Volvo Radio missing, Aftermarket fire smell issue!

[dougrock]

HI! All,

Well, here we are again! We together figured out the "Whine" post I made, so hopefully together we can throw some ideas about this radio issue I have.

I bought the car with an aftermarket radio. Been smelling like an electric "burn"..found it! the other day! I pulled the crappy aftermarket radio out and it burned my hand! God! what did they do to the wires!? to hook this thing up.....grrrrrrrrrrrrahhhhhhh

Ok, I have a C70 yr 2000 and it has a dolby system assuming that means it has the factory Amp. I think I see the original radio in this car was a 910 or something? Have no clue....all I have is this burning aftermarket radio that sucked to begin with.

I was thinking if I can restore the wires back to normal I could put back a radio that was in there by Volvo to begin with!??? Is this a good idea?

I looked on Ebay and I see a nice Volvo Radio for sale. Does it have to be a certain model # for my car?
Once ya's help me find a good radio, how do I "program" it? Do I need the code for the radio I bought...or the code that's written in my glove box that was once for the original radio that I have not idea where it is...probably some landfill.??????

while I look at the wire mess. Looks like the one harness plug is still there......however I think the harness plug for the speakers is the one they messed with, there is no OEM plug left there....looks like they did a complete cut off and threw it away. Then there's the antenna one of course...I'm not missing anything here am I???

THOUGHTS PLEASE! Perhaps someone would take me a different direction and say... Get this aftermarket radio and wire that in instead?? I'm just thinking that sometimes it's better to put back what was there? Specially if I already have a "special" system there with the factory Amp.....if that's still even there .... geessh what a mess! HELP! LOL

[dougrock]

Ok, I'm not stopping looking for answers. OK, it appears from most google's...that the car came with a SC-900 radio?

I'm finding alot of SC-816 for sale, will these work? and again what is the deal with the "code" How can I get past the code problem once I'm informed what radio will work?

I'm thinking I want to fix the wires back to OEM plugs....and buy a radio that was made for the car? Again...any idea's thoughts appreciated!

[dougrock]

I found this with in Matt site here......very interesting....scary part is...I don't think I see the round pin things in my car!!! please tell me that's not what they sliced and diced?

viewtopic.php?t=81981

Good news! I found both antena push ins... I found both round pin push ins...and ONE of the square push in's is OEM they didn't cut it off they spliced behind it. HOWEVER...the other square push in they cut that off and tied into some thick red wires...are they amplifier? if they didn't splice or hook into round push in's ...how they get speakers to work? wish I knew a bit more on each of the push in's...ohh and there's also a small light green square push in...

back to seeing what I can figure out

[scot850]

You can fit any SC-XXX radio to your car. Being a 00 C70 it probably came with an SC-901 radio with the 3-CD changer. SC-900 was the earlier version of the same radio with a 3-CD player. People complained it was un-reliable in the CD changer. The issue was you need to clean the CD player laser from time to time or it can't see the discs to change correctly or run. From personal experience, the SC-900 has better sound, but the SC-901 is not quite as good, tends to be more reliable but is still an excellent unit and better than most. I recall they were made by Alpine.

Your amplifier could be in one of 2 places. Under the passenger seat. It looks like a small black brick. In the later versions they were fitted in the LHS of the trunk behind the side panel. It was a huge thing and had 4 x 100W output. If that is what you have in your car, you may find the aftermarket unit is not up to handling the power.

The 2 x rectangular plastic connectors with a the under seat amplifier have only 1 yellow wire in the smaller connector. Can't recall if that is a signal wire for the antenna in the trunk or was a constant power feed.

If you find a head unit, then you can get the code from Volvo or there is a look up on the internet for the code. It has been documented on here by me and others how to do this.

I have a bunch of head units, but shipping to the US has got so expensive it is more often more for the shipping than the head unit is worth.

If you go for the 3-CD unit there is a how-to on cleaning the laser. It is different on the 900 and 901, but they are both documented.

Neil.

[BEJinFbk]

If you want to return this system to stock,
start with figuring out what was there when
it left the factory. If you don’t do a lot with
car stereos, you’re probably in for some
research time. The good news is that there
is plenty of information here and at other
Volvo sites to get you up to speed.

Once you have a roadmap, getting the
chopped harness back to it’s original
condition gets pretty easy.

