Greetings Volvo Forum!

I have been meaning to get a thread started for my car. It is a blue 1991 244. I have been asking questions about the speedometer here, and have not yet solved that issue, but it is probably more for lack of time than any other reason.



I wanted to put out there exactly what kind of shape the car is in, and then put out there what my plans are for it.

I am the 3rd or 4th owner of the car, and it was given to me when a garage wanted a bunch of money to repair the alternator, and fix the brakes. As it only had 158K miles on it, and it was free, I decided to see what I could do. I ended up changing the brushes (discussed here) and presto! Good working car.

Well, mostly working. That brings me to the state of the car. It is a 1991 240, with a blue cloth interior that is in pretty good shape. No working heated seats, and the radio is crap. I got the unlock code from Volvo, but most of what I can get is static with occasional staticy sound. This is the case with both radio and tape. I haven't even tried to sort that out, but it has a replacement radio antenna mast that isn't Volvo. Sunroof works, after we cleaned out the drain holes, no longer leaks into the car. I feel like the windows are a little slow. At some point, I will make a note of full up-and-down times for comparison. Instrumentation all works fine, except the speedo and odometer. The strange thing is that they both worked when they came to me--it was only after I tore the instrument cluster out, trying to figure out why all the idiot lights kept lighting up at idle. Well, after researching here on the forums, I realized it was the alternator. So I replaced the brushes, and everything was better, except that when I put the cluster back together, the speedo goes straight to 120 MPH, and the odometer does not advance. I have had it apart about 6 times since then, and the results are always the same. I would like to have a working odometer, but fortunately in WV, you don't need one if you car is over 10 years old to pass inspection.

Engine: The motor seems to be in good order. No oil loss, runs well, and is super easy to start. But there are other issues under the hood. Something is up with the power steering. It is difficult to steer at times (well, when I'm going slowly, but that is obvious, as low speed is the primary place power-steering helps). it seems like it gets better with a drive, but but always seems to get difficult at the extents. I do not appear to have a fluid leakage problem. it was a bit low when I got it, but I filled it up, and the level has not changed. I thought perhaps it just needed to be used a bit, but that hasn't seemed to have been the case. We shall see. The other thing is that the AC doesn't work. This is probably pretty routine--need more refrigerant & to find the hole... but I am trying to decide if I just want to retrofit the whole car for the new refrigeration coolant, as r34a is harder to come buy. But that is lower on the priority list--the windows & sunroof work for now.

Transmission: The automatic transmission shifts silky smooth. But, it is an automatic, and I like manuals. I am contemplating switching it out. I have actually found a donor car, but it is a 1986. I don't know about compatibility issues. This would be fun, but it is long term.

Remaining Drive-train: Shocks feel good, but dirt shields are shredded. Brakes have a little bit of jitter when depressed, I think it is the front rotors being warped. Eventual replacement, but not pressing, as it is slight.

Lighting: Intermittent left brake light out. Probably dirty contacts. cleaning them will likely solve the problem. I would like to replace the headlights with Euro-Spec lights, but that is longer term.

It is missing a few pieces of trim that I would like to replace. I figure FCP Groton may be able to help there, or what I can scrounge up in the local junkyard. Unfortunately, a lot of yards have been crushing 240s, so parts are not as readily available as they have been in the past. I also feel like the windshield wipers move too slowly. Their fastest setting is a snails pace. I may time those for comparison. But

Anyway, the first thing I will be working on is getting that speedometer working. Then I'll be evaluating some donor cars. I'll post what I find here.

 

Welcome to the forum. Free Volvo! That's a great find! I know that if I was offered one that I would take it. Paint looks good!

For to doors, I would disassemble them and clean and grease them. Give one a shot, then if it helps continue on.

Taillights from what in understand have poor connections on a printed circuit that wear out. I would inspect those closely.

With the radio, definitely make sure that the antenna is connected and not grounded.

