no electricity

[c70mel]

Hey all,

Well my dads 940GL J reg 295000 odd miles Volvo is playing up yet again.

No electric at all! car starts and runs fine but not one light on the dashboard, no headlights, electric windows etc etc. This is happening ever so often now. All I can think of is possibly a relay playing up or something? but for every single light to stop working is a bit strange imo as 1 relay surely cant control the whole light circuit.

Any suggestions?

[pikeajm]

make sure the all the leads on the battery are tight had a similar problem with my old 940 turned out to be a loose wire there

oh btw forgot to say what a nice car you have

[c70mel]

make sure the all the leads on the battery are tight had a similar problem with my old 940 turned out to be a loose wire there

oh btw forgot to say what a nice car you have

hey pikey,

Thanks very much, yours is rather nice as well. Too fast though Just been on the motorway in 3rd lane with a V70 T5 behind me. Dropped into 2nd lane - Shoooooosshh right past me effortlessly! I NEED A T5!!

Will check all cables when my dad gets home today, cheers

[c70mel]

Bit more information about the problem now...

When the electrics dont work the ABS light comes on the dashboard! which is interesting. My volvo specialist mechanic said try turning the key slightly as the ignition barrals can start to fail after time, which makes sense.

Strange how the ABS light comes on though. Its very intermittant as well.

[Rufe]

my c70 has this problem in its early stages, though its been like it for a long time, well since before i bought it, as kieran who i bought it off did mention it to me before hand. sometimes (say once a month) i will start the car, and then there are no dashlights or headlights. a tiny adjustment of the key is all thats needed to sort it, not even a problem worth sorting yet i dont think, however in your case, it sounds a bit worse than mine, though the similar if not the same fault by sounds of it, except i dont get the abs light come on?

[c70mel]

my c70 has this problem in its early stages, though its been like it for a long time, well since before i bought it, as kieran who i bought it off did mention it to me before hand. sometimes (say once a month) i will start the car, and then there are no dashlights or headlights. a tiny adjustment of the key is all thats needed to sort it, not even a problem worth sorting yet i dont think, however in your case, it sounds a bit worse than mine, though the similar if not the same fault by sounds of it, except i dont get the abs light come on?

Yup, abs light comes on every time the fault occurs. Plus its not just the lights but the windows etc dont work. Not very useful when trying to get home in the dark! hehe

[t5 stealth]

try wiggling the key in the ignition when the fault happens as i think it mite be the ignition barrel,
maybe a drop of wd40 in the key hole mite help,
i recall barrel faults on them

[Rufe]

ive never tried the windows when its happened, usually i notice if its night time and lights wont come on, a simple touch of the key in the barrell does the trick though for me. a new barrell isn't cheap however, i've sold a good few of these over the years, and its the entire column lock that you have you buy for the barrell

[gtiteen]

Something similar happens on my mums 1997 940. But it also does something weird, when you turn it off and take the key out somtimes the lights and everything stay on and theres a loud buzzing noise and then after say 5 seconds everything goes off?? I find if i just leave it a minute it works!