1989 240DL radio wiring schematic

lkirch23 · Post by **lkirch23** » 19 Sep 2005, 11:46

Howdy, all.
Just bought a "new" 1989 Volvo 240 DL radio (w/cassette) and am having trouble with the wiring. Can anyone give me a good rundown on the wire colors that are used and those that are bogus? There are no back speakers, so that takes some of the problem away, but there are a few wires with no partners. The previous radio was stolen (wires cut), so I'm flying blind with this one.
Thanks for your help!

Lisa

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 12 Oct 2005, 20:55

black or brown on automotive electronics usually denotes ground but people that buy wire ususally buy black and do not follow this convention. You should have a ground black, 12v all the time red or orange 12v uith key on red or orange sometimes blue. Then you have the pairs of speaker wires you can pull your speakers and look and that should show you the rest. You can take a c cell and get the polairity of the speakers. There is only one way to connect them up properly and the unit will sound much better. Do not just try to hook things up you can buy a cheap voltmeter at radio shack. Get it right the first time.

wise 54 · Post by **wise 54** » 31 Oct 2005, 17:27

I own a farm, and to get around the tracks etc i have a volvo 240 est with the back part of roof chopped off(homemade pick up). it has no bottom half to the dash board, therefore no radio but i still have the original that id like to wire direct to the battery. what wires go where? I can get the stereo to switch on but no sound as the amp isnt wired up. please help as its very boring traveling along tracks with no music.!!!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 25 Nov 2005, 12:54

lkirch23 wrote:Howdy, all.
Just bought a "new" 1989 Volvo 240 DL radio (w/cassette) and am having trouble with the wiring. Can anyone give me a good rundown on the wire colors that are used and those that are bogus? There are no back speakers, so that takes some of the problem away, but there are a few wires with no partners. The previous radio was stolen (wires cut), so I'm flying blind with this one.
Thanks for your help!

Lisa

I've just had my arm twisted to fit a radio on a Volvo 240 of similar vintage. Found your message while looking for the answer myself. In case you haven't found out yet, the only obvious colour is the big black earth wire. Blue/white wires are the speaker +ve wires, speaker -ve wires being all white and all blue for left and right respectively. Only way to find out which speaker +ve is which is to check for continuity. Another all-blue wire is the battery live via the ignition switch (correct one can be found via meter or bulb), green wire is a continuous live (very unexpected!), and the red wire connects to a motorised aerial (if fitted).

This applies to UK spec - no idea if other countries are the same, but should do as a guide.

Roger