The power steering: I'm at a loss.

Good luck!

 

I have been researching the differences between the electronic speedometer. It took me quite a bit of searching, and I didn't find the answer in the volvo forums, but I did find this: I thought it might be intersting for anyone with related questions.

RWD - K10042 Versus K9800 Speedometers

I would still prefer to put the correct 10042 in my car, but I could live with a 9800 for a bit. I could just keep track of mileage, and multiply by 2.5% to get the accurate one when I switch it out. I also did not realize that the wagons and sedans used different tire sizes.

 

So, I may have an idea of what I did to the speedometer to screw things up on it. My instrument cluster is the pretty normal 240 configuration, Clock on the left, speedo in the center, and the temp and gas on the right side. No tach. When I was going around ebay, looking for replacements, I ran into this one guy who was selling a similar cluster. He said, emphatically in bold, "do not plug in the white and red striped wire next to the speedo wires. It is for the tach, and if you plug it in and do not have a tach, you will fry the speedo controller board." Well, I went out, and looked at how I wired things up, and sure enough, I pluged in that wire. So if this information is good, it looks like i fried the controller. Can anyone confirm this? I figure someone in here must have some experience with that.

 

I had connected the tach wire to the double space on the back of the cluster. However, I did not drive the car with it connected like this so the only damage was to the 2115 chip on the speedometer circuit board. In my case the only symptoms were the cruise control didn't work and the ECU would throw a 311 code.

The read/white wire for the tach comes off of the coil and I read recently that it can get some pretty high voltage spikes off of it. Therefore, I suspect that if you drove the car with the wire connected like this, you may have fried the entire 2115 chip. Either way, you probably need to get another chip. It is a speedometer controller chip made by ITT. Google it, you might be able to find one on eBay.

To replace it, you will need a good soldering iron and a solder sucker (to remove the old chip).

Good luck

 

Thanks act1292. I have one on it's way, thanks to ebay. And being under $3.00, I can't complain about the price. It is coming via slowboat from china... but when it gets here, I'll post my progress.

 

So, now for an update:

I am still waiting for my chip to come in for the speedo. In the mean time, I did some work on the drivers side rear door.

It was very difficult to open--you had to push it in a good bit to get it to release. I once worked on another car that had a similar issue--and it was because the door latch had somehow gotten moved or knocked out of correct allighment. So, I approached it from that angle, and was relatively sucessful. However, there are only to screws--with allen heads--that hold on the latch, and I could only loosen the bottom one. The top one, I managed to strip out. I suppose I will have to get some PB blaster and try again with the next size up allen... or put a slot in the head. Anyway, I was able to move the bottom of the latch inward (direction of the green arrow) and it made the problem much better, although it is still not as easy as the rest of the doors.

Then, I was out driving around in it the other day, and it began to die. Well, I was driving around without the instrument cluster in, and it began to die. I assumed I was out of gas (which didn't seem right to me, but having no gauged, it seemed most likely). I put more gas into the car and... I still could not start it. Long story shot--the battery was pretty dead. Which brings me to the why: I called up my brother, and he said he thought he saw something somewhere about how on 240s, there is something in the instrument cluster that controls how the alternator charges the battery, and that in driving around without the gauge cluster in the car, I was effectively getting all my spark from the battery and not from the alternator. Does anyone know if this is the case? The symptoms seem to fit--I was able to jump the car, get it to start, but then not be able to keep it going after it was disconnected. Further, I just replaced the brushes in the alternator, and the battery is only a few months old.

 

If the battery lamp in the instrument cluster does not light up when you turn the key to the II position (engine not running), then the alternator will not charge the battery and the spark will drain the battery just as you described.

 

Having re-installed the instrumental panel, everything seems to work fine now--and all lights lighting up as they should in position II. The battery charges at about 14.5 volts.

