I recently purchased a 1998 S70 T-5. Apparently, the car was not driven very hard. When I floor it, in sport mode, the car performs the 1-2 upshift short of 6k on the tach. Is there a safe way to clear the ECU memory and re-teach the ECU how I want the car driven? Or is there too many complications that go along with this?

Also, unfortunately, our car has the 'cassette player' model head unit. I would like to have the Volvo CD/cassette model. I know that the CD unit has a higher wattage rating than the base cassette unit. My question: are the amplifiers in the radio or on each individual speaker? Eventually, I would like to replace the factory speakers with aftermarket units.

Oh brother, one last question. I have a radar detector that was hard-wired in my previous car. What's the easiest way to get ignition-switched +12VDC to the detector? I suppose I could play around and try to figure this stuff out, but this is my first import and (to be brutally honest) I'm kind of afraid of screwing something up. I wouldn't want to do any harm to such a beautiful automobile (the truth: I just don't want to hear "I told you so" from my wife!). Thanks in advance for your help, I look forward to gathering lots of info from the forums.

Dave

I have a 98 T5 and reset the ECU by leaving battery disconnected over

night. When reset, the car will feel faster since it seems to be

allowing more boost. Over time, it tunes itself for our California

fuels (and weather, etc.) and mellows out a bit.

The speakers do not have amplifiers.

The rear deck should have two 8inch woofers, speakers in each

door and in the dash. With an SC-816 the sound is actually pretty

good (radio is average, CD is very good). I think you would have

to spend quite a bit to improve it. I'd put in an SC-816 and

live with it for a while and see if it meets your needs. I have

seen them on ebay. Be careful that you get one from a 70 series

since they are a charcoal gray color (bezel color) and 800 series

are dark black and won't look quite right.

By the way, I have a manual tranny and I can tell you the

car stops pulling once past 6000 (well, it is not pulling

nearly as hard as it will up to that point). Max power is

reached before 6000 RPM. So, even with a manual it does not

really buy you much in acceleration to hold it past 6000 RPM.

Since the torque curve is flat from 2700 to over 5500 RPM you

are better off to just shift.

> I recently purchased a 1998 S70 T-5. Apparently, the car was not

> driven very hard. When I floor it, in sport mode, the car performs

> the 1-2 upshift short of 6k on the tach.

What's wrong with this behavior? Do you want it to go past 6k? Stock ECU probaly won't let you do that.

> Is there a safe way to clear

> the ECU memory and re-teach the ECU how I want the car driven? Or is

> there too many complications that go along with this?

Yes, you can disconnect the battery for a few minutes (I think 10-15 min would do). Make sure you have the radio unlock code handy, though, for you'd then have to punch it in once the power has been restored.

There is a less invasive way by yanking out certain fuse, but I don't remember which one.

Cheers,

Vadim.

Dave,

There's a yellow outlet above the trim panel in the driver's footwell that you can easily plug into. The trim panel is held in place with a few Torx screws if I remember correctly. Check your owner's manual under "powering accessories" (I think that's what it's called.) The manual will expain everything. Plugging into the outlet is pretty easy once you contort yourself enough to reach it! Make sure you have a flashlight handy... I hardwired my scanner this way - wasn't too tough.

Good luck,

Chelsea White

Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to receive an owner's manual with my car. Is the yellow outlet where I want to plug in the 'hot' wire for the detector? Please let me know, thanks.

Dave

Dave,

I scanned page 105 from my owner's manual for you. I plugged the hot wire in position 1 and the ground wire in position 8. This is a battery feed so I can run the scanner with the car off and the key out of the ignition. That's probably not necessary for a radar detector, so you might want to pick a different position for your hot wire. The position numbers are molded on the side of the yellow outlet.

Let me know if you have any questions OR if you would like anything else scanned from the manual.

Have fun!

Chelsea White

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=367501&a=11553723&p=40857890

Chelsea-

Thanks for scanning that page of the owner's manual for me. Terminal #2 is switched power and the detector is functioning properly now. Thanks for your help.

Dave

Dave,

To help answer some of your questions...I have a 94 854 Turbo with SC810 head unit with the optional 6-disk CD changer. The sound of the system was weak at best (IMHO). Assuming that the stereo systems are close to the same, as they should be since our cars are pretty much twins, there is not a seperate amp on each speaker. The speakers are very easy to replace, I replaced all of mine with Polk Audio DB and EXII series speakers. Thus far I have not added my sub or amp to the system, but the sound quality went from okay to nearly good enough to get away with. Just as a benchmark, the upgraded speakers make the system sound like a pretty decent home theator system minus the sub. Nice and clean till the bass comes in beyond a point. Anyhow, I think that you are right about the SC-816 CD player having more power, but it is not that much. To "do it right" and keep the factory head unit and speaker locations, add a 4 channel amp that has high-level inputs. I am a big fan of MTX Pro series amps. They are reasonably priced, good wattage range, and have many features and functions. (This is comming from a guy that had 1000 watt RMS, multi-amp systems in several of my other cars, usually Sony Mobile ES head /Digital Signal Processors and PPI amps with Polk DB series speakers and subs.) I am going to be placing a 12" Polk DB 12 sub and 300 Watt MTX Pro amp to the system this month, and in the summer I plan on adding my 600 watt MTX 4 channel amp to the main speakers. To keep things simple and clean, I will use the existing speaker wire from Volvo and tuck the amps in on the rear deck of the car. Anyhow, I am going for the factory system look to deter theft and un-wanted attention. If interested, I can offer some input and advice on doing this to your car. It onlt took a couple of hours to install front component speakers, rear door coax speakers and 3-way 6X9's in the rear deck. There are some holes to be drilled and some metal to trim in the rear deck for a flush fit, but it is all worth it and not visible to most people. I hope that some of my rambling has helped, good luck.

Prospero