92 244 Radio Job - Partial Success, Cruise Control Side Effect

Well, Using my Metra harness and bezel kits, I have managed to
partially install my new radio. I discovered after the fact that the
speaker wires on the *power plug* connector are the ones to the front, not
the connector with front and back wires all together.

Luckily I know how to get the little spade plugs out of the connectors
using a paper clip, so I was able to swap my wires around and plug the one
connector right into the harness down by the driver's foot.

I also extracted the Volvo amplifier and believe that the rear speakers
plug into a little 4-terminal connector down there near where the
amplifier was. I intend to snip off the wires for the amp side of that
small connector and solder in patch wires back over to the radio for the
rear speakers, per advice in a previous thread.

But an unfortunate side effect is that my cruise control isn't working
anymore. I presume that I must have knocked off a vacuum hose or wire down
there somewhere but I haven't spotted it yet. The hose is attached to the
pneumatic actuator on the accelerator pedal so the problem must be
somewhere else. I'll be attempting to scope it out, I'm going to pull
that annoying bulb-failure indicator light from the instrument cluster
while I'm at it

If anybody has any insight into the cruise control that would be great.
Surely it doesn't draw power from the amp->radio portion of the harness
which is now disconnected? Hmmm, I guess that would be easy to test at
least.

 

I haven't seen exactly the same Cruise Control failure you describe, but
I've seen a few failure causes. My car with C.C. is an '86.

1) Multiple vacuum hoses help run the C.C. The main unit is on the
firewall in engine compartment, driver's side. Shaped like a cylinder
with one end rounded. Trace all the hoses in and out of it as far as
you can see, looking for leaks or bad rubber.

2) Oil or trans. fluid or brake fluid leaks spraying onto a sensor (??)
on the driveline. Old systems ahd a C.C. pickup sensor on driveshaft,
but I think these 240's use the same speedo sensor that feeds to the
speedometer. But look for messy slime down there anyway, it's good to
know about if you have it!

3) 3- (or 4??) wire harness going to the speedometer itself not clipped
on fully - even though speedometer is working! I had a rarely-working
C.C. for months. After I pulled the instrument cluster to change some
bulbs and had so had to remove and reattach that wire set, my Cruise
Control came back to life. Speedometer had been working perfectly,
giving me no clue that the problem was with the clip there. I'd clean
the male and female parts of the connector with electrical cleaner, and
maybe pinch the female part with pliers to make sure the contacts grip well.

4) Engine wire harness rotted away, causing a short or a wire break.
Not likely in a '92, but i suppose anything's possible.

Bruce Pick

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Thats probably it. I remember that plug from when I was in there last time
installing my mini-tach and fuel economy gauge. IIRC, I think I broke some
flimsy plastic retainer clip on the back of it. If its like a 4-wire plug,
white plastic I think, then that may be it.

I was reaching in there trying to poke my radio harness down through the
wires and I bet I knocked it loose. Going out here in a sec to work on it
some more. I'll check into it.

Thanks!

 

Yes - I've had two of those out of the dash, and the one in an '89 that
probably had not been fooled with before did have some kind of retaining
clip on the connector. I believe you can live without the clip, but the
terminal connector has to be on well.

Good luck - I'm curious to hear how it goes.

Bruce
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Got it. You're gonna laugh but the reason that my cruise control wasn't
working was because it wasn't *the amplifier* that I removed

I was going by a guide for a 740 I believe and it showed the amp up under
the steering wheel. When I looked up there there was a aluminum box with
about eight wires coming out of it. Bingo, I thought.

Heh, the real amplifier was down behind the lower radio/storage
compartment. I yanked it out, and fixed up my rocker switch lights while I
was at it, and got it all put back together real nice.

After replacing the cruise control module and reconnecting its wires, its
working again (whew).

One last thing to do is fix the left rear speaker. Its not making any
sound (it never did) and the power window switch is erratic also. Maybe
next weekend I'll take that door apart and see what I can find out.

Nice radio. Its a Jensen MP7720 cd/mp3 player. It sounds pretty good, has
all the features I wanted, looks reasonable in the 240 (the blue glow is a
bit flashy perhaps) and at $110 I don't have to be overly paranoid about
it getting ripped off.

Thanks for all the tips. Mission accomplished!

 

Excellent.

For the door speaker and power window problems, look for worn wires and
wire insulation where those pass through the door hinge area. Getting a
view inidet he rubber boot is a pain, so look for problems at the
speaker and motor device also.

Bruce
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