The Definitive Guide to Fixing the Info Centre

[muddyfox470]

Ok so mine has yet to be fixed but to help myself and others I'll post what I have tried, what I have looked at and ask for mor help.

First of all what have I tried?

• Check All Earths are earthed
• Check all Earths are connected to the right places
• Check and Double Check the Fuses
• Hit The Dashboard
• Check grey ribbon
• Check Radio Connectors **
• Check Info Centre Wires **
• Check Info Centre Circuitry **

The ones with ** I have yet to fully complete / or I need some more help with

These are the most useful threads I have looked at:
Dead Info Centre
Info Centre Back Lighting, but with no information
480 infocentre display help

Have I missed anything out or what else can I try to find out whether my info centre is working? I haven't driven it at night so I cannot comment on the lights etc working/not working. I did, however, shine a torch at the display to see whether I could see any information, but I couldn't

I also need to check the bulbs and buy some replacements, so is there any chance that anyone could tell me all the bulbs I need for the dashboard/display?

I will also take out the panel again and recheck the wires and make sure they are all securely in the connector and then securely in the back of the panel. Is tehre anything else I can check with regards to the info centre? The previous owner said it used to come on and off, however for me I have not yet seen it come on at all

Sorry for all these threads but I thought I better amalgamate it all and make it easier for similar numpties like myself

Thanks in anticipation

Ian Ruscoe

EDIT: I forgot to say most of the other things on the same circuit are working, however the key hole light (for the ignition) has yet to come on/work...

[muddyfox470]

Ok So I think I have 3 minor faults that are on the same circuit, so is it likely that the wires are out somewhere? but how do I go about fixing it?

As you know the info centre doesn't work...
The CD/tuner will stay on even after I remove the key from the ignition.
I do not have the key ignition ligh - it's never come on for me!

Any idea which wire/connection could be causing these minor niggles? Obviously the info centre is my biggest problem atm.

Thanks Again

Ian

EDIT: Another question, would the windscreen wiper warning light have anything to do with this, is there a windscreen fluid sensor, as my windscreen wiper resevoir is full, but the warning light is showing constantly - any ideas? Please HELP !!!

[Agwa Moose]

As you know the info centre doesn't work...
The CD/tuner will stay on even after I remove the key from the ignition.
I do not have the key ignition ligh - it's never come on for me!

Any idea which wire/connection could be causing these minor niggles?

The CD staying on is because it is connected to a permanant 12v only, if you check the wiring behind the CD you should find a brown wire with a grey stripe, this is the wire that supplies the illumination for the factory fitted radio, and for some reason it also affects the IC, use this wire to supply the switched 12v to your CD (your CD should have 2 12v input wires - one for a permanant feed (memory) and one for a switched feed (power)) and your CD 'should' switch on and off with the ignition - and it could also affect your IC, thats what was stopping mine working anyway

And the ignition light - probably just a blown bulb

Another question, would the windscreen wiper warning light have anything to do with this, is there a windscreen fluid sensor, as my windscreen wiper resevoir is full, but the warning light is showing constantly - any ideas?

No, this wont affect your IC, it's probably the level sensor has died causing it to register empty all the time, mine does this as well, just haven't got round to sorting it yet

J

[muddyfox470]

As you know the info centre doesn't work...
The CD/tuner will stay on even after I remove the key from the ignition.
I do not have the key ignition ligh - it's never come on for me!

Any idea which wire/connection could be causing these minor niggles?

The CD staying on is because it is connected to a permanant 12v only, if you check the wiring behind the CD you should find a brown wire with a grey stripe, this is the wire that supplies the illumination for the factory fitted radio, and for some reason it also affects the IC, use this wire to supply the switched 12v to your CD (your CD should have 2 12v input wires - one for a permanant feed (memory) and one for a switched feed (power)) and your CD 'should' switch on and off with the ignition - and it could also affect your IC, thats what was stopping mine working anyway

What colour is the other 12v wire going into the back of the cd player then, is it safe just to remove the other one? Do I just remove it or swap them around, however will my CD player keep its memory stored, i.e. radio stations etc?

