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Recently posted about a battery drain oddity, about a week ago.
Battery tested fine (load tested), starter tested fine, ignition switch seems to be doing its job since there is some semblance of starter solenoid action when I try to start the car.
Since this has happened I have been topping off the charge on the battery (measured 12.6V), hooking it up and trying to crank it over. Starter won't spin, idiot lights go dimmer with ever turn of the key.
Inpecting the cables closely I found that there was a bunch of corrosion at the lugs of each wire that it tied to the positive battery post. The actual lug that clamps to the post has some of the metal erroded away and is a little thin at the base. There is also a slightly yellow tinge to the lug as well as some remnants of green corrosion, not sure if this yellow "color" is normal. Will be comparing to my 760. Anyhow, cleaned up all the connections with a wire brush, re-connected to the battery and, no dice, car reacted the same.
Now I believe that the cable(s) is/are corroded, possibly burned at some point under the covering. I plan on checking more closely tomorrow when I have some time. Will also be confirming my ground points. Wiring diagrams came today in the mail (yippee!)
Questions:
1) Can some section of the battery cable be removed from the car and taken inside? It's cold here in New England!!!
2) Has anyone ever replaced a battery cable on a 940, how was it done? Was a loom bought at the dealer or do I have to splice it in?
Many thanks, can't wait to get the car back on the road. Tired of being a one car family and the wife isn't fond of my 765T.
Bean
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'80 242GT 93k, '94 945T 148k, '89 765T 68k (new '94 B230FT)
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posted by
someone claiming to be sredwine
on
Fri Jan 28 07:38 CST 2005 [ RELATED]
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I don't know why no one has suggested this-how about just using one side of a set of jumper cables for troubleshooting?Fitting the clamp on the starter (+) lead might be a problem-never had to do this repair.Should work fine for ground.Hope this helps! sredwine 94 940T,98 V90.
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Bean,
I had the same issue with my 85 740T and my son's 94 940T. In both cases I was able to cut off the corroded connectors along with about an inch of wiring and replace them. You can free up some slack in the cables by cutting some tie wraps, etc. This problem can cause some weird things to happen.
On the 940 one of the connectors is actually one crimp connector with 3 wires attached to it.
I installed a bus bar that I got from a local boating shop and attached new connectors to the 3 individual wires. That also made it easy to attach a new stereo amplifier to the new bus bar. I used a short #6 wire to go from the battery to the bus bar. The boat shop also sold a crimp tool that you hit with a hammer to crimp big connectors. I strongly recommend using heat shrink tubing on any new connections. I like the electrical parts at boating stores because they are usually better quality than the ones at discount car parts stores.
The only issue here is that you need to secure the bus bar and cover the bar with an insulator. You would not want to drop a wrench on it!
The ground wire on the alternator does not cost much from the dealer. The ground cables on my 740 were about $60. I would not want to buy the +battery cables since they would cost more and would be a pain to install. Besides the real problem is only with the ends of the cables.
I was in Boston during the blizzard of '78 so I know what you mean about it being cold up there. I will try to take a picture of mine when I get a chance.
R Duke
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Dear Bean,
Good p.m. and hope this finds you well. I know it's cold in New England. I'm here, too.
Battery cables should only be "spliced" in the direst of emergencies (you're in the middle of the Sahara, and the nearest Volvo parts depot is 1,500 miles away).
To replace the cables, get brand new ones. If FCPGROTON doesn't have them - and can't get them - go to your nearest Volvo dealer or order from www.borton.com.
It is possible to replace a damage/corroded cable clamp, but there's usually so little slack, that even doing that is hard.
The best thing to do - if you're sure the cable is corroded internally - is to get a replacement.
If you want to be 100% sure, before you spend >>$$$, you can:
(a) Go to a Walmart and buy an extra-long cable (will cost $5-10). Run it from the battery to the starter, and see if the car starts. If it does, then the red cable needs to be replaced.
(b) take six lengths of No. 12 stranded electrical wire (about 15 cents/foot at a Home Depot). Bare 1" of copper at each end. Twist the six wires together. Using a hose clamp, attach one end of this "cable" to the battery terminal. Attach the other end to the starter terminal. See if the car starts. If it does, the factory-installed red (positive) cable needs to be replaced.
If, with a substitute red cable, the car still doesn't start, check the ground cable. You can use the same approach, as above, to test the cable from the battery negative terminal post, to the frame.
If, with a substitute ground cable, the car starts, you've found the problem. Order factory-replacements, install same, and you're rolling again.
Hope you get a charge, out of this.
Yours faithfully,
spook
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spook,
Thank you, and everyone, for your reply. I've been down many roads to fix the problem with the '94 945T. Not exactly sure what fixed it.
Spent yesterday pulling all the engine grounds and starter circuit connections, sanded them lightly and applied some dielectric grease. Included: valve cover to firewall, battery to block, battery to frame, alternater to intake mani, and large lug on starter. Made a baking soda/water solution and dunked all the battery connections into it until the fizzing stopped. They weren't badly corroded but enough to react with the solution. Also, the lug on the positive cable is in-tact but looks like it's getting thin towards the bottom. Will try to prevent it from getting any worse.
Picked up a new battery post/clamp cleaner. The new one actually has stiff bristles compared to my old one (which I can't find anyway). Cleaned the posts and clamps, also added dielectric grease to the connections.
Other non-related items done include new spark plugs. Not sure how many miles the old ones had on them, at least 65k miles (!!!). The gaps on the old ones were anywhere from 0.037" to 0.039", waaay out of spec (0.032")! The car has a little more pep to it and hopefully improved mileage. :)
Thanks,
Bean
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'80 242GT 93k, '94 945T 139k, '89 765T 68k (new '94 B230FT)
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