Last night I got a call from my 18 year old daughter at 8PM. The reliable Volvo 240 wagon had died on the side of the road. She described over the phone what sounded like a battery/alternator problem. I had a spare battery in the garage and brought that with me along with some tools and a LED headlamp.

I arrived and swapped in the spare battery and the car started up fine. It ran for a few minutes, then the battery got drained. I decided it was an alternator issue and took my daughter home and got my volt meter.

I next swung by Autozone to pick up an alternator and new battery. Got to the Volvo and took a look at the alternator. I discovered that the ground wire had broken off at the alternator. I was able to remove a screw on the alternator and use a washer to ground the wire temporarily. Popped in the new battery and she fired up fine. Checked the voltage at the battery with the car running and the alternator was charging the battery fine.

Got the vehicle home and parked in the garage and did a better connection to ground the wire to the alternator. Just checked with my daughter and the car is running great. I love working on this car. It's great that I can usually diagnose and fix the problems that occur.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I need to get another vehicle. I'd love another rear wheel drive Volvo, but decent ones are getting hard to find.

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