97 850 T5 Fuel, speed, and odometer not working.

Murdles · Post by **Murdles** » 16 Jan 2019, 12:34

Hi all! New Volvo owner here. I got a 97 850 a few months back. When I got it, the fuel guage, total mile and trip odometer were not working. According to the guy I got it from they stopped working after changing the timing belt around 146k. I've been using the digital trip odometer to measure fuel levels. Well yesterday after wiring up a new stereo I went for a drive and my speedo wasn't working. I flipped over to my digital trip readout and it froze when the speedo went out.

Could any of these issues be connected and how to fix?

I know the gears on the odometer go bad often, and I haven't cracked it open to check, but he said it stopped after timing belt change? Would/could these be connected to the fuel guage not working? Why would speedo stop after stereo install?

The turbo, temp and tach guages all still work. Help!

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 19 Jan 2019, 15:31

My 95 has a working speedo but the tach, fuel gauge, and coolant temp only work intermittently. I suspect that the gauge clusters themselves break after 20+ years of vibrations and thermal cycles. The only solution is to then replace the cluster with a known good one, or you could individually replace each gauge with a working one. Since my speedo still works I've been putting off replacing the cluster. I'm sorry this isn't a definitive answer but it hopefully gives you some direction to go in.

Post by **misha** » 19 Jan 2019, 16:41

Instrument cluster DTC are readable on both...OBD I and OBDII...except that obdII will need at least Vol-Fcr(special Volvo scan tool)...generic code readers will NOT work on anything other than ecu.

Post by **esl_97_850_T5** » 22 Jan 2019, 00:58

Scan with a) xiaotec "850 OBD-II" Android app, or b) Vol-FCR or volvo850diag programs on Windows.

Report here any DTCs for COMBI (ECU 51) and/or ABS (ECU 01).

For "850 OBD-II" app, post its Summary here -- it's the first part of the 850log.txt.

Murdles · Post by **Murdles** » 22 Jan 2019, 13:49

I'll try that, thank you. The speedo started working again, but then my stereo wouldn't turn off after removing the key. Also, my heater fan stays on, but I think that's just a bad ground. Do you think these could possibly be ignition issues?

Post by **abscate** » 15 Apr 2019, 09:40

polskamafia mjl wrote: ↑19 Jan 2019, 15:31 My 95 has a working speedo but the tach, fuel gauge, and coolant temp only work intermittently. I suspect that the gauge clusters themselves break after 20+ years of vibrations and thermal cycles. The only solution is to then replace the cluster with a known good one, or you could individually replace each gauge with a working one. Since my speedo still works I've been putting off replacing the cluster. I'm sorry this isn't a definitive answer but it hopefully gives you some direction to go in.

You've got to be getting close to 300k now, right Polska?

Maybe for Dyngus Day??

tardcart · Post by **tardcart** » 15 Apr 2019, 10:36

It sounds like you need three different things. fuel pump/sender R&R, new ignition switch, and gears for odometer. Its nice to hope one thing is wrong....with a volvo its going to be all three plus you will cause another problem when you fix these, so 4 total. The only thing hooked to position 1 is the radio and fan so you can just turn them off so your batt wont run down. I would advise others to just get another volvo radio as they sound much better than aftermarket and you dont have to ruin all the wiring. The premium radio. I think you can stuff a tape body in that gives you blue tooth if thats what you were after.

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 15 Apr 2019, 19:20

Murdles wrote: ↑16 Jan 2019, 12:34 Hi all! New Volvo owner here. I got a 97 850 a few months back. When I got it, the fuel guage, total mile and trip odometer were not working. According to the guy I got it from they stopped working after changing the timing belt around 146k. I've been using the digital trip odometer to measure fuel levels. Well yesterday after wiring up a new stereo I went for a drive and my speedo wasn't working. I flipped over to my digital trip readout and it froze when the speedo went out.

Could any of these issues be connected and how to fix?

I know the gears on the odometer go bad often, and I haven't cracked it open to check, but he said it stopped after timing belt change? Would/could these be connected to the fuel guage not working? Why would speedo stop after stereo install?

The turbo, temp and tach guages all still work. Help!

There's a yellow wire with a black stripe that brings the
VSS ( Vehicle Speed Signal) into the stock Volvo radio.
It's an input for the OEM radio's automatic volume feature.

With an aftermarket stereo, it shouldn't be connected
to anything. That's all that I can think of...

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 17 Apr 2019, 00:15

abscate wrote: ↑15 Apr 2019, 09:40
polskamafia mjl wrote: ↑19 Jan 2019, 15:31 My 95 has a working speedo but the tach, fuel gauge, and coolant temp only work intermittently. I suspect that the gauge clusters themselves break after 20+ years of vibrations and thermal cycles. The only solution is to then replace the cluster with a known good one, or you could individually replace each gauge with a working one. Since my speedo still works I've been putting off replacing the cluster. I'm sorry this isn't a definitive answer but it hopefully gives you some direction to go in.
You've got to be getting close to 300k now, right Polska?

Maybe for Dyngus Day??

Yes I'm pretty close; 289k miles at the moment. Although, to be fair, I read the mileage off of the ECU, so if the gauge cluster has ever been replaced then this isn't the correct mileage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