posted by
someone claiming to be clbolt
on
Mon Jul 28 13:43 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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Alright, so after a little more investigation, I've realized that the dome light will actually stay on full time in either of the on positions. Since it was indicated that this is a time-delay light, I'm wondering if the relay might be stuck? Could somebody tell me where to find the relay?
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Could be the relay, but more likely it's a bad switch or one of the wires popped off a switch and is touching ground.
Only the driver's door switch goes to the time-delay relay. (I think that relay is in the center console, left side, near the ignition switch.)
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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Are you telling me that there should be a time delay that keeps the dome light on after I get in the car? Is that why there are 2 wires coming off the drivers door, while just one for the other doors? I always just assumed that the extra wire was for the buzzer that goes off when I open the door with the lights on or the key still in the ignition.
Did they put this time delay feature on every 240? Mainly, I just want to know if it would be on my '80 245 DL and/or '77 244 DL. If so, I'll see about fixing it...
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"...that there should be a time delay that keeps the dome light on after I get in the car?"
Yes, in the GLs, activated by the driver's door.
"Is that why there are 2 wires coming off the drivers door, while just one for the other doors?"
Yep. One wire triggers the relay (which triggers the dome light), the other wire sends a signal to the relay that scolds you if the keys are in the ignition.
If you have a DL, the wire that would otherwise go to the dome light relay instead goes directly to the dome light (as from the other doors).
"Did they put this time delay feature on every 240?"
GLs only, to the best of my knowledge. But I suppose you could grab a relay at the boneyard and rig it into a DL (never done it...)...
The newer DLs might have it stock (e.e., '89 or '90).
"Mainly, I just want to know if it would be on my '80 245 DL and/or '77 244 DL..."
Nope and nope.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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Thanks for the info Don. I might pick up a couple of those relays and add this feature to my 240's.
Now that I think really hard, I seem to remember my mom's '89 245 having this fade out feature... but it stopped working not too long after we got the car. I just sort of remember going somewhere with her, and every once and a while someone would stop us and go "Hey, do you know you left your dome light on?"
-"Yeah, it should go off after few seconds."
"Really?"
(by now, the light had turned off)
"Wow. That's pretty cool."
That car was a DL as well...
I'll have to see about how I would wire that... Maybe I'd wire the relay so that every door switch would set the time delay off. I'm planning on redoing a bunch of wiring soon, and that might be the time I'll ask about it.
Thanks again for the info.
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I sometimes think it's a disadvantage..... Like when I jump in the car at night and try to back outta the driveway, but the light's in my eyes and I have to wait 10 seconds.....
I've always thought that a good feature would be a backup light reset. In other words, sgift into reverse and the dome light instantly goes out.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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I agree.. I'm always reaching back to turn it off while i'm backing up, it's right in my eyes. my other car is a modern vw golf.. on the golf it's amazing how well they have thought all this stuff out.. the dome light goes on when you unlock the car with the remote.. it'll stay on for about 5 min unless you start the engine, in which case it shuts off.. also, it turns off as soon as you lock again with the remote. it fades on and off too, i guess so that my delicate retinas aren't shocked by all the sudden added light. :-P
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1991 white 240 auto
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posted by
someone claiming to be clbolt
on
Mon Jul 28 14:23 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I pulled both of the switches from the driver's side yesterday, and both were connected. I'll pull the other two tomorrow, and see what I find.
Ya know, this is far from the worst flaw in this car, and should be the easiest to debug, but it's kinda bothering me right now.
Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with my speedometer...
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What year car? (That is, mechanical or electrical speedo?)
Regarding the dome light, it COULD be the relay -- but when they fail, they usuall refuse to provide the time delay. I've resoldered 3 or 4 to restore them, never had one refuse to go off.
It's an easy test. Find the relay and unplug it.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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Since you seem to know the delay relay I gots a question :-) When I open the drivers door, there is a delay before the light turns ON of about 3 seconds... first i thought it was the door switch so i opend and "rebuilt" that. But the delay is still there. I figure it must be a slow or old delay/relay, any thoughts on this? (not that it really matters... waiting a few seconds for the light to come on is no big deal.. just ads a little more of that volvo je ne sais quoi)
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1991 white 240 auto
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Assuming you have a GL (or a car with the relay). it sounds as if the relay is defective. I'd start by resoldering it ($0), and if that doesn't help, then locate a replacement relay.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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posted by
someone claiming to be clbolt
on
Mon Jul 28 14:56 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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Sorry, it's a 91, electronic speedo. Right now, I'm getting nothing. Is there a way to test the output from the speed transmitter in the rear end?
The dome light thing is history. I went ahead and pulled the passenger front switch, and the wire was grounded. I also realized that there's a contact broken inside the dome light itself, which made things a bit more difficult, so I swapped it out with the cargo light till I can find another one.
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I think the best way to test the speedometer sensor (short of a specialized test fixture) would be to look for the pulses coming from it. But I think it requires power to opetrate, which means it must be plugged into the speedo head.
I probably have a few dome lights kicking around somewhere.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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I have a 1986 244 with about 250K (dead odometer reading 184995 since April 1998). I worrried a lot about the speedo sitting on its zero pin sometimes.
Nothing made sense as to "why now"? High humidity? Low? Hit a pothole? Broken wire from rear axle? Finally in frustration one day I slapped the dash right above the speedo - WOW - 0 to 45mph in a nanosecond.
Since then I have modified the energy in the slap down to a rather light touch. Just enough to jar the connector in there and rearrange the oxide on the contacts, I theorize.
I have the new gear for the odometer, so the cluster will be coming out when that repair gets done - and the connections will be truly cleaned.
Try the light slap method before expending time and/or money. Your passenger will be impressed.
Good Luck,
Bob
:>)
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