Driving home from - of all things - a regional Ohio Volvo meeting. Car enjoying a fresh oil change, new Bosch plugs, new Bougicord wires, new Bosch distributor cap and rotor. Listening to music. Periodically checking the gauges as I often do (self-fulfilling prophecy?) and all is nominal. All is well in Volvo-land.

Then I hit a bump on the highway. The car dies. Completely. Totally! No dash lights. No interior light. The clock stops. Absolutely nothing. And of course, no starter.

(Of all the on-the-road failures I expected myself to be in, this isn't one of them.)

I had the evil engine wiring harness replaced about six years ago and did not expect any catastrophic electrical failures, so imagine my shock (so to speak) as I coasted to the right shoulder or westbound I-70.

While tens of thousands of pounds of semi-trucks blow by me while on the shoulder of this major highway, I get out and pop the hood. Having absolutely no power to anything, I started at the battery and started wiggling:
Both battery cables on the battery
Negative battery ground connection
25-amp FI fuse
10-amp fuse on top of the coil (which shattered in my hands; I replaced it with a 25-amp spare hoping that that was the problem...nope, but need to be addressed eventually) What's that fuse for anyway?
The main positive cable on the back of the alternator
The evil thin red wire on the back of the alternator
The voltage regulator on the alternator's back

Got back in the car. Clock is working. Interior light is on. Turn key...dash lights on but very dim; volt meter shows 10-volts. Starter would not turn. Battery is beyond dead. (An hour ago, it started perfectly without a single complaint.)

Got someone to jump the battery. Car started but it took several seconds for the engine to fire. Volt meter now reads 16-volts (normally it's at 14 or so) and the needle is vibrating. The parking brake light on the dash is pulsating. Turning on the fog lights or turn-signal causes a dramatic drop of voltage before almost instantly returning to the upper red-zone.

But at least it was running! So I thanked the stranger in the Subaru and drop off.

Ten minutes later, this time on I-675 southbound, I hit another bump.

Guess what? Complete, total, utter, death. Exact same symptoms - nothing in the car work. No electric at all.

Same routine - coasted to shoulder, pop hood, feared for life, wiggled above items, turned key, weak electricity but no start.

After a nice State Trooper jumped me, I cautiously drove home, avoiding as many bumps as possible. Drove the car's front on ramps, shut it off. Tried to restart, had weak electricity and dead battery, but the car itself was alive.


I suspect hitting the bump shook something, causing something to short-circuit somewhere, frying the voltage regulator and killing the battery (which was seven years old anyway, so no big loss). I suspect that evil thin red wire (D+ ?) which I wiggled the most. I'll crawl under the car Sunday (May 18) and take a look.

Luckily, I bought a re-manufactured 240 alternator not long ago. Should I replace just the regulator or the alternator as well, which is original and 24 years old? I have some spare wire and spade connectors to rebuild the D+ and/or the B+ wires. I think the D+ wire goes to the dash light, but where does the B+ wire go? I couldn't find the info in my Bentley. I'll also need a new battery.

I also need to replace that 10-amp fuse holder on top of the coil that shattered. Should I use that waterproof blade fuse holder IPD sells, or another regular white plastic one?

Phew! Sorry for the rant, but I'm sure y'all understand! Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks for reading.

--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 279,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

After consulting with my indy mechanic, it appears that the voltage regulator on my alternator wasn't doing it's job...probably because the brushes were almost completely worn down. My bad. That in turn boiled the battery and maybe killed the alternator, which opened the circuit and killed the car.

So I replaced the alternator with a rebuilt one and new bushings, and voltage reg. with a new Bosch, new battery, and new battery cables since the old ones didn't look too healthy. I cleaned and greased all electrical connections.

And Vlad seems to be happy. (But it also seemed to be happy before it died on me! Keep your fingers crossed.)

So I no longer can brag about having an original 24-year-old alternator in my car. I was running on borrowed time.

I did examine the wires in the engine compartment and didn't see any broken insulation. I did rewrap a harness that feeds the ICU with shrinkwrap because the original sheath was flaking away. I cut the shrinkwrap open and wrapped it around the wires, securing it with plastic ties every inch or so.

