I'm new to the brickboard but have been driving volvo's for 15 years.

I'm currently driving a 93 240 and purchased two accessory gauges - a 52mm tachometer (which is quite rare) and a voltmeter. I have all the necessary parts (bezels, rubber feet) but am looking for the wiring harnesses. I can't seem to find any on the net.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

No Volvo wire harnesses exist for those gauges into a non turbo and the setup in a turbo does not help.

Just to elaborate, the harnesses do exist for non-turbo's... they came with the gauges as bought from Volvo originally. Somehow I got my hands on some NOS 240 gauges (voltmeter and ambient temp-- and in *F, to boot!) via fleaBay (for a song!). So I actually own those harnesses.

That said, for all practical purposes, the harnesses indeed don't exist... since they're only available with a new gauge, and all of the old ones have been snipped by scavengers. No biggie: They're easily made with some wire and a few crimps. :-)

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
Buckeye Volvo Club

Hey I saw your post about the 52mm tach being quite rare, I am looking for one if anybody has a lead on where to find it, when I asked the dealer they quoted me $400 for the small one and $500 for the big one

Directions are here:

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~ridgely/Volvo_docs/

For the tach, just use the red/white wire already living in your dash.

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
Buckeye Volvo Club

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I figured out where all the wiring should go but I am only confused about one wire. The white/gray wire coming from the gauge needs to go to a brown wire found in the dash centre panel, using a scotch-lock connector. I've pulled out the centre panel and have no idea where this brown wire is? And I'm not sure where to connect the scotch-lock connector.

Need some help!!
James
93 240 127K

The brown wire will attach to the three (or are there just two?) bulbs at the top of the center console. Simply pull that back and you should see it. Scotch-lock anywhere that seems "right" to you! :-)

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
Buckeye Volvo Club

Thanks Ryan,

I found the brown wires and was able to wire the tach & voltmeter properly. I have lighting!

Now the only problem is the voltmeter doesn't work??? Strange b/c my tach works beautifully. I disconnected the voltmeter and tested it directly on the battery and I could see the needle jump up to around 12 volts, although the needle didn't stay there.

Here is my wiring:

Red/Blue (+) - wired to fusebox fuse 13
Black (ground) - wired to center panel earth screw
Grey/green - wired to center panel brown wire for lighting

This wiring follows the factory wiring directly from the Volvo instructions for the gauge.

Could something be wrong at the plastic wiring connection at the terminals on the back of the voltmeter? I'm not sure how to diagnose this one?

James
93 240

Did you ground both ground terminals? There should be one for the light, and one for the gauge... I think.

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars

Yes. The ground for the terminal is off the light. Does it sound like a ground issue?

James
93 240

Most of these accessory gauges have two separate grounds... one for the light and one for gauge itself. Both need to be hooked up for the gauge to work.

-Ryan


--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars

I'll try and send you a pic of the wiring set up tonight.

Thanks for your help!
James

The light ground is piggy-backed off the voltmeter ground. When you make your harness use 2 wires into one female connector. One wire for the ground to the chassis and the other to the guage light.

If the voltmeter is working when hooked up directly to the battery then you need to confirm power and ground.

I thought the power was taken off of the fuel injection relay located under the passenger footwell?
check to see if you have power at the connector at fuse 13. If you are running both guages off of fuse 13 then it has power and it's a ground issue. When I wire up my guages I used the same power and grounds to all 5 guages.

The early to mid '80's 240 GLEs and some GLTs had the harness for the guages you are using but those cars are either scrap or the owners won't sell them.
That harness only came from the factory. When you bought the accessory at the dealership all they did was use Volvo wire and red scotch-locks to wire up the guage.

Make your own -- it's easy!

All you need is some stranded (not solid) wire, 18 to 16 ga., some 1/4" tab connectors (males and females), and some splice connectors. All are readily available in any Radio Shack. Make the connector connections with either solder or a good crimper, and you're on your way.