I recently got conned into buying a volvo s80 2.5d. The car looks the part and in the main drives fine, the only problem is that it was massively clocked to the tune of 130000 miles.
On having the car delivered nothing on the dashboard works except the emissions light. The indicators will indicate but they do not show that they are on the dash, no rpm, no speedo, no computer nothing.
I had an electrician look at it and he feels that the dash itself is fine and that the problem is more likely to be some form of software corruption caused by the clocking. But he does not know what controls the dash in the car.
Can anyone tell me if it is the ECU or is there some other control module that runs it. I have been told by nearly every garage that volvo are the only people that will be able to help, but from the sounds of it a replacement ECU and their charges for labour, I will spend more than the car cost.
I also cant belive that pluggin in a computer should cause hardware to malfunction so could it not just be that the module needs to be reset? Is there any DIY option?
What the hell do I do??
Any help would be massively appreciated.
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Might be a good idea to first check all the fuses with a testlamp to make sure any of them that are live one side, are also live on the other; particularly no 24 in the fascia box.
The dash has it's own ECU built in; it's definitely possible to blow that while trying to clock it [the mileage might not even be stored in there?] but - as always with these faults - check power and earths first.
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Thanks for the response. The person who looked today was satisfied with all the live and earth connections.
I have spoken to Volvo as well who are telling me that the ecu in a dash is not reprogrammable and that it may be a replacement unit was added to hide the mileage when it was clocked.
Supposedly this will require a replacement dash which is £1000 on its own.
Does this sound accurate? is it only volvo that can program these units or are they just trying to cash in?
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Also I did not mention that I have a second hand dash which when fitted has exactly the same problem. Only the emissions light works.
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Your electrician says he doesn't know what controls the dash - yet he's sure that the feeds and earths are fine......?
I don't have an S80 dash wiring diagram to hand; but the S70 one shows multiple earth wires and an internal fuse. If there's any familial similarities, your symptoms suggest an earth problem.
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thanks for another reply. I have tried another dash in the car with the same problem ie only the emissions light works.
What seems odd to me is that not even the background lighting on the dash turns on, I would be amazed if this was due to a control module.
Is the emissions light on a totally different circuit to the rest of the dash? Is there anyone you could reccommend me to pass this sort of problem on to rather than volvo.
Finally I know that there are specialist companies that deal with dash and ecu repairs, but is there any clear way of knowing where the problem is?
Once again thanks for taking the time to respond to my posts.
PS yet it is odd that he did not know how it was controlled. But he came highly reccommended. He felt that all the feeds (his term) were working so he thought it must be a software corruption issue but he was not sure whether this would be in the main ECU or elswhere - he was not a volvo specialist
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Sounds like the "tamperproofing"works;there are a number of items on all cars which tell the real experts what has been done to a car.Don't just think that taking a "chip" (for example) off,will reset everything tback to standard.
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As not even the illumination works [on either of the pods tried?] then that points even more to an earth issue.
If the sparks didn't have an accurate wiring diagram to refer to; however good he was, he was never going to be able to test or prove them. Guesswork at this level is worse than useless. Do Haynes do a manual?
Firms like BBA-Reman do re-con dashpods; but don't go down that road yet until all external matters are checked.
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There is a haynes manual, it does not cover my exact model but I think this is because mine uses the 2.5 tdi Audi engine. I assume the wiring etc will be the same?
So a sensible plan would be to shop around for an automotive electrician who is specifically going to know about volvos?
Also BBA reman are based just five mins from my work. The guy earlier called them but they were not keen on looking at the car if it was a software issue.
Thanks again for all your help, it is great to hear a more reasoned point of view than just being told that the worst case scenario is the only possibility.
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If you're five minutes from BBA; then try Kevin Apps in Gillingham. BBA will definitely have his number.
Reloading the software will be a dealer issue; a hardware fault may well be repairable without disturbing it.
The dash wiring system will likely be the same on all the models; there may be slight variations on different years.
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