Instruments intermittant...
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rspi
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Re: Instruments intermittant...
I was just checking on the cost of a new one. I got one from a R in the junk yard. I was trying to decide what would be the best method to splice the wires.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
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Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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rspi
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Ok, the dash pad has been off for a couple of weeks and the first thing I did when I pulled it off was check my connections. As soon as I did the lights come on and the other things started working good... Except for the exterior (ambient) temp reading in the led and then the trip computer started going on a blink.
So a few days later I pulled the plug and plugged it back in (the one on the top right side of the cluster) and the trip started working again. Still the exterior temp goes on the frits. It works about 1/2 the time but is usually 5 degrees off. From there it goes to 10 degrees low, and sometimes it reads 100 degrees low. Sometimes it just says "LO".
So I start to clip the wires one by one and seeing what goes out in the cluster. After re-splicing almost every wire that did not have the tip stripped on I finally hit a wire that cuts off the ambient temp reading. Splice that together and it reads fine for a couple of days and goes wacky again. So today I started the car and it was reading "lo" so I reach up and touch the far right 3 or 4 wires and it pops to 94 degrees. My guess is that this thing is very sensitive to the amount of power that goes to the cluster and the cluster display converts it to what temp is should show.
Anyway, after a little while it starts to drop again so I push and tug on each wire one by one and I look down and it's finally reading what it should. Since then it has been right on for the rest of the day, about 10 short trips. Haven't see that for a few months. So I figure the pin sticking out of the top of the cluster is not making the best contact with the wire harness that fits on top of it.
This is what I'm thinking I need to do... First I thought that I would pull the cluster and scrape the pins clean to make sure there is no corrosion on them but that may make them smaller and worse contact. Now I'm thinking the best thing to do would be to build up the pins somehow.
My question is, what would be the best way or thing to do to build up the pins a little so they are fatter. Example, if they are 1 mm thick, how can I make them 1.3 mm thick so the plug that fits on them gets a good connection? Should I try to coat the pins with some solider or is there some other liquid type stuff I can put on them? Any of you that have pulled the cluster knows that there is limited space to work with this.
Or should I try to wedge a strand or two of thin copper wire in the plug to close the gap in the plug end to try to make a better connection there?
So a few days later I pulled the plug and plugged it back in (the one on the top right side of the cluster) and the trip started working again. Still the exterior temp goes on the frits. It works about 1/2 the time but is usually 5 degrees off. From there it goes to 10 degrees low, and sometimes it reads 100 degrees low. Sometimes it just says "LO".
So I start to clip the wires one by one and seeing what goes out in the cluster. After re-splicing almost every wire that did not have the tip stripped on I finally hit a wire that cuts off the ambient temp reading. Splice that together and it reads fine for a couple of days and goes wacky again. So today I started the car and it was reading "lo" so I reach up and touch the far right 3 or 4 wires and it pops to 94 degrees. My guess is that this thing is very sensitive to the amount of power that goes to the cluster and the cluster display converts it to what temp is should show.
Anyway, after a little while it starts to drop again so I push and tug on each wire one by one and I look down and it's finally reading what it should. Since then it has been right on for the rest of the day, about 10 short trips. Haven't see that for a few months. So I figure the pin sticking out of the top of the cluster is not making the best contact with the wire harness that fits on top of it.
This is what I'm thinking I need to do... First I thought that I would pull the cluster and scrape the pins clean to make sure there is no corrosion on them but that may make them smaller and worse contact. Now I'm thinking the best thing to do would be to build up the pins somehow.
My question is, what would be the best way or thing to do to build up the pins a little so they are fatter. Example, if they are 1 mm thick, how can I make them 1.3 mm thick so the plug that fits on them gets a good connection? Should I try to coat the pins with some solider or is there some other liquid type stuff I can put on them? Any of you that have pulled the cluster knows that there is limited space to work with this.
Or should I try to wedge a strand or two of thin copper wire in the plug to close the gap in the plug end to try to make a better connection there?'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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jimmy57
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I would go into the inside of the cluster and inspect for the solder joints of the connector pins to the circuit board.
And then makes sure the temp gauge connection from the temp gauge to circuit board are good.
If the connector terminals are the issue then disconnecting and connecting the connectors a few times would be at least a temp fix as it would clean the connections a bit. I have not had issues with ALPS connectors on the things that use them in Volvos (ALPS is the company making those connectors, you should be able to see "ALPS" on the body of the connector if you looked at it closely).
The engine temp gauge is a digital signal from ECM and has great reliability and usually little issues with connections. The ambient is an analog signal from the sensor directly and is a type of signal with lots of sensitivity to connections. The fact it has issues with both of these may mean a bad voltage regulator function of one of the IC chips on the cluster board and that would mean a new cluster.
And then makes sure the temp gauge connection from the temp gauge to circuit board are good.
If the connector terminals are the issue then disconnecting and connecting the connectors a few times would be at least a temp fix as it would clean the connections a bit. I have not had issues with ALPS connectors on the things that use them in Volvos (ALPS is the company making those connectors, you should be able to see "ALPS" on the body of the connector if you looked at it closely).
The engine temp gauge is a digital signal from ECM and has great reliability and usually little issues with connections. The ambient is an analog signal from the sensor directly and is a type of signal with lots of sensitivity to connections. The fact it has issues with both of these may mean a bad voltage regulator function of one of the IC chips on the cluster board and that would mean a new cluster.
