Volvo 480 Club Europe

In need of a PCB for infocentre, my VDO is the 734 model.

Based in Belgium


- Cheers

I may well have a whole spare instrument cluster if you're interested?

It has to be that particular PCB .

It will soon be coming out of a 95 Celebration, I'll have to have a look when I take her out

There is a great FAQ page about that.
http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo48 ... ment_panel



Every PCB from a 2.0L will fit as they are all VDO 734, for every 480 from MY 1991 onwards (the ones with 60 litre fuel tank, starting with CH 563100 in August 1990, note the error in the above picture) it will be a drop-in replacement; for a Turbo you have to cut one pin off the PCB.

At a pinch, you can use every PCB provided it has the flat cable soldered to the PCB with a connector to fit the info centre switch. The earliest ones were the other way around and had the flat cable soldered to the info centre switch, with a connector to fit the PCB. Fuel economy and range readings may be off, temperatures and fuel gauge will be correct.

brinkie wrote:There is a great FAQ page about that.
http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo48 ... ment_panel



Every PCB from a 2.0L will fit as they are all VDO 734, for every 480 from MY 1991 onwards (the ones with 60 litre fuel tank, starting with CH 563100 in August 1990, note the error in the above picture) it will be a drop-in replacement; for a Turbo you have to cut one pin off the PCB.

At a pinch, you can use every PCB provided it has the flat cable soldered to the PCB with a connector to fit the info centre switch. The earliest ones were the other way around and had the flat cable soldered to the info centre switch, with a connector to fit the PCB. Fuel economy and range readings may be off, temperatures and fuel gauge will be correct.

That's good to know, thank you

The mileometer doesn't appear to work on my clocks or the trip counter, they haven't moved at all, but all functions of the info centre work as they should so hopefully the cluster should be of some use

If only the odometer and trip counter aren't moving, and everything else is working properly, then the info centre isn't at fault!

Looks like the plastic gear inside the odometer is broken, that is a common fault. Replacement can be found for less than a tenner on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271645832525

Replacing the gear is easy, once you know the game. You can take out the speedometer unit, remove the needle (just turn it around and around, it will come loose), pull the trip counter reset knob, remove the front plate (2 little black screws), remove the plastic casing; then you can unscrew the stepper motor (2 screws) and you will be able to access the gears. Pull the broken one out, push the new one in and assemble the whole thing back together in reverse order.

I have repaired quite a few odometers and will be happy to repair yours, but I guess another instrument cluster is cheaper than a new plastic gear, twice the postage across the North Sea and a couple of beers (although some guys took that very literally and now my alcoholic beverages cupboard is stuffed with all kinds of special beers )

brinkie wrote:There is a great FAQ page about that.
http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo48 ... ment_panel



Every PCB from a 2.0L will fit as they are all VDO 734, for every 480 from MY 1991 onwards (the ones with 60 litre fuel tank, starting with CH 563100 in August 1990, note the error in the above picture) it will be a drop-in replacement; for a Turbo you have to cut one pin off the PCB.

At a pinch, you can use every PCB provided it has the flat cable soldered to the PCB with a connector to fit the info centre switch. The earliest ones were the other way around and had the flat cable soldered to the info centre switch, with a connector to fit the PCB. Fuel economy and range readings may be off, temperatures and fuel gauge will be correct.

Hi Robert,

Ok i've tried even fitting a different cluster, but was from an 89 480, everything works except the Info Centre AGAIN ... I'm starting to think the fault may be in my car somewhere? My info centre did work originally, then started to go on and off/ i did some soldering, and i believe messed it up as it's never worked since..

So either the other cluster i tried also had a duiff info centre or it's wiring? I've tried all the fuses i could find that relate to the info centre, they are all present and not broken. the replacement info centre VDO was not 734, would this show regardless but inaccurate fuel readings ?

any suggestions?

89of480 wrote:

brinkie wrote:There is a great FAQ page about that.
http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo48 ... ment_panel



Every PCB from a 2.0L will fit as they are all VDO 734, for every 480 from MY 1991 onwards (the ones with 60 litre fuel tank, starting with CH 563100 in August 1990, note the error in the above picture) it will be a drop-in replacement; for a Turbo you have to cut one pin off the PCB.

