I'm looking into buying an 89 240 wagon from a guy on craigslist. I went and looked at the car today. motor has a little oil at the rear, i assume old seals, 20 year old car, nothing out of the ordniary there. I crank the car and notice there is no working temperature gauge or fuel gauge, I drive the car a bit and notice there is nothing from the speedometer as well, just all dead gauges. The owner said he had tried replacing the ignition switch and had some issues with getting the wiring back in order, uh oh. He showed me the other switch he had and it had like 5 or so wires, nothing too complicated looking. Long story i know, sorry, my question is this: would all of these problems LIKELY stem from him screwing up putting in the new switch? are they all on the same fuse? also the wipers randomly came on while i was driving it, wtf? thanks for any help

 

Of course this may seem obvious but...

Don't walk; run away from this vehicle! If it was easy to fix the current owner would have done it by now. He obviously tried to muck with it himself and now the wiring is (likely) totally hosed!

Unless you're a masochist and you know 240 wiring harnesses like the back the back of your hand... then maybe you should consider it.


P.S. Please don't be offended by my sarcasm; just trying to emphasize the point. And keep looking for your next 240...

 

agreed...volvo wiring is...well...special, it makes no sense and when its 'messed up' the car is toast haha. it may be somthing small but to get into it would cost you too much time and money so i would look for somthing that works a little better. good luck!!

 

Ditto responses.