Car is running and dash is alive! Not a pretty process, though. I put the instrument cluster back together and reinstalled it. Held my breath and turned the key.......good lights but no needles.

Another poster indicated that he had had success spreading the wire bundles under the dash to restore his needles. While this seemed odd, I figured I might as well give it a try since I had the dash loose. Voila! Jiggling the 30-pin connector on the top, right side of the instrument cluster towards the rear of the car brought the needles and driver info module to life. I elected to stop troubleshooting and took two wire bundle ties - one going around the 30-pin connector and the other, smaller one to anchor the first one to preclude it slipping off. So far so good.

The no-start is a mystery. I cranked the engine for quite a while and it finally started. Subsequent starts were as though nothing had ever been wrong. Never got any related codes.

Biggest lesson I learned through this was to not buy any parts too quickly as I ultimstely didn't need any. I could easily have had a PNP switch, vehicle speed sensor and new instrument cluster on the way.

Thanks to Klaus and other Volvo enthusiasts, one of my three 850s is back in action. I did the AC evaporator last summer and was only successful due to similar guidance. Thanks, again, to all! David