Amazingly well documented Odometer Fix

[tailor]

I have just replaced both gears and the change is jumpy on both the trip and the odometer. Can a tiny dollop of grease or similar help the situation.

Tailor in Toronto

[MadeInJapan]

My 850 was that way. I think they're all like that but still accurate.

[tailor]

Thanks to Rox and Matt and Lee, hey thanks to everyone.

So had a few Darwinian moments:
1)Forgot to disconnect battery! Lucky no srs light.

2)Try as I might to be carefull I still broke a little tab at the bottom of the cluster, fixed it with Krazy glue and piece of tic tac box, smells fantastic.

Just the damaged piece to view.

3)Did not go out and buy a few extra bulbs for the dash, but found a substitute at Canadian tire for the big bulb. Smaller ones will be purchased tomorrow.

4)Scratched the plastic on the face of the cluster, use really thick towels for anyone going to do the repair. I used a track top which did not work well.

5)As I have a turbo I found that removing the drivers kick panel and disconnecting the vacuum connection below was easier than trying to remove it at the top.

6)There is a brass nut and washer on the back of the cluster that must be removed before you can gain access to the odometer and trip gears. Do not tighten too much after the repair as you can crack the circuit board.



Brass nut top left corner,sorry about the crapy shot.

7)The magnet from the dash speaker had fallen off, more krazy glue.



See how the black plastic breaks away.

8)Did the fast forward trick using the drill and pencil with eraser, make sure it has a good bit of eraser on the end as it tends to slip with a smaller piece.

9)Use the A7 socket to check actual mileage before you start, worked like a charm.

10) No need to remove bulbs to test them ,use a continuity tester with tone and check them in the board, if no tone replace them.


Tailor

[vince]

The title is self-explanatory. However, a few comments / questions are in order.

Can someone, for the benefit of others, please explain where are the extra Torx screws that may be unscrewed, so that the entire dash top can come apart? I did the "wiggle-the-dash" thing, and ended up breaking some purely cosmetic, and not very apparent, plastic near the blinking LED alarm light.

Also, now my turbo needle won't move any more. It's not a life-threatening issue to me: I feel and hear the turbo boost. However I'll sell the car in the next few months - sigh! - and might need to fix that. Any ideas? I undid the turbo cable and put it back properly...

I personally gave up on putting the extra 13,000 miles or so that needed to be added to the odometer reading. My drill was giving me like 300 miles a minute. The sun was going to set before I could reach the target 170k reading. And, as a note, the brand new pencil eraser got chewed up by the gears, and the prospect of introducing crap in the brand new gear assembly didn't get me super extatic either!

Other than that, I'm pretty pi$$ed at my incompetent parts dealer at the Volvo stealership: I asked him what sort of light bulbs I'd need to replace inside the unit, and he had very little clue, so he sold me I think 4 of each voltage. However, what he sold is only the light bulbs, and not the bulb/socket combination. Even my more mechanically inclined friend who was giving me a hand - and received Heinekens in exchange - could not figure out how to put the bulbs in without the socket. So we ended up removing lights behind less useful warning signals, such as the "low windshield washer" and the stupid "transmission arrow".

All in all, thanks for this wonderful forum, and I hope the answers to my questions help others fix this.

Total time: 2h15, including a trip to the place where they, ahmmm, sell beer cans.

[tailor]

It is a pity you did not wind the odometer on, at 300 miles /per min you should have been done in about 43 mins.(at least 1 1/2 beers)

The replacement bulbs for the warning lights come with the socket and look like this:


These bulbs are flosser 12v 1.2w

I tried to replace just the the bulb, but it really is not worth the effort, see bulb and holder apart:



The bigger dash display bulbs are removeable from the socket and look like this;



I used the big bulbs from this packet:



I got the big replacement bulbs from Canadian Tire, you have to gently work the bulb out of the socket. They should be 12volts 3watts, I am not certain if they are 3 watts because they are not marked.

Look at page 3 of 5 of this fix:

"I agree with removing the entire dash in order to have easier removal of the instrument cluster as well as preventing breakage of the plastic where the dash meets at the windshield. There are two additional torx screws that need to be removed. One is behind the side air vent and the other under the speaker cover. You also need to remove 4 bolts that hold the air bag in place to the dash as well as carefully disengaging the plug from underneath the air bag unit."


On the turbo needle, check the connection in the drivers kick panel .


Tailor

[vince]

Geez do I miss Canadian Tire! I deported myself to sunny San Diego, California, but was born and raised in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Upon arriving in SoCal, I looked everywhere for a store named "American Tire", but there is no real equivalent to that northern iconic store where you can get car parts, car advice, car service, as well as purchase bird seed, shovels, Fantastik, two light bulbs and an electric kettle. Let alone ice skates, hockey equipment and a brand new lamp.

Thanks Tailor for bringing back the memories. Down here, it seems you have to go to multiple places, unless you're willing to patronise WalMart. And there, you probably won't find specialised car parts either.

We thought about removing the lights we had from their socket, but again, it seemed like quite the task...

Good luck to anyone else who attempts this repair.

[Linanas]

Excellent work. I wish I'd seen this last week as I've just done this job.

I suggest changing the bulbs in the dash. They are cheap and you don't want to have to do the job again for the sake of a couple of blown bulbs.

Also I removed the whole dash top - it's only one more torx screw (I think it's only one at most two) and the subsequent instrument panel removal is a whole lot easier.

For turbo models - don't forget to remove the vacuum pump line from the back of the turbo gauge. If you can't get it off - don't force it as it can break. Go below and find the other end of the line where it's easier to seperate. It's under the footwell panel - a flexible rubber hose attached to a hard plastic tube. If you aren't sure which hose just follow it back up to the gauge.

I have a '95 850 Turbo. What happens if I don't do that? Could I just replace the gear without disconnecting the tubes as you suggested?

thanks in advance.

[tailor]

The vacuum tube and other wire connections will prevent you from removing the cluster from the dash. It is a neccesary step to get the cluster out.

[Linanas]

Hi,

I have a Turbo model as well, except mine is a 95. Not sure if that makes any difference, but did you have to remove the vacuum hose as another poster suggested?

I don't know which one it is and don't want to risk the chance of breaking anything and not having it run back to default.

thanks in advance.

Step 24, in order to remove the odometer unit, you need to undo the 3 screws on the back first.

This was a non turbo model strip down. Note that the turbo boost gauge stays in situ when you pop the instrument cluster off - the needle subsequently comes off when prising the instrument cluster off - be aware, it gave me a heart attack when it first happend, but it goes back on just fine.

P.S. dont make my mistake of thinking i could save money at the scrap yard. Unit I purchasd had the same fault - DOH !

[Linanas]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Much appreciated.
Sorry, I'm extremely new to this.
I've tried looking at the vacuum diagrams from the 850 turbo manual, but it does't make sense to me. Do you have any photos? I can send you want I'm looking at if you'd like or you can download it from the main forum.

This is much harder than I thought. I just don't want to risk breaking anything and not having everything work back to default.


Thanks again for your time.

The vacuum tube and other wire connections will prevent you from removing the cluster from the dash. It is a neccesary step to get the cluster out.