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1988 Factory Alarm Issue 700 1988

My brother in law has a 1988 740 Turbo with a Volvo factory alarm installed. I know this to be a factory alarm because we bought the car new, ordered the alarm option, and picked the car up in Sweden.

Anyway, this is the alarm that uses a magnetic fob to arm/disarm the alarm. There is a small rectangular thing attached to the inside of the windshield on the driver's side lower corner; you hold the fob to this thing to activate/deactivate.

Now to the problem: the car will not start. Battery and all are fine but when turning the key in the ignition, starter does not engage. I vaguely recall having this problem once many years ago and I solved it by activating and then deactivating the alarm (even though it was not honking the horn and blinking the lights). At any rate, my brother in law has lost the magnetic fob so that's no longer an option.

I'm assuming that there is a relay somewhere between the battery and the starter that is causing the non start problem. Does anyone know where it might be located or know of any easy way to disconnect the alarm system from the vehicle? Car is 12 hour drive from me so I won't be working on it....just trying to feed some info to my brother in law so he can get it sorted out.








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1988 Factory Alarm Issue 700 1988

Have you checked the FAQ?

Try a Volvo web site in Sweden, you are probably not the only ones to order this system.

Magnets are magnets, they have a north and south pole. Get a bar or horse shoe magnet and try to activate/deactivate the alarm with one of those. Try both ends.

A much smaller relay in the ignition system, as would one in the starter solenoid wiring would do the job instead of one between the battery and the starter. Those smaller circuits should be checked first.

Can you see the wires to the magnetic switch? Pull them out and try the starter with them disconnected or shorted, the only choices for that small rectangular thing.

The first thing that I would try would be connecting a remote starter switch between the battery and starter solenoid,

This is a small simple momentary switch that sends 12 volts to the solenoid - actually, almost any 12 volt switch will probably work as long as you shut it off after the starter turns over.

Mechanics use them to turn the motor over when adjusting valves or doing a compression check.

If the starter operates with this switch, you might try it with the ignition on - the car might start.

A second option if the remote starter switch doesn't work - but a dangerous one if done wrong - would be to hook one jumper cable to the battery and hook another to the hot side of the starter - then with some great sparks, connect them together.

This would check the solenoid and the starter - possible culprits.

--
'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '12 XC70, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 525,000 miles put on 10 bricks








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1988 Factory Alarm Issue 700 1988

Thanks for the suggestions on the remote starter; will pass that along.

I did find another thread with a part number for the factory service manual for the alarm and have ordered that. For $30 it will probably save lots of headaches.







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