What years are the instrument clusters interchangable with the one from a '91
240 non-turbo car?

thanks for any help in advance.
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If you use a cluster from aLH 2.2 85-88 in an LH2.4(without abs)it will have high idle after highway running
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Rene

do you mean the speedometer gauge or the circuit board? Do you have ABS? If yes then you need a post 91 speedo or no then you need a pre 91.

It's for the circuit board without all the gauges. No ABS. Thanks for the info Yama.
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While "basic interchange" may go back to 86, I'm skeptical any two years are identical. You may want to try for the real thing, or at least an airbag year.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

An expert is a man that has made all mistakes possible in a narrow field of expertise (Albert Einstein)

85 used a mechanical speedo so that definetely won't work. I'm pretty sure the 86 to 91 as long as the 91 is non ABS will work. I think 1990 was the first year for the brighter halogen bulbs so that may appeal to you. The indicator bulbs sometimes are different for the years so you should use the colored plastic strip from the orginal cluster.

I'm stickin' to my story. Yeah, you can get the car home with any of them, but it won't be right. Rene's post is absolutely true. VSS is needed so 89's a minimum. You won't have SRS warning until 90. I was just today tracking down cluster differences for the cruise take-off between 90 and 91 in order to help someone with a '90. So, what's that leave?

I think 1990 was the first year for the brighter halogen bulbs...

Our two '89's have them. Our '90 has them. Our two '91s have them. They're expensive!!

Of course, if you're a geek like me, you can rewire things if getting the right one is that difficult. Makes me wonder why the Xray is just sittin' back and sayin' nothin' about why the board needs to be replaced.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

The taste of low quality lingers long after the satisfaction of low price.

"You won't have SRS warning until 90"

Art,

This statement confuses me a little. The SRS computer isn't on the instrument cluster board nor any SRS diagnostics. The SRS warning is just a light bulb. When the SRS computer wants the light to turn on it goes "high". All the warning lights are just a row a light bulbs. What they mean is determine by a see through colored platic strip that is easily removed and switched from one cluster to another.

"VSS" ?

I always thought that the instrument cluster from the most part just powered gauges and powered up the indicator bulbs. If this function is built into the speedo then I would suspect that any 85-91 cluster would still send this signal through properly. The 86-91(non ABS) use the same speedometer.

"Rene's post is absolutely true. VSS is needed so 89's a minimum."

I'm confused here. The 1986 speedometer is the same as the 1991. What do you mean?

I have a both a 1986 and 1990 instrument cluster board in storage and will pull them out to take a look. I still feel there completely interchangable.

Al, it is just a nitpicky thing--

If you read the overall drawings copied into the Bentley, you'd think the SRS change was just a new use for an unused pin 4 and bulb, but the detailed drawings indicate that SRS warning lamp is just a bit more than meets the eye of a Bentley reader.



In the end, we're probably not going to do much about an SRS warning if we got one, so being nitpicky is just that. But good discussion anyway.

The VSS is generated by the older 86+ gauges, but the 89 board is the first one to deliver it to the ECU, because LH2.4 uses it. This is more than just a warning lamp; it affects driving.

Like I said - just nitpicky answers to the OP's question. It wouldn't hurt for you to dig out those cluster boards you have, and have another look. I know I haven't seen them all.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Life is like a roll of toilet paper.
The closer you get to the end the faster it goes.

I guess the right answer is 1990 or 1991 ABS. That little circuit in the picture is listed in the wiring diagram as "HIC". Not sure its function but maybe an opto-isolator or some other protection circuit. The SRS light is very important so having that there must be needed even though the bulb might work without it.

You're correct, we're just speculating about the SRS diagnostic light.

The right answer is still 1991 only. Sorry to be so stubborn, but the part number is the last word in "interchange" and those for the cluster circuit board are different 90 and 91. I can maybe guess the difference is in cruise, and that might not matter for a car without it, but can't be sure. Maybe your stare and compare of the physical units will reveal the difference.

Some other interesting year to year differences revealed by the parts fiche are the speedometer gauge changes. 88 is not the same as 89, but 89 through 91 are the same regardless of ABS. 92 and 93 are the same.

Another thing I learned from looking at the fiche: The Canadian market 240's only got one speedometer for sedans and wagons.

