My '92 244 had radio gremlins, and I blamed them on the Volvo radio (a TD-613, I believe). After the car warmed up, the original radio would break up with static on the FM stations only. When you tapped on it, it would often clear up. AM reception was fine, but I needed FM because I am running a cd changer through an FM modulator. The problem seemed like it could be due to a bad component or cracked solder joint. I disassembled the radio, inspected everything, and resoldered a few dubious joints. There was absolutely no change in the symptoms.

I hate the video arcade appearance of today's receivers, so I wanted to keep a stock radio in the car. I bought a replacement from eBay. This one was from a 700 and had the advantage of being one level up from a TD-613. It can actually control a cd changer. I installed the radio; it looked great, and sitting in the driveway, it worked fine. On my first drive, however, it cut out when I hit the brakes. Sometimes the display would flash, other times just the sound would be interrupted. When I removed my foot from the brakes, the radio began playing again. AM, FM, cd changer, all yielded the same symptoms. What's more, whenever I made a left hand turn, it would cut out. A right hand turn, no matter how sharp, caused no problems. I thought I had bought a bum radio, even though tapping on the radio itself would not reproduce the problem. I "manipulated" the wires in the connectors to the radio, but they were not shorting out.

Well, I bought ANOTHER TD-613 from eBay, installed it, and got the exactly same symptoms. Braking, left hand turns and occasionally, potholes, would cause the radio to cutout. Now I knew the problem was probably not with the radios. I checked my fuses. Number six was fine, but there was a little corrosion around number. Boy, I polished the holder and the fuse ends. No change. However, I found that if I squeezed the number 1 holder ends and wiggled it, I could reproduce the problem. Hummm... I poked around a little with my fingers. If I pressed on the wire bundle coming into the fuse box, the radio cut out. Maybe it wasn't the fuse. I removed the plastic kick panel to get a good look. at the sides of the fuse block. Sure enough, the connector to the number 1 fuse lower outlet blade had come completely off the blade and was barely touching the connector on the upper blade. With just the fuse box cover off, I could not see the lower connector because the upper connector hid it. Braking or left hand turns created just enough motion to break the tenuous connection for the circuit.

I suppose the moral of the story is to be willing to poke around, when with intermittent electrical problems. If you have a short that seems to be coming from the vicinity of the fuse box, check and clean the fuses and holders, and if that doesn’t work, pull the kick panel and look at those hidden connectors!

Thanks to a little luck, I'll be listening to the Doors, Love, and the Velvet Underground afternoon on the drive home. Happy bricking!
--
'88 244GL, '89 244GL, '90 244DL, '91 244, '92 244