Just drove my newly acquired 245 wagon from Melbourne back to Sydney. 1200km in all. Took the liberty of changing the car battery immediately when I picked it up since the old one looked tired, checked the fluid levels, etc.

Whilst happily driving about 200km out of the big city, the car suddenly lost all power and came to a halt outside a small town. The SRS light came on when that happened and the radio was intermittent. Come to think of it, the radio's reception got worse and worse until the car completely died. The battery failure warning came up once or twice when I tried to crank the engine, but it was a hilarious weak light that was hard to see in the sun. I managed to get the car started after leaving it alone for a while, and the rev counter went up to 2500-3000 rpm. I wasn't a happy camper.

I limped the car to a nearby parking lot in the town centre and then the car died for good. The Volvo angels must have been smiling down on me. I even managed a good quality park. Looking around, I found the town map which had had all the businesses listed. Curiously, there were quite a few auto mechanics in that small town. I felt better. But then, I am driving an old Volvo, not a Ford or Holden/GM where parts are a aplenty in Australia and mechanics are understandably more familiar with fixing them.

Whilst waiting for roadside assist to turn up, I fired up the laptop computer and got on to Brickboard. Did a search for "SRS" "&" "stall" and got a hint that it could be the alternator from the posts I read.

When Norm the mechanic turned up, he checked this and that but the problem appeared to be so mysterious to him that he speculated that it could be anything, especially since it appeared to be an electrical issue. I suggested that he test the battery's voltage even though I had just installed it like 2 hours ago, and lo and behold, we got 10.57V. Bingo! I smiled. It was likely just the regulator then (the irony is that I have a spare one back home for my 740 a thousand km away). He piggybacked a low cap emergency battery and led me to the local auto electrician a km away.

The auto-electrician installed a near identical replacement regulator which had to be slightly filed down in plastic bits, and got me going, all for $80 including labour - and you guys know what a PITA the position of the regulator is on a 240 - he jacked the car up to change it. On a Friday at 4pm, 1000km from home, that isn't bad at all.

I was just thinking that if I hadn't put it a new high capacity battery, I wouldn't have lasted 200km with aircon, lights, radio all going full blast. Also, having a computer with wireless internet is a great idea on a roadtrip in case I need to look up Brickboard!

The car otherwise went great for the rest of the trip back home. I have a few questions that I need some advice with but I'll save them for another thread.

I have contributed, and will do so again.

Regards
Lucast

ps. In case anyone taking the Princes Highway from Melbourne to the Lakes Entrance needs to have a regulator breakdown, Trafalgar is as good a place as any to do so! The good auto electrician is Andrew King who runs Trafalgar Auto Electrics, 30 Saleyards Rd, Trafalgar VIC Tel 0356332062.