Not having ever owned an 88, I can't guess how the speedometer might have changed electrically prior to LH2.4 -- maybe the wire pin for the taximeter output? I suspect the part number change just reflected (ouch) the new matte finish.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Dad: Someone who hopes his sons will turn out to be just like him, and who is afraid his daughters will meet someone who did.

I admit alot more changes then I first thought and I never had to deal with any cruise control issues allthough I installed one in a 1992 and worked without issue.

Was 89 was the first year for the silly 5K miles service reset light hence the difference between 88 and 89?

Did 1991 used the same speedo as 1990 but need a signal conditioner to reduce the tone ring signal by 4 to compensate for the 48 vs 16 tone ring where 1992 and 1993 went to a different speedo.

Looking at my 1990 wiring diagrams it looks like the VSS signal feeds both the ECU and the cruise control module. Seeing that the 1990 and 1991 use the same ECU I would think the output is the same.

Very stimulating questions, Al. I know some of the answers.


Was 89 was the first year for the silly 5K miles service reset light hence the difference between 88 and 89?

I like that silly light. Trouble is, the return spring post is busted on every one I see. Having daughters, I like it to work, although I try to put a sticker on the windshield to have the same effect. Red lights are more attention-getting. But no, I don't know when that kicked off. The '89 New Car Facts book only makes mention of two speedometer improvements; the matte finish and the red tenths digit for renewal parts.

Did 1991 used the same speedo as 1990 but need a signal conditioner to reduce the tone ring signal by 4 to compensate for the 48 vs 16 tone ring where 1992 and 1993 went to a different speedo.

Exactly. And if you happen to run across an ABS 91 in the yard, grab that little module. At least twice a year some unhappy volvoist writes on the brickboard "help, I got a new rear axle from a later car and now the speedometer is wrong." You'll be able to help him a lot cheaper than Dakota Digital, or rewiring the cable to accept the 92+ version gauge.

Looking at my 1990 wiring diagrams it looks like the VSS signal feeds both the ECU and the cruise control module. Seeing that the 1990 and 1991 use the same ECU I would think the output is the same.

Yes, the output to the ECU is the same 89-93. It is a very fast pulse for an LED test light to catch. Maybe in the dark? About 2 mS if I remember the scope trace. Will set DTC 311 if missing and cause idle all over the place, or so I hear.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

I wish I had put one of those signal conditioners instead of going to the 1993 speedo/cluster. Reason being is an emotional attachment to my orginal speedo with 278000 miles on it. The rewiring of the cable was as simple as popping out 2 wires from the L connector with a small screw driver and reversing them.


The SRS,VSS make sense but I don't understand why there would be any difference between 90 and 91.

Never mind about the stare and compare. Dave has done it and has the answer here:

Instrument cluster interchangability from 1991 240

A 90 cluster has the SRS board, but does not have the female spade lug. However it can be added. I just pull the insulator sleeve off a connector and solder it in. You have to swap out the light legends on the left side of the cluster so your check engine light is in spot number 2.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

We have enough gun control. What we need is idiot control.

I was looking at the cruise control schematic and found that the speed signal for the cruise control is picked up via the yellow wire going to the double spaded connector(connector 203) from 86+. It looks like Dave had this figured out allready. Gota love transition years.

The 1990 green book for cruise control lists the speed pickup wire as orange and my wiring diagram book shows it as yellow. The wiring diagram book also labels the double spaded connector 200 in one picture but it looks like they should have put 203.

Oh, yeah, it is starting to come back to me. You confirmed for me the wiring did change, in spite of the conflicting manual drawings. That helped someone else who was emailing me about it. Thank you, and sorry about my forgetfulness.

The 278K in that 401K (I mean K10042) I would rollover into the K40168 plan. It means enough to me to spend the time diddling the array of colored wheels. It is really no harder than a medium Sudoku, and takes about as long.

So, do you have a 90 and a 91 cluster in your parts collection. Were you gonna do a stare and compare and tell us why they have different part numbers?
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

Art, Thanks for the info. I needed another cluster board because I think I over soldered the bypass pins where the temp comp board parked. I did find one from a '90 and transplanted my instruments to it and did the jump wire from a lamp cord and all is well now.

Bob, that lamp cord trick is the nuts, isn't it? Sven's Maintainer!

So.....just as an interested bystander and observer here, it occurs to me that instrument clusters are nowhere near being like twins.........
......so if you've seen Juan, you haven't necessarily seen Ahmal. hmmph.

86-91. 92 and 93 if you swap the odo/speedo over.