I was also troubleshooting the central locks. Sometimes they worked, and sometimes it didn't. I was a little puzzled, because I also noticed that if you held up the lock, the door chime would start going. Then I recalled how 240s have infamously troublesome fuse boxes. So, I cleaned up fuse #8 (after observing that everything else on that fuse wasn't working), and viola! It worked. I figure the fuse must be on the ground side, and when it couldn't ground through the fuse, it would ground through the door chime. I haven't had time to verify this with the wiring diagrams, but I'll get there. Anyway, there is probably stuff about that on the forum, I just didn't search it out yet.

 

A side question:

This car has a manual sunroof, which I love dearly. However, the 740 I drove had the electric sunroof that opened fully and also would vent. I loved the vent, as I would leave it open all the time when it was a sunny day and I wanted to lock the car--it kept the car considerably cooler. Did they every make manual sunroofs with that similar vent function? And could I put that inside a 240? Searching around the forums seemed to indicate that the handle is pretty interchangeable between sunroofs... but as to sunroofs itself, or if 240s ever had a vent function, I couldn't figure that out (or missed it).

 

All the 240s I have seen with the sunroof are the manual type which didn't have a vent function.

 

I'm on to trying to get my car to pass WV state inspection. They don't require emissions, but there are a few things I have to fix before I take it in. The center rear-view mirror just flops around. I am trying to remove it and see what I can figure out. The only real instructions I could find to remove it are here:

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=2&t=15410

I was trying to pry off the plastic over the mirror assembly, but it was clearly just going to brake. I will report back on how this goes. I'm just not entirely sure which direction to yank on the mirror. So, we shall see.

 

Well, Removal was that easy. Upon inspection, putting it back together will not be difficult either. But the mirror itself doesn't seem to have any real ability to adjust it. So it appears I will have to find a new one, which may be difficult. All of the salvage yards I've called don't have much... IPD doesn't have anything, and neither does FCP Groton... I may check some of the unlisted yards around here.

It really is annoying. A few years ago, there were lots of 240s on the lots. We were constantly getting things for our 740, but there were always lots of 240s. Now, they seem to have all gone away.

 

From what I have done on my 740 with the speedometer and the odometer, the capacitors are what I replaced to fix both of those. When it was made, Volvo used sub-par components and they corroded very badly. The parts cost me about $2.50 for about 6 of them, more or less. If the circuit board is corroded, then you will need to find a better one. I suggest going to a salvage yard to look for one and replace the circuit boards and make sure it works. Of course you will need to change the miles on the replacement and will have to file paperwork on it. If they dont work by then, check the connection at the back of the rear axle located on the differential. Make sure that they are not corroded. If the problem is not there and still continues, check the sensor on the inside of the differential. Just take off the plate on the back to take a look.

 

91-740: I should check the capacitors, but the problem in my case is not corrosion--I hooked up a wire--the wire to the tach--when my dash doesn't have one. For some reason, the result is that it will burn out the controlling circuit. Well, it burnt out something. I have a new IC on it's way, but I should check the capacitors as well. As for the differential sensor, I'm reasonably certain it is okay, as it was me messing around under the dash that caused the problem.

Along other lines, I am trying to figure out all the bulbs for the car--I'd really like to replace the gear shift indicator light, but it uses some bulb with some really obscure base.

And the car passed inspection today. Woo-hoo.

 

I've had issues with the gear shift indicator light. What I ended up doing is whenever I went to the boneyard I would pull the gearshift indicator and other hard to find bulbs. Many times there are no 240s in the junkyard anymore so when I find one, I grab these hard-to-get items. Up till now they haven't even charged me for the bulbs.

You are correct on the speedo. 240s and 740s are different and suffer different issues. Apparently 740s have capacitor problems. Haven't heard of this on 240s though. 240s generally suffer from odometer gear problems.

 

It has been a while since I've posted, but I've done a few things.

