88 740 GLE Charging System???

[Flageek]

Will try to keep this short and to the point.. Car would whine when lights turned on, told alt was going.. Car would not start, bench tested alt, it was bad.. Was a Bosch alt in car took the cheap route and replaced with alt from Autozone. Installed hooked up battery, instantly charging light in dash comes on (key not in ign) Friend who installed says well its a dummy light lets see if car starts.. Car starts runs like a charm. Drive to work, home and quick trip to store car dies.. Jump car starts up.. Take alt out because am told its faulty (5 diff men who know cars???) Autozone benchtested said its fine but does replace with another, same problem.. Call around to local garages they say its a wiring harness, 1600 to fix.. Any suggestions as This car had no other problems prior. Am I grasping to save this car? This alt is showing 12.1 volts while car is running I have read at several boards it should be 13.5-14.5 is this the problem or are there deep rooted issues? Why would a dash light come on without key in ign? Wheres the power coming from?

Thanks for any help..

A geek who loves her volvo...

[Peter Coutts]

This is a wild guess....but happened when I had a starter replaced

During removal and replacement the mechanic struck and/or pulled ground cable too much breaking connection of cable to cable lug (things get brittle with age!)...not all the way through but enough to make it intermittant and/or plain dead. If not the ground cable then some other connection. Sounds like a short related to replacement of the unit. I don't buy the $1600 wire harness suggestion.

The garage put two replacement starters in before they realized it was the ground cable short.

Good luck..

[Flageek]

Thanks for reply... Question does anyone know HOW the warning light is on without key? Is my thinking right in thinking possible problem with ign switch, a short in wire keeping power running through system? Any suggestions? Funny how we will fight to keep our volvos...