What is it?
 

On top the offside front suspension turret of my S90 there is a small screw cap, which when removed reveals what looks a bit like a tyre valve. The screw cap is body coloured. There is no such cap on the nearside turret.

I've never noticed this before, and now I am intrigued as to what it is!

Can anyone enlighten me please?

Thanks

Cheers

Jack

You ja e air suspension but rather than being controlled by an ecu you need to pump it up and deflate it as and when you want.

:D I'm joking, probably need a photo

It sounds suspiciously like one of the air-con service ports to me Jack - a photo would be a great help though!

Usually the caps are grey or black, not body colour so if it really is body colour it suggests some paintwork at some time. ;) :D

Have now had a closer look. It's not a valve at all, just a threaded stud. The cap is plastic - I took it off completely.

Pictures attached. At a guess it's possibly an earthing terminal for something that might be connected to the car temporarily?

I've seen similar earth posts on medical electronic equipment, and it's used as the ground when the unit is being PAT tested.

That might explain why it's got a cover - to keep it clean to ensure a good contact?

Cheers

Jack

Can i pass on my starter for ten?

Seriously Jack, i haven't any idea what that would be used for - i think maybe you're right and it's used as a test earth when diagnostic kit is plugged in.

It actually looks like it's been machine-welded to the turret which would tie in with a some sort of diagnostic stud. :err:

Look underneath with a torch where the spring is and see if there is anything there?

If you Google images of Volvo 960 engine bays you will find pictures of other cars showing this bolt unused/covered and a small number showing a bracket with a horn attached to it. My guess is that it was fitted to the new shape 960 to hold the Volvoguard 1 horn and then became redundant when this was superseded by the hidden battery-backed siren of the Volvoguard 2.

No wonder Volvo ended up in financial trouble! Decisions like this (assuming you're right and it makes sense so you probably are) cost shed-loads to implement and for a very short production run to when they changed to Volvoguard 2, wouldn't have been a viable "upgrade".

BMW and other OE's put studs on cars which people don't use. It's common practice in the motor industry which is slowly dying out...

Unless OE's have a very lean manufacturing process which is highly automated you have to predict where the sales will be coming from (as in LHD & RHD markets) which leads to waste. Not every car built can be sequenced to an owner (and their particular optional extra's) as not every car built is a sold order... Hence why you have vast car parks full of brand new cars... :confused_smile:

I see your point but ti wasn't the point i was making which was the alarm was standard kit as far as i'm aware, the Volvoguard1 alarm was relatively short-lived and changed to the Volvoguard2 soon after so welding a stud for the siren/sounder on the suspension turet was probably a completely needless operation. This would have cost money, time, labour, materials, all for the sake of using another pre-drilled hole somewhere else.