First, I removed the radio. I took it apart, and it looks like it is crap. The circuit board is discolored, and looks like it has overheated in places. I think a replacement is in order, but the thing is that I think most aftermarket radios are as ugly as sin. So, I'm trying to figure out what would work well. It is funny--it seems like the more you pay, the better looking the radios look. For instance, Pioneer's stage 4 (DEX-P99RS - Reference Series CD Tuner with Digital DSP and USB Port with Digital Direct Signal Transmission | Pioneer Electronics USA) would look great in the car, I think. But, it is about 7 times what I am willing to pay. So, I'll just be radioless for a bit until I figure out what to do with this.

Next, I finally got the IC in for my Speedometer. I used a solder sucker & Iron to remove the old chip, and put the new one it. PRESTO! It works again perfectly. In this first picture, I show the setup I was soldering at.


In the below picture, I show the circuit board with the IC removed.


While I was in there, I went ahead and added about 300 miles (I had been keeping track of everywhere I drove on Google Earth to keep the mileage accurate). that was tedious, as I did it by just spinning the odometer by hand, so it took probably 15 minutes to add 300 miles. If I had more to do, I would find another way.

I also removed the temperature compensation board according to the directions at < https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...g-57985/page2/ >.

Then I removed the sunroof from the car. I thought it was a little stiff, so I wanted to get in there, and clean it up. I did just that, and used some spray silicone lubricant that was recommended somewhere. It worked pretty well, and it moves a lot easier now. Putting it together was little bit difficult, until I realized that re-assembling it in a slightly different order would make things easier. There seems to be more play than I like in the handle--or that is to say, the shaft that connects the handle to the gear. If I can find either a replacement shaft or the fitting for that, I may go for that.

Thereafter, I went to work in the trunk. Like many 240s, my car was missing the band that held the spare tire in place. The consequence was that whenever I was having any fun driving at all, the tire would flop back-and-fourth where it was sitting. So I rigged up a decent band with some camping webbing I had around here. But while I was down there, I noticed that someone had either backed onto something pretty hard, or tried to jack it up--but whatever the case was, it was bent up against the tire, instead of being shaped with the tire. So, I got some jeans out for a rag and a heavy hammer and bent it back. It isn't super pretty, but it is a part of the car that never shows, and the paint was not damaged. So it will due. I am also missing the drain plugs. I may see about replacing them at some point, however, that is pretty low on my list.

Anyway, that is what has been keeping me busy as of late.

 

re: those doors. I'm pretty sure those are TORX bolts, not allens. and you MUST use the largest torx that fits in them, there's several places in the torx series where a T-something will feel like it fits but a T-something+N is the correct fit. T25 and T27 I think is one of these pairs. if you use the smaller one, you'll mangle the bolt or the tool or both.

 

re: stereo, I just put a $110 Alpine CD deck in my 745T, it sounds great, and is quite reasonable to use. I got annoyed with the last couple Kenwoods and Pioneers for having excessively complex controls, too many menus to find the loudness or whatever.



thats a Alpine CDE-121

my only complaint is those 4 buttons on the left light up bright blue, and at night they are too bright. I'll probably take the face plate apart and put some black nail polish on the LEDs to tone them down.

 

Pierce--thanks for the heads up on the doors. I will try to see if I can get some Torx heads. I hope I haven't screwed things up too much there already.

As for radio, I have been looking around, and I like the alpine CDE-123 looks like it will be decent enough for my purposes.

Part of this was that I have decided to move the radio out of the dash, and down into the lower area where older 240s have it. I am going to investigate this and find out if this is more difficult than I think, but if I can, that is where it is going. At the end of the day, I want more gauges. I will be looking for cover pieces since I don't yet have all the gauges I want, especially the corner shaped piece. Maybe I will find out this isn't so easy as I would like... but I like the idea of the radio in that lower position.

I have my eyes on a mini-tach that mounts off to the side--the kind used in the early 240 T's with the older dash setup. I may add that. As much as I like a tach, I actually use that clock more than my speedometer.