If the amp is still there, the speakers
haven’t been messed with or replaced
and the two antennas are OK, it should
be plug and play from there.

The C’s are a cut above the systems that
went out with the sedans and wagons.
These pretty much all shipped with an
Alpine built SC-901, Dolby decoder and
a Volvo version of their V12 series amp
in either a 4x60w or 4x100w configuration.

They have custom crossovers for 3-way
speakers up front, two-ways in the back
and many of these cars were equipped
with really nice Dynaudio speakers
specifically designed for these rides.

The Amps in the Coupes and Convertibles
are in the rear left of the vehicle. There
may even be an extra 6 CD changer back
there. ( Some ‘verts even had a pair of subs
in the rear seat backs. Look for the sub
defeat switch in the back of the center
console for the back seat passengers ).

Again, I’d start with learning about the
various options that were available, get
a handle on what’s left and if it still works
and let the healing begin. For a late 90’s,
early 2000’s car, it’s a pretty nice system.

Here’s a place to start:

https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/manuals/ ... onvertible

A 2000 specific bulletin:

https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/manuals/ ... /om_id/818

And some pages from the wiring diagrams:

.

7B039F79-14E8-4FBE-A1AD-10DA4E49F5E4.png (1.6 MiB) Viewed 508 times

.

ACCF7108-BC22-4036-870B-0F550D7CFEC0.png (1.35 MiB) Viewed 508 times

[dougrock]

You can fit any SC-XXX radio to your car. Being a 00 C70 it probably came with an SC-901 radio with the 3-CD changer. SC-900 was the earlier version of the same radio with a 3-CD player. People complained it was un-reliable in the CD changer. The issue was you need to clean the CD player laser from time to time or it can't see the discs to change correctly or run. From personal experience, the SC-900 has better sound, but the SC-901 is not quite as good, tends to be more reliable but is still an excellent unit and better than most. I recall they were made by Alpine.

Your amplifier could be in one of 2 places. Under the passenger seat. It looks like a small black brick. In the later versions they were fitted in the LHS of the trunk behind the side panel. It was a huge thing and had 4 x 100W output. If that is what you have in your car, you may find the aftermarket unit is not up to handling the power.

The 2 x rectangular plastic connectors with a the under seat amplifier have only 1 yellow wire in the smaller connector. Can't recall if that is a signal wire for the antenna in the trunk or was a constant power feed.

If you find a head unit, then you can get the code from Volvo or there is a look up on the internet for the code. It has been documented on here by me and others how to do this.

I have a bunch of head units, but shipping to the US has got so expensive it is more often more for the shipping than the head unit is worth.

If you go for the 3-CD unit there is a how-to on cleaning the laser. It is different on the 900 and 901, but they are both documented.

Neil.

Hey this is a great write up for me and I've learned some of this during my investigation as well... I found some papers in the glove box and they show SC-901 and SC-900 and someone wrote a code down...but it does me no good due to the fact that someone threw out the old radio. I was reading about the 3CD and how folks did not like to "clean" it. TY for the letting me know I can find help to get them cleaned. When I saw what they did putting the aftermarket junk in...I kinda walked away in disgust ...I Longgggggg ago put in a radio in my first car with amp...from radio shack...and U could eat off my neat job...I took pride in not doing a butcher job...but anyhoots... I went back and started finding things...I found the two round male push in's for Antenna one is small other is big.
I found a bigger female round plug and a smaller female plug...not sure cuz I see in pictures there's a "CD" spot an "AMP" spot and I think it say "dolby" spot. I will have to take a closer look at the holes in the round plugs to see what one goes where as the two holes seem similar in size. then there's the green small green plug...I see no marking for that, wonder what that one does? Then the two black sq push ins...one is big and thank god thats not buchered...but not sure of it's complete function other than perhaps power one and two and some anti theft stuff? the small black sq one was completely cut off and thrown away and directly wired to the back of aftermarket ...I think that's speakers? I'm still investigating. little slow as we are in cold belt and snow. It's in a cover outside but still cold and I'm old now! lol

What really I like that U said is I can fit ANY SC-xxx radio in...I have a friend who can get me a radio I think 816 or something like that, it's a single CD player I think. but looks like the plugs in the back may be different as in no green square and "dolby" is missing? but I may have an issue with code......but according to you I may not! so it's on the back burner... I'm going to have to give this car another look soon and see if I can make more sense of what they did or din't do with the wires! I'm thinking I should have 3 round female black plugs due to I have dolby system?? only found two so far...and I also want to see if the factory amp is still there...I think it is!! cuz I do have a female round plug that was left alone. Thanks again for your post Neil ....I'm going to come back here after I see more... THANKS!!