At a pinch, you can use every PCB provided it has the flat cable soldered to the PCB with a connector to fit the info centre switch. The earliest ones were the other way around and had the flat cable soldered to the info centre switch, with a connector to fit the PCB. Fuel economy and range readings may be off, temperatures and fuel gauge will be correct.

That's good to know, thank you

The mileometer doesn't appear to work on my clocks or the trip counter, they haven't moved at all, but all functions of the info centre work as they should so hopefully the cluster should be of some use

89of480 would you still have the cluster ? It's good for me as I can know for sure if:

1.) my info centre board is at fault
2.) my cluster mainboard is at fault
3.) my volvo 480 wiring is at fault

I have my working milometer ( Kilometer here ) thanks to the replacement cluster i sourced ( but read above this also hasn't got info centre working )

Cheers!

The info centre board itself at fault is very rare. The usual suspects are the background lighting and the power supply. I always use the following systematic approach to repairing instrument clusters.

1) Check the light. If you turn the rheostat under the steering wheel all the way up (maximum lighting), you should see the display lighting up in dim green. If not, check the bulbs first. The halogen bulb has Volvo P/N 3342604 and was still available at the dealer in The Netherlands, you can probably also source them at a car parts store, ask for B10d bulb which is the generic code. Sometimes the bulb isn't broken, but simply doesn't light up because of a bad contact on the main board (turn it around a bit)

2) Check the fuse. If your 480 is from model year 1993 or later (you have a 2.0 GT, so this applies), then you should check fuse 21 first. This fuse also feeds the cigarette lighter plug and has only 7,5A, I have blown this one several times!

3) Check the supply to the main board. Pin 3 of the grey connector should measure 12 volts with ignition switched on.

4) If the grey connector does supply 12V, it is time to remove the main board and re-solder the pins to the connectors on the main board. Solder with caution, use a light soldering iron (approx. 30 watts) and a tiny bit of 60/40 solder with resin core, just enough to make the solder flow around the pin. Also, re-solder the row of pins that connect the info centre board to the main board. Finally, take out the board of the display itself and re-solder the four pins that connect to the main board.

This will usually do the trick. There are some older info centre boards that have bad electrolytic capacitors (replacement cost 10p each) but I have seen those only around model year 1988 (red/yellow connectors on the main board) and even with broken capacitors, there is still life in the info centre.

Hi Robert,

thanks for the reply,

1.) I know that on both my clusters i have changed the light dimming option to highest and yes it's a dim green as should be.

2.) I will check the power supply on pin 3, on the grey cable, which one is earth? i guess i'll find it eventually.

It's a bit strange I bought a cluster on eBay from an older model ( pre GT ) and the info centre doesn't work on this ( tho he states tested ) so i'm hoping it's power related / fuse related, i think i have changed fuse 21 already but i'll check for the 12V on there.

I was also told to check the earth on the alternator, is this true? I'm not sure which wire to check...?

If it's soldering that's required i'm not so good at that - 'll have to send the boards off, I have a contact who could do this, or do you do soldering by any chance?

Thanks again

Sam

Info centre Fixed !!!

big thank you Robert, saved me a lot of time and money investing in more clusters and boards/ soldering.

voltage at pin 3 on Grey harness : 0.15 V when ignition on / 0.07 ignition off. Checked earth that's fine, I wired up the ignition feed from the CD player, and the info centre has life ! But my VDO 734 board is not working, but the cluster i bought, this VDO board is working... I'm going to put a piggy back fuse from Cd player ignition to permanently feed the info centre, my battery feed for the CD player is dead, followed it to the fuse box there is no power regardless of fuse i put in there - this will also be piggy backed off a working 12v battery source.

One Q - I got the 40 L version Info centre board on the 60L version 480, range doesn't work as i've read, would the fuel readings be off as well or pretty accurate?


Thanks !

sam029 wrote: big thank you Robert, saved me a lot of time and money investing in more clusters and boards/ soldering.

