Volvo RWD 140-160 Forum

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electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968


Great, now there are two messages....

Okay -- I've got a 68 145. Mostly I don't drive it because it only has
2 gauges, a broken mechanical temp gauge and an amp meter. Oh, and a
generator light but no oil pressure light.

I put on a known good oil pressure light and a temp sending unit and
replaced the gauge cluster; I also took out the dash mounted tachometer,
amp meter and all the other weird looking wires under the dash.

I must have taken out something important, though, because now the car
gets no power to anything when I put the battery back in. None to the
lights, nothing.

The car has the usual heavy gauge wire from the positive on the battery
to the starter then a much smaller wire from a terminal on the starter to
a bit of the wire harness. Is this the only source of 12v to the rest of
the car?

I assume I need to poke around with a test light to see where the 12v
stops, correct? The car has a delco alternator and some funky wires and
a delco relay looking box in the engine compartment.

I should (but don't) have anything better than the hayes manual and I
haven't seen that since my most recent move.
chris








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    electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968

    How's the amp meter hooked up? That is, is it hooked in with really big wires that might be taking all the current for everything in the car? Do you voltage at both sides? I have trouble thinking of any single wire that would carry everything including the lights, but an aftermarket amp meter... yea, maybe. That or a connection at the battery...either side.

    As for the turn signals.. well, first I guess you'd have to get power to it again. That said though, when you did your original post with pictures, the two switches looked similar enough to me. I'd try hooking them up and see. In that picture that was posted, it sure looked to me like two of spade connectors were directly linked.

    Good luck with it... monkeyed electricals can be a real pain.. as you know.

    --
    -Matt I ♥ my ♂








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      electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968


      Yes -- really big wires through the firewall. Why is it that
      people who work with wires in cars think that electrical tape and
      pliers are all they need? Why can't people use soldering irons
      and shrink wrap? Oh, and fuses. I like fuses, why doesn't anyone
      else?

      I cut all the crazy start-a-fire wires out of the system. I
      think the amp meter had a wire running to the head light switch
      in addition to the huge wire running from the positive on the
      battery (actually, to the post on the starter).

      I guess that's where to start looking (big wire going to head
      light switch).
      chris








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        electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968

        (I'm not home and don't trust this computer's security, so I'm claiming to be who I am.)

        Contrary to popular belief, a fuse is not a good protection device. It is only really useful when there is a short circuit, not when something draws too much current. As an example, find a 100mA fuse and connect a 100 Ohm 2W resistor in series with it to a 12V battery. Now 12V ans 100 Ohm gives you 120mA. It will take hours before the fuse blows. Now connect another 100 Ohm parallel to the first one to give you 240mA. It is likely you will wait an hour and still nothing happens. In fact, it will happily take 1A for some time before it goes instantly. A fuse is only good in the right place, e.g. the cigaret lighter is not fused.








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          electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968

          I always figure that fuses are there to protect wiring in case of a short, not to protect the loads.








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            electrical and turn signal questions... 140-160 1968

            The only reason I can think of for different fuse ratings is for different wire thickness, but on my 144 all the wires look the same...







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