouldn't start. Got a jump and it started. Idled super rough and the car would jolt and shudder if I used stuff like the headlights or wiper. Got it home and took a vid showing the problem. It stalled when I turned the headlights on.. So I'm assuming this is an alternator issue. Can I fix it or do I have to replace it?

5/21 - Album on Imgur

 

I'm not sure if the two instrument clusters are interchangeable. Check out this site:

Electronic Speedometer Notes

Also you might want check out Dave Barton's site:

Volvo 240 Odometer Repair

 

Tried bypassing the low pressure switch and got nothing. What else can I do to force the AC to engage?

Went to Horror Freight and got a couple jackstands, a cheap little bottle jack, and some other stuff. Replaced the rear shocks. The old ones were pretty much done. They were really stiff and crunchy and wouldn't return on their own. Drives a lot nicer with the new ones.



EDIT: Also the speedo seems to be working fine. I'll check its accuracy sometime, but it's not obviously off or anything.

 

I'm no expert on air conditioning. If jumping the low pressure switch doesn't help, check that you're getting power to the compressor. The air conditioners on these weren't that great to begin with. It may end up costing you more than the car to get it working again.

I deleted the air conditioner on our 240 when my son crashed it. I have a sunroof though

 

It's weird how having a cheap car affects how you feel about buying parts for it. I just spent $60 on hood hinges and had to force myself to click that buy button..

I've got brush/regulator for the alternator, pass engine mount because I'm taking the alternator out anyway, odo gear, NGK plugs, and a wired cassette adapter in the mail. I have a BT one, but the battery is crap and it gets stuck in my deck, might as well get a wired one and leave it in there. Oh yeah, fixed my pass speaker the other day. It was unplugged..

The car feels noticeably better with the new shocks, gonna see if I can rent spring compressors somewhere to do the fronts. I've been having a lot of fun with this car. I don't think anyone expects to see a rusty 240 do a clutch dump and peel out. And the other day a Mustang 5.0 was driving like a dick, cutting around everyone in a two lane 40MPH. So of course I matted it and eventually passed him at, uh.. Faster than I shoulda been going.

EDIT: Oh yeah, did a quick voltage check the other day. 12.05v with the engine running, 11.92 with headlights on.

 

I can't tell from your video of the instrument cluster whether the battery light is on or not. When you turn the key to the II position (engine not running), the battery lamp should light up. If it doesn't, then your alternator will not charge.

Before you go replacing the alternator, check to see what the output voltage is directly on the large positive post on the alternator. With the engine running, it should be around 14v. Also check the voltage at the small red wire at the alternator. If the small is 14v and the large is less, then you have a wiring issue.

 

So today I bought paint for the wheels and tried to put in my new NGK plugs. The end was different and the plug boot wouldn't go on them.. Oh well. Decided to give my wiper arms a really quick paint, looks much nicer now.

 

Gah. Replaced the brushes/regulator on my alternator. Old brushes looked basically done, but it still doesn't work.. 12v at idle.. At least my front wheels look nice and shiny now. Also put my fan shroud in right so it's not flapping around anymore. My main key is still missing.. Dunno how I lost that, but at least I have the valet key.



EDIT: Yep, voltage is lower with the car running and revving it makes zero difference.

 

Okay so, the little red wire, which isn't actually red because all the insulation is just gone and shorts to the wire that goes into some plug dealy on the block which is also missing its insulation, gets 8.6v while running. What does this mean?

 

There should be three wires connected to the back of the alternator. One large red wire connected to an insulated post, one small red wire that is connected by a push-on female connector, one large blue wire connected to the case of the alternator. The two red wires should go into the engine wiring harness - which should be enclosed by a black plastic sleeve. The blue wire should connect to the engine block as a ground.

You say the red wire is missing insulation. If this is the case, you need to repair this before any measurements can be taken. Trace the wire all the way back till you find good insulation and replace the section of bad wiring. I would solder any splices and cover with heat shrink tubing. If the large red wire is missing insulation, you need to make sure you replace with the proper gauge wire. I believe the large red wire runs over to a post on the starter. I would just replace entire wire.

Unfortunately your car is in the middle of the years that have the biodegradable wiring harness and suffers from loss of insulation - especially on the engine wiring harness. This can cause all kinds of electrical gremlins and bad running conditions that are hard to track down. If you have a lot of wires missing insulation in the engine compartment, you may want to consider replacing your entire harness.

 

Yeah, the big red and ground wires are fine. The little red one has no insulation.

 

So after work my car started fine, but then it immediately started to miss. On the way home I floored it through second to see what it'd do. Got up to 50 fine, but then it started missing bad and I smelled unburnt gas.. Got home and checked the battery. Below 10v. At least my hood opens easily and stays up on its own now..

 

Were the hell are the recharge port things on the AC? I can't find any.

 

The small red wire off of the alternator needs to be fixed if you want your alternator to work. Also it looks like the insulation is gone off of the wire running to your oil pressure sensor. The sensor itself looks like it might broken.

With the battery as low as 10v I'm surprised you made it home. If I were you I wouldn't be so much worried about the air conditioner as I would be in fixing the wiring issues.

 

I dunno, the oil light hasn't come on after the oil change at all, but it did come on at idle with the old oil.

As for the AC, it's just that it's been super hot lately and I have to work in dress pants, a button down, and so on. This makes the drive pretty uncomfortable without AC. And I can't see anything wrong with the small red wire, apart from the missing insulation. I heat shrinked the oil pressure wire as best as I could and it's not shorting to the red wire (Which like I said, gets 8.6v or whatever) and still nothing.

Also I don't see any lights come on fully when I turn the key to on, unless my foot is on the brake or the handbrake is up. They all just come on super dim and stay that way. (Like, I can't really even see the battery light or any of the others come on at all during the day.) I dunno if this is just from the 91 or 92 dash or whatever.

 

Fixed my odo and rolled it over to 0. Because after 10 years of the miles not being recorded, who knows how many are on this car.



You can see my faint battery light, I don't know if it's just because of the '91 cluster or what, but I almost never see all the lights coming on anymore when I turn the key to position 2. I know that the battery light used to come on. The alternator vid I posted at the top of this page is with the '91 cluster as shown by the service engine light, but the battery light also comes on.

 

Okay so, I painted my back wheels and just got them back on. Also messed around with the overdrive stuff and after not being able to get an OD light on the dash and the SRS light just turning and staying on I gave up on trying to use the '91 cluster as-is, so I swapped the speedo and gas/temp gauges onto the '86 PCB and threw that in there. Wasn't able to drive it, but the lights worked. Wired in a switch that hopefully bypasses the relay and turns on the OD. (The wires in the shifter didn't seem to have a connection so I just decided to attempt to bypass the relay.) I didn't solder anything in so if I have to undo stuff it'll be fine. Worst case scenario, I put a switch in my dash that turns on the overdrive light and nothing else.

 

 

The small red wire runs to the Batt light on the instrument cluster and is crucial to the charging system (that's why the Batt light is on dimly). It may not be touching anything that you can see but if you cut open the black plastic wiring harness shield you may find that there is no insulation there either and it may indeed be shorting against the oil pressure wire or some other wire. Disconnect the small red wire from the alternator and check the voltage on the male spade with the engine running. If it is still 8.6v then your alternator needs to be replaced. However, it is my hunch that the small red wire has lost it's insulation within the wiring harness and is crossing with another wire - which pulls the voltage down to 8.6v.