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rspi
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I did look at the cluster when I had it out but couldn't see any problems. I guess it wouldn't hurt to check it again since the pad is off.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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rspi
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As much as I hated to do it, I did pull the cluster. Not sure why it bothered me because the dash pad was out. Anyway I do think I found some bad solder joints where the trip computer cable / ribbon connects to the circuit board. So I heated those joints and added a little. I'll know tomorrow.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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rspi
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Well, everything is good except for the ambient temp. It is now working but still not 100% accurate. I'd say it's accurate 85% of the time. The rest of the time it's anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees low. I'm done with it. Putting the dash pad on this morning.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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rspi
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LOL, I thought I was done with it, I wasn't. Mainly because my cruise stopped working. Not sure how many days went by before I realized it but it's not working. Also, my trip computer wasn't working and my OBD-II port had no speed signal.
It's all fixed now. I'll give you guys the shortest version that I can...
Over the past year (not sure beyond that, just got the car in May 2011), the ambient temp sometimes showed LO and just got worse over time and at the end was showing temps all over the scale, mostly low. I believe this was fixed by pulling the cluster and heating/sweating every soder joint I though mattered. I heated/melted about 30 joints and added a little soder to a few joints to make sure it had enough. The ambient temp is dead on 100% of the time over the past 2 weeks with no LO reading. A LO reading was normal to see at least once per day. My guess is that I drive about 10 trips per day.
As for the other problems, I believe it was caused by the aging, damaged wire harness. The engine temp gage and very rare fuel gage in accuracy was solved by replacing and splicing in another wire harness from a donor car. Just a note, a '96 harness was missing 1 wire that I needed so I had to get a harness from a '95, use the same year harness if you ever do that. There is a slight chance that my coolant temp gauge accuracy was improved a little with the soder joints sweating.
As for my cruise problem... When I spliced the wires together at the top of the cluster harness, one of them pulled loose and stopped the speed signal from going from the cluster to the cruise and ECU. They both get their speed signal from the cluster.
On to my power steering leak...
It's all fixed now. I'll give you guys the shortest version that I can...
Over the past year (not sure beyond that, just got the car in May 2011), the ambient temp sometimes showed LO and just got worse over time and at the end was showing temps all over the scale, mostly low. I believe this was fixed by pulling the cluster and heating/sweating every soder joint I though mattered. I heated/melted about 30 joints and added a little soder to a few joints to make sure it had enough. The ambient temp is dead on 100% of the time over the past 2 weeks with no LO reading. A LO reading was normal to see at least once per day. My guess is that I drive about 10 trips per day.
As for the other problems, I believe it was caused by the aging, damaged wire harness. The engine temp gage and very rare fuel gage in accuracy was solved by replacing and splicing in another wire harness from a donor car. Just a note, a '96 harness was missing 1 wire that I needed so I had to get a harness from a '95, use the same year harness if you ever do that. There is a slight chance that my coolant temp gauge accuracy was improved a little with the soder joints sweating.
As for my cruise problem... When I spliced the wires together at the top of the cluster harness, one of them pulled loose and stopped the speed signal from going from the cluster to the cruise and ECU. They both get their speed signal from the cluster.
On to my power steering leak...
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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pkc303
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I've got the same problem. The temperature gauge usually displays the temp for a while, then shows "LO" I've changed the sensor in the front with some from a junk yard, but no changes. It is so intermittent, I think maybe a wire, but I can't find any connections or loose wires. Anyone have any ideas, or did you finally fix yours?
1995 Volvo 850 T-5R Yellow
1997 Volvo 850R (sold)
2003 Volvo V70 2.4T, K&N air filter, (sold)
1996 Volvo 940 (sold)
1992 Volvo 740 Turbo (sold)
1990 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1982 Volvo DL (sold)
1997 Volvo 850R (sold)
2003 Volvo V70 2.4T, K&N air filter, (sold)
1996 Volvo 940 (sold)
1992 Volvo 740 Turbo (sold)
1990 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1982 Volvo DL (sold)
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rspi
- Posts: 7303
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Yes I finally fixed mine. It was a broken wire at the top of the cluster OR a bad solider joint in the cluster. I believe it was the latter. I took the cluster apart and heated every solider I could find and reach. Now it works great.
'95 855 T-5R M, Panther - 22/28 mpg, 546,000 miles
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
'95 955 T-5R Yellow Wagon, Lemonade, 180,000 miles
--------------------
Volvo's of past: '87 740 GLE, '79 262C Bertone, '78 264, 960's, '98 S70 GLT, '95 850 T-5R YellowVolvo Repair Videos
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pkc303
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I have to fix the speedometer anyway, so I'll get both done while I'm in there. Thank you very much for the information.
1995 Volvo 850 T-5R Yellow
1997 Volvo 850R (sold)
2003 Volvo V70 2.4T, K&N air filter, (sold)
1996 Volvo 940 (sold)
1992 Volvo 740 Turbo (sold)
1990 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1982 Volvo DL (sold)
1997 Volvo 850R (sold)
2003 Volvo V70 2.4T, K&N air filter, (sold)
1996 Volvo 940 (sold)
1992 Volvo 740 Turbo (sold)
1990 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1987 Volvo 240 Wagon (sold)
1982 Volvo DL (sold)
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