Hi all,
I am really struggling with a stereo install. I have read all of the posts on here and am still having issues. I have a 1989 244 DL. I am installing a Pioneer deh-x6900bt. On my first attempt, the new system worked as it should except I was getting no sound from the speakers. YES, the volume was turned up The speakers worked fine with the old volvo factory stereo. After reading a bunch of posts on here, many people mention the separate factory amplifier that needs to be bypassed. I have searched every inch of the center console behind the dash, around the steering column and under both driver and passenger seats. I traced the stereo harness through the car and can not find any amplifier. I checked everywhere in the trunk and nothing. Also, when I disconnected the original stereo, there was no 6 pin wire plugged into the amp output. This leads me to believe there is no amp. Another aspect is when I checked the wires that are actually attached to each front speakers, they each had a grey and a grey/yellow wire..this does not match up with the stereo end of the harness? Can anyone help me out here?
Thanks

 

Did you buy the connector adapter kit that plugs into the volvo connector. Did you ring out the speaker wires to verify continuity from the volvo connector to each speaker. I don't know about the 240's but my 89 740 had the amp which was under the panel under the steering wheel. What does the volvo connector look like. My OEM connector had a 14 wire connector as well as a round 6 wire connector . They both plug into the pre amp. The amp is 3"x2"x6" and is black and has an aluminum heatsink on 3 sides. The adapter kit you buy plugs into the 14 pin connector from your new radio.

 

you should be able to google around for a connector pin layout to test from. I found one for my 850 so I'm sure there's something out there for the 240s

 

My next step is to check continuity at the speakers. The original car harness is a nine pin (3×3) connector. The original stereo harness had wires internally connected to the stereo and then connected to the harness. I cut the old stereo harness and just soldered the new stereo wires to that original harness so I could reuse the connector that fit to the car harness. I found the color arrangement for the car wires and matched everything up and triple checked my connections. I have searched everywhere around the steering column and the only thing resembling the amp was the black cruise control box. Also, the wire that would have run from the old stereo to an amp (6 pin) is non existent which makes me think there is no amp because the old stereo worked fine.

Here is the original harness soldered on to the new hu

 

OK how many speakers do you have . Are they the stock OEM speakers. There were no more then 6 wires coming out of the Volvo OEM radio. If it were just 6 wires I would say 2 wires for right and 2 wires for left speaker and 1 positive and 1 ground. Sounds like a basic system. So you should be able to ring out the wires from the speaker to the connector.

 

There are only 2 front speakers. There are 10 wires from the stereo. So, guessing the extra 4 are for optional rears? There are also 3 wires that were spliced onto the old stereo's ground wire. 2 of them are what the diagrams show to be the front speakers. One to each. The third is one of two wires to a separate harness labeled "seek" any thoughts on why they would run the 2 front speakers from the stereo ground?

 

I would think you need to step back here and find the 4 wires to the 2 front speakers. Then find the 4 wires from new stereo and hook them up. Next find the positive +12V from the OEM harness and the new radio. Then the grounds and plug in the antenna. See if the radio plays. Once you have this working then you'll need to sort out the various extra wires. I assume one would be full time +12v for the clock and memory. Another may be wire for power antenna , and so on. Go step at a time and you'll get it.

 

All I have is this from a Mitchell manual. Hard to tell if the wire colors match the twisted wire bundle in your photo. Maybe you can figure it out by the pin numbers?
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Thanks Masterblaster,
That is the diagram for the car harness. It does match mine. I checked continuity with a multimeter just now and there is a signal from the speakers to the correct pins/wires in the diagram. I am almost certain I soldered the new stereo harness correctly. This makes me think there must be a factory amp hiding somewhere.

 

First off thanks to you guys for helping out. Still haven't figured it out yet. I hooked the stereo back up just to double check that I was not missing something in the setup menu of the new head unit. I noticed that when I turn the stereo on and off, the front right speaker pops. Still no sound though. Could it be a grounding issue? Or perhaps these old speakers are just toast? Also, does the fact that I have the blue and white remote power wire from the new stereo soldered onto the power antenna car harness wire cause any problems?

 

If the above wiring is the same as yours then disregard the wire color and just wire it by pin number. Don't deviate and to avoid an internal wiring issue I would run new jumper wires from the new head unit to the speakers and use a 12V source.

 

Thanks again for all the help! I ended up just running new speaker wires and it's all good.

 

I replaced my 90 240 stereo many years ago. At that time Crutchfield sold a conversion kit with excellent instructions on how to cut the amplifier out of the system. The amp is a heavy black box that is behind the radio but offset so it is also behind the glove box.