Hi All,
Just picked up a nice looking V70R for a seemingly reasonable 6300. It has some problems that I'd like an opinion on. The biggest problem is the speedo and odometer are both not working. I'm guessing the speedo cables went the way of the do-do bird. What is involved in having this repaired and what can I reasonably expect to spend have this repaired. Second, the E-Brake isn't working. This is probably not a biggie but I truthfully know nothing about the car. Third, the check engine light went on. I have an Autoenginuity code scanner and analyser that I'll plug in tomorrow and pull the codes to see what's up. The car ran OK, idle isn't the smoothest I've felt but I'm thinking the 5 cyl motor is probably not the most well balanced of motors. Does the transmission in these cars have a lock-up torque converter? I couldn't really tell. I drove the car home about 50 miles and other than these issues it seems to run pretty good. At the price I do expect to have to pump a few more bucks into it, I just hope this hasn't been a big mistake.
The car will be going to an indy shop here in Rhode Island that specializes in Volvos so hopefully for another 1500 or so I can get the t-belt changed and the other problems rectified.
Thanks for any information and possible encouragement.

 

One thing is What year is it?

The ABS module can Stop the speedo and Odometer from working. If the module is bad sometimes they will not work.

Let us know what codes you pull from the system.

Yes they have a Lockup converter.

 

Hi,
The car is a 1998. I'll have the codes later today. I verified that the speedo was actually working OK about 200 miles ago, maybe a month. I'm sort of hoping the clear and reset function in my tool will at least get the speedo to burp.
So it begins :-)

 

Although the check engine light was on, my machine wouldn't pull a code. Now, I went through the clear code procedure and the check engine light went off. I took the car out for a bit, the speedo and odo started working. I had it set to watch MPG and that was registerng too. After about 5 miles the MPG thing showed 4 dashes and the speedo/odo were dead again but no check engine light. I pulled over, stopped the engine and did a code reset again and everything worked again for a little while. FWIW, battery was reading about 11.6 volts.
Any ideas what might be the cause for this action?

 

Do you happen to know if the car had the Evaperator replaced lately?

 

No, I wouldn't know that. Are you talking about what might be some kind of charcoal canister thing for fumes? I really have zero service records for the car but it is going in for a full boat run through including TB change.

 

The Evaperator is for the A/C. To replace it the Dash needs to come out.
Sometimes the plug is not secured all the way and will cause similiar problems.

Remove the lower dash panel. Then look up for a Yellow plug with a purple Pull tab that releases the plug.

Remove the half of the plug and inspect. Then reinstall and see if it helps.

Is the ABS light on at all?

 

Nope, no ABS light. I'll check the connection and don't know if the evap was replaced ever. The oly other light I saw was a little orange light about 2 inces left of the CEL. No owners manual yet so I don't know what it's for but it is out now.

 

Does it kind of look like a circle with a bunch of lines? If so then it should be the bulb failure light.

 

OK, funny that it is not lighting up now. I'm going to do the thing with the plug under the kick panel, check the connection. Is that the main power supply for the dash? Main ground too? The problem looks like it could be (I hate to say) a ground issue. I will put my scan tool in place and do a stream capture to see what I can see. The tool monitors MPH. If I see that go from a good signal to nothing could it be the sensor on/near the transmission? Is that something I can see, say to check wireing? Electrical problems have caused me to give up on more than one car. Hope this isn't the case here. Nothing else fails at the dash, tach's OK as is fuel and other indicators. I can make the up arrow flash by pressing the third button to the right near the tranny selector but as of yet I don't have an owner's manual so all thei might be normal.
Thanks for your guidance, all I have to do is stay patient!!

 

Yes that plug is the Main supply for the Dash.

If you push the W button by the shifter the Arrow should light and stay lit. It puts the Transmission into Winter mode. The car starts off in 3rd gear.

Here is a link to some wiring diagrams maybe you can look them over and find out all the sources.

I know the ABS module has something to do with the Speedo as well.
http://www.volvotechinfo.com/WD123/

 

Is there supposed to be a lamp on the dash that says ABS? I have one for brake and praking brake but not ABS. This is ignition on, not running.

 

Yes there is supposed to be an ABS light.
The bulb might have burned out.

 

TRAC light supposed to be there too? Car has a trac switch on the dash. I'm suspecting someone disconneted these because they stayed on. How difficult is bulb work on this dash? Do it all from underneath?? What type of system failure might make both TRAC and ABS act up? I've checked some fuses under the hood and they all look OK.

Thanks.

 

My guess is the ABS module is bad and they removed the Trac's light and the ABS light to sell the car.
That will affect the Cruise,ABS,and speedo.

 

Thats what I'm thinking too. I took the car out to a sandy road and nailed the brakes, they just lock up. Does the Volvo pulse the pedal like most abs cars? Pushing on the trac switch seems to do nothing. How does one access the bulbs on the dash to replace them?
I saw here or at another forum mention of a guy Victor who rebuilds the ABS module for something like $145.00. Warranty and everything so maybe I should give this a shot before torching the car. In theory, could the speedo and odo work momentarily with a mostly failed ABS module? Using my scan tool I can get odo and speedo to work after a reset but only for a few miles.
Thanks for your patience with a frustrated noob.

 

Read through this post for the General idea on how to get to the Bulbs.
The S/V70 is very similiar to the 850.
https://volvoforums.com/m_17710/tm.htm

Yes the Pedal should pulse when the ABS is activated.
http://home.earthlink.net/~vicrocha/...vo_V70_ABS.htm
Link to the Site for the ABS rebuild.

 

I have the bottom kick panel off under the driver's side. There is a metal grate there with a bunch of SRS warmings. Can I remove this metal grate in an attempt to snake my hands up under the dash to the bulbs? Tearing the dash apart doesn't appeal to me. I'm going to send out my ABS module for diagnostics and a re-build. This will hopefully get the speedo amd odo back on-line. Registration, new tires and a state inspection to follow. After that it is going up for sale CHEAP. It will be a functional car needing some electronics. This car is more work than keeping my 23 year old MB on the road. I'm bought the car in the hopes I was getting a good deal, wrong. Anybody interested can either PM me or check E-bay Item 4615453402 which is the car I bought. Sad that such a nice car was so abused. Engine/tranny are good and strong. I may change my mind after is fixed, but I'm scared of the car now.

 

Yes you can remove it. But that won't really give the clearance you are searching for.

 

Yeah, I've decided to let this one go to the professionals, that and the timing belt. I'll fix the ABS and minor underhood issues. I am budgeting $500 for the timing belt and 200 for the dash work for the lights. This'll be at an indy, an expensive one granted, but I feel better this way. I bought a service maunal from book4cars but it doesn't cover the replacement of the hydraulic controlled belt tensioner and I'm not into guessing right now. Know of any on-line service manual, factory quality? I really think the ABS unit is at the heart of my problems, at least I hope so. The tire search begins tonight. I'm shooting for 4/15/06 as it's fully redy to drive date. I'm more interested in beginning to like my Volvo. After this first puch, I should have a nice car. I want to drive it for 10 years if possible and 300K miles. Heard it can be done and I'm religious about fluid changes, plugs Timing belts etc so it has a shootng chance.