I've never changed out an alternator before, so it was a challenge. Thanks to everyone for their advice!
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 280,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

I removed the old alternator and the voltage regulator. The brushes in the regulator were almost completely worn down. Checking that regulator was on my to-do list this summer...I guess I should have checked it earlier!

Other than the toasted battery and worn brushes, I can't find anything else obviously wrong. I checked some of the wiring in the engine compartment, including the harness connector attached to the center firewall, and it looks good.

Could my total failure be caused by the brushes losing contact with the alternator? Maybe it happened during my trip and the car was running from the battery, but none of the idiot lights came on. That is what's puzzling me.

I'll get a new battery and alternator installed soon and report back.
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 265,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

Sounds like the Gray connector block near the rear of the valve cover is fading away. I had something similar to this and found it was the Firewall side was wearing out - and this was on the dreaded '87 model harness - since it was only 4 wires i used a Trailer Hitch connector ( solder and heat shrinked and heat wrapped) and all was well....

Thanks for the tip...whoever you are! :)

I checked that connector and the wires look to be in good condition. I had the engine wiring harness replaced some time ago. I even checked some wiring that runs from the ICU to underneath the engine. The sheath was gone and it was soaked in oil. I cleaned the oil off and examined each wire; everything looked fine with no cracked insulation. (I'm hoping that this is a sign that the rest of the wiring is fine.) I wrapped it with shrink-tubbing and wire ties.

As strange as it sounds, I'm disappointed that I didn't find any obvious wiring problems, hoping that it would be an obvious problem.

--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 265,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

NO NO NO - Damnit! - I'm PUNK240 - NOT PAGEDA - thought this tuff was resolved last month!
--
1992 - 244 - AW70 "Soft Ride" / 1987 - 244 - M47 (Hydra, turbo bars, bilstein, urethane bushings - now deceased)

Hey Mike,

Completely not on topic, but what and where was this regional Volvo event? I recently (in the last month) bought an '83 245 as a project car, and would like to find some other Volvo enthusiasts around. (I'm in Jeffersonville, so just over a half an hour from Dayton)

Wes

Hey Wes.

Ohio is a chapter of the Volvo Club of America. The website is www.buckeyevolvoclub.org . We usually meet the last Saturday of each month (although May's meeting was an exception). In June, we will be meeting in Dayton to tour the Packard museum. Our meeting info is posted on our website. I'll try to remember to put a blurb here to remind folks.

You and anyone else in the area are welcome to visit and join if you wish. We talk about Volvo news, cars in general, and try to have a special feature topic at each meeting.
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 265,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

Probably a good idea to replace those wires that wiggle and clean all the contacts. External vlt reg are easy enough too. Radioshack has waterproof fuseholders up to 30amps.

Thanks for the RadioShack tip. I bought two fuseholders from them and replaced the 10-amp fuse. I'll do the same with the 25-amp FI fuse once this crisis is over.
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 265,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

The ignition plug can come unplugged very easily leading to your sudden death, no start situation. Drop the cover below the steering column (little round twist plugs keep in place) and you can feel the back of the ignition swith plug (round plastic piece with a dozen or so wires inserted). Make sure it is pushed in snuggly against key cylinder...it could be an easy fix.

Jay
84 245 GLTi 235k
88 740 GLE 220k

The ignition plug can come unplugged very easily leading to your sudden death, no start situation. Drop the cover below the steering column (little round twist plugs keep in place) and you can feel the back of the ignition swith plug (round plastic piece with a dozen or so wires inserted). Make sure it is pushed in snuggly against key cylinder...it could be an easy fix.

Jay
84 245 GLTi 235k
88 740 GLE 220k

The ignition plug can come unplugged very easily leading to your sudden death, no start situation. Drop the cover below the steering column (little round twist plugs keep in place) and you can feel the back of the ignition swith plug (round plastic piece with a dozen or so wires inserted). Make sure it is pushed in snuggly against key cylinder...it could be an easy fix.

Jay
84 245 GLTi 235k
88 740 GLE 220k

Shooting from the hip, the first thought is a toasted alternator, or a bad ignition switch. If you have a lot of keys (heavy) on your ignition key ring, its time for a new ignition switch. Other causes might include a bad ground at or near the ECU.

jorrell
--
92 245 250K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!