Also the warning light for the handbrake has starting playing up, most likely due to a connection, any ideas how to get at it?

Cheers

Ian

I'm guessing all these electrical things might some how be the source of my IC not working... well I hope so

[Agwa Moose]

Also the warning light for the handbrake has starting playing up, most likely due to a connection, any ideas how to get at it?

If you mean it's staying on (or flashing) when the handbrake's off then it's probably the switch under the handbrake lever playing up, centre console out for that one

And as for the radio wiring colours - I'll just go and remove my radio and see

Back soon

J

[Agwa Moose]

I return...

This is the radio connector on mine (coming from the car loom)

Grey with Red stripe (thick one) - Unused
Grey with Red stripe (thin one) - +12v Permanent
Brown with Grey stripe - +12v switched
Red - power for ariel
Brown - Earth

As for the CD side of it, I don't know what make yours is but mines a Sony and the one in the 306 is a Panasonic - on both of them the power wires are yellow for the permanent and red for the switch, could be different on other makes though

Also if your using the ISO connectors - when I put my Sony in I had to move the switched wire in the block as it was in the wrong place

Hope that helps

J

[muddyfox470]

Ta much appreciated, I will take a look at it tomorrow. Mine is a kenwood but as you say, most of them are standard now so should be the same

The handbrake light thing doesn't always come on when it is in use, sometimes it will, sometimes it won't it just depends on what it feels like!

Thanks again for your time

Ian

[Agwa Moose]

The handbrake light thing doesn't always come on when it is in use, sometimes it will, sometimes it won't it just depends on what it feels like!

Probably still the switch under the lever, they do all kinds of wierd things, sounds like it's sticking a bit or the contacts are a bit dodgy, give it a clean or just put a new one in there

J

[muddyfox470]

Ok I need help, pretty major this one me thinks...

Just took the car out for a drive this evening, in the night to see how it drove and to pick up any points with the lights/lighting and electrics.

Well the console itself wasn't lit up at all, for the speedo and the rev counter, however the info centre did half work...

Now this is quite strange... The info centre only showed what it wanted to show, for instance it would only show the top half of numbers, or the top half of the fuel gauge, however half way through the test drive it switched over and decided to only show the bottom half of the fuel gauge and numbers. So at least I know it half works

Question is now, how do I go about fixing the rest of the light issues, i.e. get access to the bulbs etc, and which bulbs do I need for the console? Also how do I get the whole of the information showing on the info centre, I am half tempted to buy a new whole unit however this may not solve the problem and buying second hand means that there is going to be a large discrepency with the odometer readings etc.

Rapid response would be gratefully received May take a trip to volvo tomorrow to see what they have and what bulbs/things I need doing and possibly ask the question of how much it would cost for them to do the job...

Thanks again

Ian

EDIT:

Sorry I forgot to link the two images I took trying to best show the situation...
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g17/m ... 7_21-1.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g17/m ... -07_21.jpg

[Agwa Moose]

Looking at those pics of the IC it looks more like the pcb on the back of the dash is at fault than the wiring is

As for the lighting you need 12v/3w capless bulbs for the speedo/rev counter and some daft little halogen thing for the IC that Volvo like to charge a tenner for, access is easy, dash out and then twist some little black plastic things on the back of it to get the bulbs out

J

[muddyfox470]

Looking at those pics of the IC it looks more like the pcb on the back of the dash is at fault than the wiring is

As for the lighting you need 12v/3w capless bulbs for the speedo/rev counter and some daft little halogen thing for the IC that Volvo like to charge a tenner for, access is easy, dash out and then twist some little black plastic things on the back of it to get the bulbs out

J

Is it just possible to swap the PCB over for the info centre, or would it just be easier to swap the display console (speedo, rev counter, info centre) over.

The problem is getting a second hand one, the odometer is going to be wrong and is never going to look good for resale, insurance etc.

How much does Volvo charge for a replacement/refurbishment? - is it worth giving them a call to ask for a quote?

