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Hey guys,
Well, the hotel I'm in here in NC has internet: Great! My 960 developed a problem with the ECC fan just before I left to go away. The fan stopped working out of the blue so I grabbed a used one I had out of an '88 765 and proceeded to replace the fan. 1/2 way through the replacement I realized one of the fuses (30A) was blown (stupid me). I put everything back together and replaced the fuse. About 3 min up the road the fuse blew again. It kept blowing every fuse I put in. So, I tested the old fan = Good. I swapped the ECC control unit with another = Same problem. Anyway, that's as far as I got before I left and I had dad leave the 960 with my Vo mechanic while I'm away. I talked to my mechanic today and he's still not sure what the problem is. He guesses it's the reostat, but he suggests I bring the V90 to the shop after I get home and try the reostat out of it in the 960. He also tells me that the alternator is overcharging. He says it's putting out about 16V. I haven't had any symptoms of an overcharging alt with the car, in fact it's been working wonderfully. A couple months ago I had to replace the original battery in our '98 GMC Sierra (305 V8), so I tested the alt to make sure it was ok. My meter showed it was putting out around 16V if I remember correctly. I thought that was a bit high so I checked the alt in the 960 which read about the same. As they were both running fine, I figured it was normal or there was something wrong with my meter. They have both ran fine since with no charging problems or overboiled batteries. So, I can't figure out what's going on with the 960, it keeps blowing ECC fan fuses (# 30 *I think*) and according to my mechanic it's overcharging. He said he disconnected the alt and ran the engine to see if that would solve the fuse problem. It didn't, but he did notice that without the alt connected the charge light did not come on. It did come on when the car was started. He didn't run the car long without the alt connected, so he thought maybe the battery was overcharged and fooling the charging system... Any thoughts about my two problems?
PS- Anyone know of any good Volvo parts places/salvage yards here in NC? I'm in Wilmington right now and will be traveling to near Charlotte tomorrow afternoon.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 86K mi. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).
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Hey guys,
Ok, I've finally gotten a bit farther with the fuse problem for the ECC fan. I have confirmed that the fan is not the problem by unplugging it, installing a fuse and turning the fan speed selector. The 30A fuse melted in a short amount of time. So, I looked at the wiring diagram and discovered that the next thing to try was to unplug the ECC power unit. I did so, installed a new fuse and then turned the selector. Nothing happened to the fuse. So, from what I can see, this means the the ECC power unit is malfunctioning or it has a poor ground. Now, I don't know a whole lot about electronics so I wanted to hear what you guys think.
Oh, I don't understand what the Motronic (MFI) system control module has to do with the ECC system, it's connected to the ECC power unit (pink/white wire). I don't think it's the problem, but maybe?
Also, the pink/white wire has been repaired at some point before for an unknown reason and it currently has a small spot on it that is missing the insulation.
Thanks again for any help and/or ideas!
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 88K mi. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).
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CW,
"Normal" charging voltage (after stabilization) on the 960/90 series is about 13.7 volts. Starts out about 14.5 volts just after startup but then it drops pretty quickly.
DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100
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Hi Walt,
I got home last night and I looked into the 960's charging problem a bit today. At the battery terminals the 960 was charging 18V when running at idle according to my digital meter. I started the V90 (which has not been running in a few weeks) and my meter showed 16.9V at idle. I drove the 960 to my mechanic's and tested it with his digital meter (better then mine) and it read 16.1V at idle. The only electrical problems I can remember having since I bought the car in Dec were a headlight bulb that melted to it's housing (few months ago) and this problem with the heater fan fuse. Other then that it's been great with no other bulb or fuse replacements that I recall. My mom and sister drove the 960 while I was away and it worked great. I checked the headlight bulbs today out of curiosity and they both appear fine and I saw no signs of overheating. So, I'm not quite sure what to do. According to the '94 960 service manual, the Bosch alternator has a replaceable voltage regulator (http://caunter.ca/volvo960/vp14805.pdf), but I don't see it on the car's alternator. I'm not sure this info is actually correct as it seems more accurate for the older 700/940s. The information states it is for a '94 960 though... Is there any other way to check out what's going on before I go replacing the alternator?
As for the blower, I haven't tested it as mapleleafer suggested. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do that tomorrow.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 88K mi. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).
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Hi CW,
Both our 960 & S90 only hit about 14.7V immediately after starting and then then within a few minutes are down to about 13.8V. Both consistently perform the same way.
18 Volts is scary. Is the fluid in your battery foaming or bubbling? Batteries can explode when subjected to overcharging.
I would suggest checking your static battery voltage after the vehicle has been shut off for at least 8 hours. This can give you an indication of the state of your battery. It should be ~12.7V
I am not an electrical expert by any means but find it interesting that both your cars charge in the 16V range and both of mine charge in the 13-14V range.
The VR is of a diode design and is integrated into the alternator. Others on this list have replaced the diodes to correct similar problems.
I am wondering if you have a corroded connection or fault in the battery causing the VR to put out more voltage to compensate. Perhaps you have a very high draw only when the engine is running. Most likely it's the VR but on both cars??? Again, I am no expert.
Other will add that have more experience.
DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100
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Well, I finally discovered the real alt problem! I SO didn't want to replace that alt and something just didn't seem right. I was picking away at the V90 today and I decided to finally take it for a drive. While it was out I thought I'd compare it's battery and charging voltages to the 960's. I also checked our '98 Sierra. I used our multimeter and I also borrowed my mechanic's. Our meter was way off (too high) and my mechanic's would show the voltage creeping up on the 960's battery while it wasn't running! So, I went to my mechanic and showed him what his meter did. He said that's weird and went into the shop and found a brand new meter that a parts guy reciently convinced him to buy. We tried that and it gave a totally different reading on a '93 245 then his old meter did. He gave me the new meter and told me to take it home and try it on the 960. So I did: The 960's battery read ~12.7 with the car off and charging was around 14.3. The V90 read around 12 with the car off and ~13.8 with it running. The Sierra was about the same as the 960 and our '04 Liberty was about the same as the V90. So, I guess the 960's alt is just fine, maybe a little different then the V90 as it's a '94 and the specs may be slightly different then the '95+ 960s(?) I knew something didn't make sense (no boiling battery, same reading as the truck, no blown bulbs, etc). Quite annoying though, as I would have rather not wasted all that time trying to figure out what was going on.
Now I just have to figure out what's happening with the darn ECC fan! Hopefully I'll get that sorted out on the weekend or next week. I guess I'll try disconnecting the fan and see if the fuse still blows when the fan dial is turned... Any other suggestions if that doesn't work?
Thanks very much for the help so far guys!
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 195K km, '94 964 > 88K mi. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).
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Put it all back together and leave the fan unplugged. Put all the controls to "auto". If it stops blowing the fuse, you probably have a broken brush holder in the motor causing the hot lead to intermittantly ground to the case.
If your mechanic is calling the power amp a "rheostat" then he shouldn't be working on your car.
As far as the BAT light not going on with the alternator "disconnected"... if he unplugged it, he removed the ground circuit needed to turn the light on. If he removed the belt, that would be different. Normal charge voltage is 14.5-15.0 volts but up to 15.5v is allowable. Check it at the battery with a known good meter. The symptoms of overcharging are short light bulb life and frequently low fluid level in the battery.
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