I've heard a kind of sonorous whine coming from the right front of the car (passenger side, that is) when it's in gear and sitting at a light on and off for about as long as we've had the car (coming up on two years). It might be my imagination, but I rarely hear it when I've got a full tank. Just from browsing I've read a lot about fuel pumps and in-tank pumps... (I'm no mechanic). Is this what I'm hearing? And since it's been going for so long, is it actually normal? Or is it a disaster waiting to happen?
The second question is easy. My stereo is mounted in the top portion of the dash, but I haven't found any photos or guides regarding how to remove it. Is it difficult? I only want to take it out to add speaker wiring, not replace it. And while I'm at it, is this a mistake? Will adding speakers to this old deck (original to car) be too much.
Thanks in advance to any answers. I know it's kind of a two(actually three)-fer-one, but I'm feeling lazy.
cheers,
c

The sound may prove to be from somewhere else- try sitting in the passenger seat, and also get out and listen under the car as it runs.
A bad in-tank pump can cause the main pump to growl, especially at low fuel levels. My 87 does this, despite having a new pump. Hmmm. Possibly the fuel filter then, as mine is old, and it's the only thing left in the system that is old. It runs fine and I'm kinda lazy, or at least not relishing getting a 93 octane sponge bath. IF there are no other effects, just plan on replacing the filter and see if that quiets it down.

The stereo, if it's a Volvo original, is a piece of junk. They were only OK for their day, and usually really lousy today. You might have a separate amplifier, but probably not if you have just 2 front door speakers.
I installed a nice Alpine in-dash CD with I think 45W per channel (4 channel) into my wife's 88 740 and a friend's 88 245. A similar unit is going to go into our (presently tune-less) 82 245, in the lower location, and adding XM satellite.
The wiring is not too hard though I've found it a challenge in the 240s to get enough length on the harnesses. Try to buy a mounting kit ($15 or so) which will give you appropriate plastic mounting faces for top or bottom, and a new wiring harness/plug. This makes it SO much easier. Get the front speakers working, then work on pulling new wires or whatever is needed for the rear doors.
Note that I find it much easier if you pop out that fake speaker plate in the top of the dash. The grounding/retainer strap on the back is a royal pain in my experience
Good luck!
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 234K, '82 245T/M46-182K, '89 244DL/AW70- 212K Not too distant past: 86 244DL 215K, 87 244DL 239K, 88 744GLE 233K, 88 244GL 147K, 91 244 183K

Not sure about your noise. The fuel pumps are in the back so I doubt it has anything to do with them. You would have to decribe the noise better

Your deck is probably a Cr 712 and it only has speaker outputs for front speakers. It does have preamp outputs for rear speakers but it is through an unusual 6 pin din plug (probably to force you to use a Volvo amplifier). Most people replace the sterio to add rear speakers, but you have some options if you want to keep the old radio. You can go to the junkyard and get one out of just about any 240 or 740 that has Volvo rear speakers, or you can make an adapter for the din plug to use an aftermarket amp. The second option is quite a bit of work.

Its easy to take the sterio out. If you pull off the square plastic dash insert beside the radio you will find 2 phillips screws that hold the radio in. There is also a backstrap. The easiest way to get that off is to take the glovebox out. If you look in the glovebox hole you should be able to see the side of the radio and the strap fastened to the radio with 1 philips head screw. With these 3 screws removed the radio should slide out.

Thanks so much for the information, all. The resources on this board are amazing.
Thanks again. And I'll come up with a better description of the noise at some point.
c

Adding loudspeakers in parallel will reduce the overall resistance of them and increase the load on the amplifier in the deck; you certainly won't get any more power; you will get some more sound from more places, but if it makes the amp distort or clip it will be death on your speakers quite quickly from voice coil overheating.

You must add an amplifier to get more sound. Double the power to get +3db more sound. It's not fair, but that's the math.

amplifiers = quality in audio.

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__Stef -- 81 DL wagon B21A SU carb M46 314000km