Greetings,

I recently changed a few bulbs in the cluster on my 1990 240 DL. The cluster, I noticed, smelled a bit funny when I pulled it out, but I assumed it was the smell of old electronics rather than anything to worry about. I reattach it to the best of my ability, not having found any "do it yourself" reviews or such on the web (they must have been hiding somewhere). But I felt reassured that the wires seemed straight forward. Today, the car starts up but then dies. It doesnt want to start again, and all of a sudden I see a bit of smoke coming out of the speedometer. I curse, naturally, and go to take out the cluster to examine. Everything looks like it's in its right place, and I can't see any sign of burning (wires, for example). I reattach the cluster and try to start the car. It starts. I came running to post this because I'm not sure whether the smoke is a sign of something ominous, like the need of buying another cluster, or simply a coincidental incident....in any case, was the cluster already bad and only now decided to die, or am I at fault for mixing up the wires? should I look into buying another cluster? can anyone direct me to some info on how to reattach these things? Thank you.

update: I just went for a spin and it looks like its working fine. I called a couple of garages here, and they've recommended I bring it in to inspect. Of course, doing so will cost me exactly what I was trying to save by changing the instrument bulbs myself, so I'm not too excited about the idea. Any chance the cluster is just fine (back to the meaning of the smoke, not too much, but some), or should I do some preventive work and replace the cluster?

 

That's a tough call over the internet. The smell of burned electronics is as distinctive as death itself...and like the smell of death, lingers a LONG time. You can open a fried 240 ecu that fried 5 years ago and smell it; it will still have that smell. Still, if everything works, then I would suspect lamps melting plastic rather than an actual electronic incident. It's difficult to do much damage by hooking the cluster up wrong. The 2 multi-plug connectors only go on one way. The other single plugs are for the overdrive arrow and the cruise control if memory serves me correctly. Swapping them just means they don't work. Used clusters are relatively cheap; wouldn't hurt to have one on hand. If it were my car, I'd drive it and keep an eye on it. I hate mysteries though, so I'd probably see if I could replicate the failure.

 

Does your car have a tachometer? If not, did you connect the red/white wire to the double spade on the back of the instrument cluster (the one where the yellow cruise control wire connects)? If so, you may do some damage to a chip in the speedometer. I know, I speak from experience on my '90 240. This is a common mistake when re-installing the instrument cluster. If you don't have a tach, the red/white wire does not connect to anything.

Check your cruise control. Does it still work? If not, then you may have your cause.

Rather than take it in, I would pull the cluster, check the wiring connections. Then take it apart and look for scorch marks. If you see none and the wires were connected properly, then I would check elsewhere under the dash for melted wires.

Good luck

 

Thank you for your replies. The cluster does not have a tachometer and I am almost certain that I fried the mileage indicator on the speedometer; I connected the red/white wire to the double spade on the back and I can still smell the "kiss of death". everything else works except for the mileage now. I don´t think this had cruise control at any point. Thanks again.

 

This can be repaired if you have a soldering iron and have a bit of experience using it. There is an ITT 2115 chip on the speedometer circuit board that is fried. You can replace the chip on it. Do a search here on the forum for 2115 and you will find a couple of threads relating to this topic.

In the thread below, he orded a new chip off of ebay. If you PM him, he may tell of his experience (I don't know if he ever fixed his or not).

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...1-244-a-61233/

You can get another cluster from the junkyard if soldering isn't your thing. If you do, I would try to get one from the same year if possible. Later year clusters are slightly different in that the introduction of ABS changed the signal coming from the differential. This resulted in a different speedometer circuit board. It could be that clusters from earlier years may work but I am not sure.

When I had this issue, I pulled a cluster from a later year model and found the speedo circuit board didn't match mine. Ultimately I swapped the 2115 chip from the donor cluster into mine.

Good luck

 

Thank you again act1292. I'll look into the soldering option first. clusters are expensive, somewhere around $180, and I'd really like to avoid spending on something I could potentially do myself.

Thanks again,

O.

 

Wow! $180 for a cluster from the JY? I think I paid $35 for mine. Still, if you can get the chip off of the internet, it costs less than $10 so it is the cheapest way to go.

Does the speedometer work or is it busted along with the odometer? If the speedometer works, your problem with the odometer could be something else like a broken tooth on the gear - a common problem on these models. Also, have you checked engine codes? A 3-1-1 code is a indicator that the 2115 chip is fried since it supplies the speed signal to the ECU.

Just some items to double check.

 

Where is the 2115 chip located?

 

see 240 electronic speedometer calibration (1986+) - Turbobricks Forums

on that first picture, its the dark grey/black chip next to the bright orange whatever and just to the left of the speedometer motor.