Any Advice, Part 2!

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

It certainly is and they will almost certainly be much better quality than those available commercially as they won't be made to a price or a time-scale but made how they should be!

Possibly not much better than commercial ones but I've used 1 foot lengths of 8-amp rated cable, crimped them properly and applied the "tug test". Plus they're a lot cheaper!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Possibly not much better than commercial ones but I've used 1 foot lengths of 8-amp rated cable, crimped them properly and applied the "tug test". Plus they're a lot cheaper!

Most of the commercially available stuff will have been machine-crimped and is almost certainly the cheapest cable they can get away with so immediately that puts yours ahead of theirs.

At that length, the 8A cable will happily survive 16A+ in short bursts, certainly long enough for test purposes anyway so should be an excellent general purpose test set.

[Chris152]

Well, I can now confirm that we have a spare fuel pump relay. :-( We fitted the new one yesterday and it made no difference.
But I can also confirm that we have a fine, hand-made set of jumping leads! Many thanks to you, Loki.
We've also acquired a multimeter, and I've figured out how to check voltage and resistence.

To recap - the car's been starting perfectly since we got it, tho there is a whining noise when the fuel starts to get down to the red. Then last week it failed to start after a trip to buy fuel. The car fired when easy start was sprayed into the air inlet, so doesn't seem to be an ignition issue. I can hear no sound from either fuel pump when the lad turns ignition on. This suggests to me it's a failure of electrical supply to the pumps, but that's based on a very scant understanding/ guess.

So far we've changed both fuses (one to each pump - I realised there's a second fuse yesterday and got all excited, but it made no difference) and we've changed the fuel pump relay.

Any suggestions as to what we could try/ check next? I'm reading Haynes but not finding a possible solution - assuming it's not that both pumps have just broken.

Thanks, C.

[Laird Scooby]

Does the horn still work Chris and the indicators?

They share an earth point with the fuel pump relay, if that has broken/become dirty then the fuel pump relay won't operate so neither will the pumps.



That is the earth point and probably the most likely culprit if you can't hear the fuel pump relay clicking when it should.

If you crank the engine on the starter and release the key, you should hear the pumps run for a second or so after releasing the key and likewise the relay click open as they stop.

[Chris152]

[Indicators and horn working fine, but I'm going to have to wait for the tennager to emerge from bed before I can listen for the pump after cranking the engine.]

WELL - this is a developemnt, not sure it's a good one but here we go. After writing that, I decided to try cranking it and listening myself. first little crank, I could hear the pump buzz. Another tiny crank, it started! Great, I thought. Took it for a little drive, all great (maybe a slight smell of burning, but I have an over-sensitive nose sometimes). Drove back onto the drive and parked, buzzed up the window and as it reached the top, the engine cut out. Won't start again! No buzz from the pump either, but maybe that because it was just running and the pipes are all primed?
Oh dear.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris152

[Indicators and horn working fine, but I'm going to have to wait for the tennager to emerge from bed before I can listen for the pump after cranking the engine.]

WELL - this is a developemnt, not sure it's a good one but here we go. After writing that, I decided to try cranking it and listening myself. first little crank, I could hear the pump buzz. Another tiny crank, it started! Great, I thought. Took it for a little drive, all great (maybe a slight smell of burning, but I have an over-sensitive nose sometimes). Drove back onto the drive and parked, buzzed up the window and as it reached the top, the engine cut out. Won't start again! No buzz from the pump either, but maybe that because it was just running and the pipes are all primed?
Oh dear.

I think you need to investigate the earth points shown in my post above Chris - both of them! It's possible someone has repositioned the fuel pump relay earth onto the other point that surprise-surprise, is used by the window lift relay and heater fan. Does the heater fan still run at full speed? If so, does it slow down after a short time?

Even if those tests are positive, double-check those earth points and clean them with a wire brush, emery cloth and any others in the close vicinity.

[Chris152]

Thanks Dave. I just sat in and ran the heater fan about 2 mins, fine on all settings and windows operating fine. Regardess, we'll set about cleaning those earth connections. That's a carpets-out job, right? I struggle with the carpets...

Yes, interesting that the window connects to that earth, quite possible the relay earth's been moved I guess.
Other electrical 'anomolies' that haven't really bothered me til now but are there, are: seatbelt alert warning flashes sometimes, not others; lightbulb fault warning light sometimes comes on (all lights seem to work, except the extra fog lights on the front which don't work), other times not, and it can come on/ go off while driving; the car has a 'factory fitted' alarm which doesn't work at all, it seems (when we viewed the car it was a problem as it used to go off sometimes for no reason - this hasn't happened for some reason since we got it) and is located in the glove box and tbh looks like an added extra.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris152

Thanks Dave. I just sat in and ran the heater fan about 2 mins, fine on all settings and windows operating fine. Regardess, we'll set about cleaning those earth connections. That's a carpets-out job, right? I struggle with the carpets...

Yes, interesting that the window connects to that earth, quite possible the relay earth's been moved I guess.
Other electrical 'anomolies' that haven't really bothered me til now but are there, are: seatbelt alert warning flashes sometimes, not others; lightbulb fault warning light sometimes comes on (all lights seem to work, except the extra fog lights on the front which don't work), other times not, and it can come on/ go off while driving; the car has a 'factory fitted' alarm which doesn't work at all, it seems (when we viewed the car it was a problem as it used to go off sometimes for no reason - this hasn't happened for some reason since we got it) and is located in the glove box and tbh looks like an added extra.

You should be able to get to those earth points without removing the carpets Chris, look closely at the pictures and one is the upper centre console and the other is just forward of the gear lever on the trans tunnel so you'll have to remove the front lower console if you have one or find your way to it - again that earth may have been bad in the past and the connectors transferred to the upper console points so expect to see more wires than indicated on them if so.

I'd start on the upper console, easier to remove for one thing! Should be just a few screws to remove the front of it or maybe clips, depending how Volvo put it all together then you should be able to see the earth points.

[Chris152]

I've undone all the clips/ screws and can't get the console loose enough to get behind. It seems as if the ever-so-useful casette holder unit isn't attached to the rest, but is instead attched to a frame behind and is shaped so as to stop the rest coming forward.
Any thoughts on how to get it off?! My guess is, unless you have this version it's not an easy answer.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris152

I've undone all the clips/ screws and can't get the console loose enough to get behind. It seems as if the ever-so-useful casette holder unit isn't attached to the rest, but is instead attched to a frame behind and is shaped so as to stop the rest coming forward.
Any thoughts on how to get it off?! My guess is, unless you have this version it's not an easy answer.

Zoom in on your pic Chris, in the right hand side of the cubby next to the cassette trays is a screwhead from the look of things. Also try pulling out the ashtray above it and look for concealed fixings in the side of the upper console or ways to easily remove the cassette trays. I think the answer will then be visible.