Cheers

Ian

[Agwa Moose]

Is it just possible to swap the PCB over for the info centre

Yes it is, just make sure it comes from the same type of car - a turbo one wont work correctly in a 2.0 etc.

How much does Volvo charge for a replacement/refurbishment? - is it worth giving them a call to ask for a quote?

Don't even ask em, the answer isn't pretty just put a request in the parts section on here and see if anyone's got one they don't mind parting with

Could be worth going through the motions first though, sort out the wiring at the back of the CD and then take your pcb out and give it's contacts a clean (check for any signs of obvious damage while it's out), if that doesn't work then swap the pcb and see if that sorts it - no point in spending until you're sure you need to

J

[Agwa Moose]

Should of added - I 'may' be picking up a 2.0 dash this week to do some experimenting with (don't ask, I'm not telling ) just depends how much the bloke wants for it

The pcb I wont need so if you do need one I 'could' have one by the end of the week, I'll let you know if I do

J

[muddyfox470]

I got the radio sorted now although it has had no effect on the info centre, but at least the radio turns off with the ignition now

On the ISO connector (coming from the wiring loom) I changed the wires 7 and 6 over. To do enable it to do the above, as described by agwa.

Thanks again for your help...

May be buying a whole dash console thing to see whether it works, then I am pretty content with everything. The fact that the passenger side central locking doesn't work isn't a major bug bear...

Ta

Ian

[muddyfox470]

Wahoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I thought it was never going to get sorted but thanks to JohnTurbo I have transplanted the PCB and it works perfectly!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me

Much Love

Ian

[muddyfox470]

Oh Balls...

After working perfectly, its suddenly stopped again! but why??? (it just seems to do this in a tantrum fashion, it works more often than not)

Changed the oil today, took it for a drive after using it, and it worked.

Cleaned the interior, and wiped the dash, then before cleaning the car noticed it wasnt working!
Damn

So cleaned it and polished it to the max so it looks absolutely beautiful now, but I cant see the fuel guage again! How annoying is that?

Any ideas what might have come loose whilst driving/changing oil filter/cleaning inside?

Ian

(on the plus side the handbrake light seems to come on more often now )

[glasgowjim]

Having a similar problem with sons turbo . The ic stopped working as did the speedo. so took it out of the dashboard (easy job) waggled wires then started to move connector block and it worked again then on test drive the speedo started to do weird things intermitently. My solution will be to remove the dash disply en masse and start to check each bit individually to get it functioning. Intermittent faults can be a right pain.

Dont go near volvo they believe in robbery without violence!

[madric]

...and another one...

For the last few months my IC has been intermittent - resetting itself (goes throught he "check" cycle etc) at semi-random intervals. I suspected a loose earth or something as it mainly happened when I took corners, accelerated or decelerated, but nothing repeatable.

After a nice long weekend of stripping the interior out (yes, another leakand plenty mould), I got as far as dismantling the dash, and all the connections and the pcb looked fine. 5 minutes on this site and I was fiddling around the alternator cables...

Eventually turned out that the earth on the alternator had corroded through, and waggling it reset the IC. 10 minutes with a new ring-connector, and it's fixed!!!

So - Info Centre going mad and resetting - another fix for you could be the earth (B-) connection on the alternator.

Now onto the dodgy central locking/alarm...

[heavend]

I'm not going to fully repeat a previous posting (I know it's faster asking an old question again and again, but save yourself re-inventing the wheel and read the old forums!)
In a nut shell, there are 3 100uF electrolytic capacitors on the info centre PCB. After may years they leak, and need replacement. Take the PCB to someone who fixes TVs or videos and ask them to replace them.
A simple enough job for anyone with a small soldering iron & knows what a capacitor is.

[glasgowjim]

thanks for the tip heavend but the problem is the replacement info centre works when connected to the loom of another car but dead when put into the turbo. so it has to be something other than the pcb/info centre it has to be the wiring in the car.

just so many other things happening at the moment that I rarely have the time or energy to get up and sort things just now.