Hey all-

I picked up a tachometer to replace the big clock in my instrument cluster, but I can't find a red/white striped wire to a spade female connector ANYWHERE. I have the fabric cover under the steering wheel pulled down and the cluster completely out. All I have is the big full circle connector (there is a red/white striped wire going to number 2 or 3 on it), the half moon connector and a small blue connector with 2 red wires. There aren't any loose wires hanging around anywhere- certainly not any red/white striped wires. Any thoughts on how to trace this one?

My car is an '82 with LH 1.0, and the tach is also from an '82. I did manage to find an altoids tin somehow lodged behind the center console.

The funny thing is the cluster I bought on ebay (also from an '82), came with the clipped wires- it's very clear that there are 2 red/white striped wires going to the large full circle connector and one of them ends in a female spade connector- this second red/white striped wire is completely absent from my bundle of wires near the full circle connector.

I have one single red/white striped wire coming off the - side of the coil- it's the only wire on that side, but I have no idea where it disappears off to.

In most cases, you'll find it's much easier to simply run a NEW wire from that terminal on the coil than to try and find the other end inside.

Resolution-

Hey all, it turned out the grey wire was for something else. I followed the advice and just ran a new wire- as I have a manual, there is a very convenient access panel (presumably some sort of automatic shifter cable) held on by two bolts near the hood hinge on the driver side. I popped it off, drilled a small hole through and away I went. Hopefully when I get all my pcv/iac hoses on in the near future, I'll get to test it out.

Thanks all!

Originally, it came off one of the coil leads -- someone else will chime in and tell you which one. My 82 has been V8 powered for a while, but I used the same wire off the 5.0L coil when I had that motor in the car. I could be remembering it incorrectly, but I'd swear that under the hood close to the firewall it was either blue with a red stripe and red with a blue stripe that provided the tach signal from the coil. You might check your coil connections and see if you see a wire like that.

Yes, it originates at the coil terminal 1, but there might not be a recognizable white/red in the '82, it may be a gray shielded cable, if it was built like our '83 LH2.0. The book for the '82 says it should be an unshielded white/red wire.

The white/red going to pin 3 of the 12-pin circular instrument cluster connector is for the high beam indicator lamp from the hi/lo relay.

If you find a gray (or white) shielded cable with a single terminal female spade behind your cluster, check to see if the same kind of wire is connected to the coil's terminal 1. That should be it. I thought it started in '83 and ended in '84, but they decided to shield those wires to reduce radio noise. Buzz it out to be sure, and if no luck, you can run your own wire to coil #1.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

hi arty b- this may not help zeeko but I have a slightly different question . I have a legendary 92 245 wagon. my first repair back in 2011 when the tank came to live here , was to take out the cluster wherein I replaced the speedo gear which had lost teeth. the clock has worked fine since that day as does the speedo. that week fearing being stuck and out of gas at 2am on tobacco road I fixed the non working gas gage with a new intank fuel pump and sending unit from vdo and delco. that too works fine. major factor in those jobs was your sagery. anyway been looking for any kind of tachometer for the dash. seems pretty unlikely I will find a new or used tach to fit in where the clock now is.btw that red and white wire connector is hanging lose behind the cluster . remembering your wise counsel it looks like the tach wire. always trying to have a backup alternative plan b when plan a fails, I'm wondering about a small round tach which could fit behind one of the little square snap in panels next to the radio. guessing stewart warner might still make them if theyre still around . put those in a Packard and a dodge back in 68. what do you know and think? sorry for the long message but figuring Maryland is snowed in you might have plenty of time on your hands. thanks tons oldduke

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Volvo-240-80mm-Big-Tach-Small-Clock-Upgrade-Kit-242-244-245-Turbo-Tachometer/302632973045?hash=item467654b2f5:g:ikgAAOSw05tafWSv&vxp=mtr

There IS a long grey shielded cable back there- maybe a couple of them- I haven't really messed with it- it seems like it is related to the radio/speakers, but now I'm going to scope around.

Additionally, looking at this diagram from 1982, it looks it IS a grey shielded wire that I should be looking for...

Is there just going to be hanging out loose with a female spade end on it?

82 electronic greenbook image of the LH see page 26 (actual page number on bottom of the green book):

http://www.volvowiringdiagrams.com/volvo/240%20Wiring%20Diagrams/TP30414-1%201982%20240%20260%20Wiring%20Diagrams.pdf