Greetings fellow Volvo owners.

I finally got my car started today, but with a price--before it could start, I noticed smoke rolling out under the instrument cluster whilst I was running some tests with the ignition in the 'on' position.

I quickly shut it off, disconnected the battery, and began ripping out the instrument cluster as fast as I could. All through my mind while I was doing this, I was wondering why my apartment didn't have a fire extinguisher!
After I ripped it out, I said, "What they hey, why not try to start it now."

Just like that, it turned over. I traded one problem for another!

So, has anyone ever had a similar experience?

Or could someone give me an idea what to check next, before I go and buy a new instrument cluster for $$$$ and have that one go up in smoke?

Thanks again, fellow brick owners!

Andy

First step would be to locate the burned area, and if you don't understand why it burned after finding it, post a picture. Use your sense of smell and sight. It is important you follow this to the root cause. Not something to guess about.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them. -Ancient Chinese Proverb

Thank you Art, you are the voice of reason...I pulled the cluster apart and lo and behold, the circuit board with the motor on it had a resistor and a black ic chip that was lightly charred. Nothing else appeared to be burnt.

When I first bought the car, the odometer didn't work. The motor board was fried on that. I purchased another speedometer and it came with a motor board. Odometer still didn't work with the 'newer' component despite having new gears installed.

Art, are there any other components on the circuit boards that would cause this to happen that could be replaced?

Thanks for all of your wisdom and help over the years!

I'm guessing your previous owner (PO) tried to fix the odometer, but made the common mistake of connecting the tachometer wire (white/red) to the cluster board instead of to a tachometer.

Then, when you replaced the fried gauge, you put it back together the same way, causing the same issue to recur.

If you don't have a tach, leave that white/red wire loose. I hope this is the smoking gun, and a new speedometer gauge is all you need. Save any new gears you've installed in the odometer.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Ever stop to think and forget to start again?