You are welcome

voltage at pin 3 on Grey harness : 0.15 V when ignition on / 0.07 ignition off. Checked earth that's fine, I wired up the ignition feed from the CD player, and the info centre has life ! But my VDO 734 board is not working, but the cluster i bought, this VDO board is working... I'm going to put a piggy back fuse from Cd player ignition to permanently feed the info centre, my battery feed for the CD player is dead, followed it to the fuse box there is no power regardless of fuse i put in there - this will also be piggy backed off a working 12v battery source.

Be careful not to drain your battery this way. Make sure you pick up power from a switched source. Even better: find out why there is no power to the fuse box. Usually the answer lies in a poor contact on the relay box.

One Q - I got the 40 L version Info centre board on the 60L version 480, range doesn't work as i've read, would the fuel readings be off as well or pretty accurate?

The fuel bar graph is calculated from a variable resistor pushed up by a float in the tank, so it really doesn't matter if there's 48 or 60 litre capacity in the tank, the bar graph doesn't have an absolute reading anyway. Only the range and fuel economy calculations are off.

From what I can remember you CAN calibrate the level in the tank.

there is a wee plug that is prised out from the info centre knob and then a jewellers screwdriver is used to adjust the level. I think you fill the tank to the brim then tweak as reqd.

in HBOL from memory

alan is correct the fuel reading can be adjusted

You can calibrate the amount of fuel which the computer "sees", by filling up the tank completely, setting the info centre switch to FUEL AVG (second position), press the RESET button, keep it depressed while switching on the ignition, and then either set the reading to 48.0 or 59.0 litre (depending on what type of info centre is fitted), by adjusting the potentiometer inside the switch with a small screwdriver.
When the adjustment doesn't seem to function, you can check the potentiometer with an ohmmeter between pin 3 and 8 (ground) from the info centre switch, it should be variable between 0 and 47 kilo-ohm.
The adjustment range is limited. The adjustment is for fine tuning only, so the range can be properly calculated by the info centre computer. You cannot change a 48 litre tank info centre computer to a 60 litre tank by adjusting the potentiometer.
The fuel bar reading, however, is a relative reading and isn't affected whether a 48 or a 60 litre tank is fitted, and shouldn't be affected by the potentiometer inside the switch. Connecting the fuel tank sensor input to ground should give a full reading, 68 ohm should read 5 or 6 segments on the display. Leave it open and only the lower bar appears.
From the service manual:

brinkie wrote:You can calibrate the amount of fuel which the computer "sees", by filling up the tank completely, setting the info centre switch to FUEL AVG (second position), press the RESET button, keep it depressed while switching on the ignition, and then either set the reading to 48.0 or 59.0 litre (depending on what type of info centre is fitted), by adjusting the potentiometer inside the switch with a small screwdriver.
When the adjustment doesn't seem to function, you can check the potentiometer with an ohmmeter between pin 3 and 8 (ground) from the info centre switch, it should be variable between 0 and 47 kilo-ohm.
The adjustment range is limited. The adjustment is for fine tuning only, so the range can be properly calculated by the info centre computer. You cannot change a 48 litre tank info centre computer to a 60 litre tank by adjusting the potentiometer.
The fuel bar reading, however, is a relative reading and isn't affected whether a 48 or a 60 litre tank is fitted, and shouldn't be affected by the potentiometer inside the switch. Connecting the fuel tank sensor input to ground should give a full reading, 68 ohm should read 5 or 6 segments on the display. Leave it open and only the lower bar appears.
From the service manual:

Code: Select all

amount in  measured
tank       resistance
48  60   40 +/- 5 ohm
36  45   60 +/- 2.5 ohm
24  30   80 +/- 3 ohm
12  15   115 +/- 3 ohm
9    9   150 +/- 5 ohm

Hi Robert : Alan, Cheers

Got the info centre calibrated; shows 51 litres MAX. guessing 9 is the reserve?

89of480 - If you got the PCB spare let me know, so i can get the MPG : Litres per 100 km working again, i've tried PM'ing you but they stay stuck in my outbox; ??

Regards

Sam