[dougrock]

If you want to return this system to stock,
start with figuring out what was there when
it left the factory. If you don’t do a lot with
car stereos, you’re probably in for some
research time. The good news is that there
is plenty of information here and at other
Volvo sites to get you up to speed.

Once you have a roadmap, getting the
chopped harness back to it’s original
condition gets pretty easy.

If the amp is still there, the speakers
haven’t been messed with or replaced
and the two antennas are OK, it should
be plug and play from there.

The C’s are a cut above the systems that
went out with the sedans and wagons.
These pretty much all shipped with an
Alpine built SC-901, Dolby decoder and
a Volvo version of their V12 series amp
in either a 4x60w or 4x100w configuration.



They have custom crossovers for 3-way
speakers up front, two-ways in the back
and many of these cars were equipped
with really nice Dynaudio speakers
specifically designed for these rides.

The Amps in the Coupes and Convertibles
are in the rear left of the vehicle. There
may even be an extra 6 CD changer back
there. ( Some ‘verts even had a pair of subs
in the rear seat backs. Look for the sub
defeat switch in the back of the center
console for the back seat passengers ).

Again, I’d start with learning about the
various options that were available, get
a handle on what’s left and if it still works
and let the healing begin. For a late 90’s,
early 2000’s car, it’s a pretty nice system.

Here’s a place to start:

https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/manuals/ ... onvertible

A 2000 specific bulletin:

https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/manuals/ ... /om_id/818

And some pages from the wiring diagrams:

.

7B039F79-14E8-4FBE-A1AD-10DA4E49F5E4.png
.
ACCF7108-BC22-4036-870B-0F550D7CFEC0.png

THANKS! I LOVE the diagrams!! This is going to help me lots too! Ok folks...I'm going to have to DIG alot deeper now, flashlight too....see what I got going on here! I was going to go by this post in ebay(but not for the C70) so ??? where they showed some of the wire colors and where they go on the missing sq black plug that was butchered.. thinking I could solder back a correct plug that would go properly in OEM radio...but going to wait till I know exactly what is what here!

gotta scroll down on page to see the wire colors... https://www.ebay.com/itm/224663294145?

but going to hold off ...till I get to see more of what I really have here!! THANKS!

[scot850]

If you have a center dash speaker on top of the dash pad the car originally had a Dolby unit which sits on a mount behind the radio under the center dash. It may still be there. However, as far as I know you have to have the 3-CD changer to be able to use it as they had the extra rear outlet for the Dolby cable to connect to.

An SC-816 is a good unit and works well with the standard under seat amp which is 4 x 40W or 4 x 50W. Not sure how it would work with the larger 100W unit. Others may know.

It is a pain if someone has butchered the wiring. I have had to repair a few harnesses due to the addition of aftermarket head units. The cables from the smaller amps are long NLA, but the amps are still out there and I believe available new/reconditioned from Volvo? Not much use if you don't have the harness though.

I have most of the stuff, but like I said, it has become so expensive to ship to the US from Canada in the last 2 years. I have to check up on an outfit that moves stuff to the US and ships cheaper within the US, but have heard mixed reviews.

Good Luck!

Neil.

[scot850]

One thing I should add, is it is likely the head unit will have bulbs out for the facia. Most are easy to swap out, but the one for the LCD read-out takes some work and skill with a soldering iron.

Neil.

[dougrock]

Hey guys, forgive me slightly...I'm ridin' out the storm...or more like sitting here getting more idea's of what I may need to assist me!
Don't ask how the heck I came up with this...I saw some wire thing on ebay and pasted it and your site came up again! AWESOME!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175785307685?
https://audiotechdirect.com/atd-arc-202 ... -xc70-s60/

I'm adding here so that I can find it again...like what U guys are helping me with...good pic's of the basics??

viewtopic.php?t=30204