Volvo Battery/Alternator issue

[jsegura525]

Hello,
I had removed my instrument cluster...clock, speedo, gas gage, water
temp.
I did this to fix my odometer and I did fix it this evening
..
I had removed the cluster on Sunday and on my way home from the
salvage yard
today my car dies, no power, felt like the Air Mass had gone out, I
lost all power and
had to pump the gas to keep here alive.
I checked my battery at the shop and it was dead, but they charged it
up for me and
said it was good. The guy then hooked up a machine to my car and it
said that
the battery was good, the starter was good , but the alternator was
not charging
the battery....this was before I replaced the instrument cluster.

I did drive the 240 home safe, after the charge.

Could the cause be because the cluster was no in the car ?

All responses will be appreciated,

Joseph Segura
from New Mexico.

 

[Mike F]

Hello,
I had removed my instrument cluster...clock, speedo, gas gage, water
temp.
I did this to fix my odometer and I did fix it this evening
.
I had removed the cluster on Sunday and on my way home from the
salvage yard
today my car dies, no power, felt like the Air Mass had gone out, I
lost all power and
had to pump the gas to keep here alive.
I checked my battery at the shop and it was dead, but they charged it
up for me and
said it was good. The guy then hooked up a machine to my car and it
said that
the battery was good, the starter was good , but the alternator was
not charging
the battery....this was before I replaced the instrument cluster.

I did drive the 240 home safe, after the charge.

Could the cause be because the cluster was no in the car ?

All responses will be appreciated,

Joseph Segura
from New Mexico.

Sometimes the alternator requires the current through the warning light
to "start." An alternator could be better described an electric power
amplifier - it requires a small current through the rotor (to create
magnetism) added to the rotational energy from the belt to create a
large current. Normally the rotor has enough residual magnetism to
start this, but not always, and some specific alternators are worse than
others.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)