440 diesel instrument panel

[bvs]

Hi Everybody
Great this forum is live again,obviously I am new here but I have had volvos before (240 & 260).
I bought a 97 440 diesel a few months ago and am trying to fix a few little snags !
The fuel guage is completely dead and I suspect it is the inst panel,I have not managed to get a good diesel panel yet at a price I can afford ,but I have a low mileage (19,000) one from a petrol model,the only obvious difference is that it has an emission warning light where the glow plug light should be.
Anybody on here know if I can use it ?

1...speedo has same ref number (K990) at bottom of dial..so I assume that would work ok.

2...Would the rev counter work ok ?

3...Would the emission light illuminate when the glow plug circuit is working ? I dont care which light is on as long as I dont damage anything.

Also when the inst panel out I would check the output from the sender,I assume I can check at the panel plug,anybody know the empty/full output figures.

regards baz

[Chesh740R]

Diesel Rev Counter is different to the petrol model.

I would suggest taking the fuel/temp gauge unit from the petrol and placing it in the diesel Instrument panel.

When I had my 460 diesel it was the sender that played up.

Don't know the readings for the sender of the top of my head i'm afraid.

If you remove the rear seat squab, you can gain access to the top of the tank and the sender unit reasonably easy, but changing the unit with the tank in the car is a PITA.

[bvs]

Thanks Chesh
Looks like a non goer then, is it possible to remove the gauge from the back of the inst panel ?I had a quick look but it didnt look easy.
Shame..it is a pristine panel !!

cheers baz

[shimon340]

whilst trying to sort the intermittant and now retired fuel gauge on my dads Mk1 440, I fitted the fuel/temp gauge from a Mk2 diesel. Whilst the fuel gauge seemed to work, the temp gauge was running too high and showed the car as overheating within a few mins of starting. I guess the temp senders and/or the gauge is different in the mk1 petrol and the mk2 diesel.

I've too noticed the different ref numbers on the speedo on different age 400s. The plastic panel (white box) of the unit also has different numbers but I dont know if these are reference numbers for parts or production batch numbers.

I guess a friendly dealer or someone with VADIS could confirm the part numbers and or differences with petrol verses diesel clusters? As the gauges are replaceable individually, I think volvo also supplied gauges as separate replacement parts. Maybe see if the diesel is the same as any petrols?

my diesels fuel gauge takes about 5 mins to show the actual fuel level and once below 1/4 it isnt very accurate, over a 1hr journey on motorways it can change from almost on the red line to showing 1/4.

seems fuel gauges with a life of their own is a common 400 series thing.

There might be a bulletin published by volvo about it.

[bvs]

Thanks Shimon
So are you saying that individual gauges can be changed ?,I had a quick look at the back of the inst panel at the weekend and didnt think it looked very easy just to change the fuel gauge.

cheers baz

[bvs]

Hi Chesh and Shimon.
Thanks for your earlier info,much appreciated !!
I finally got round to fixing the fuel gauge.
With a lot of help from one of our 'sparkys' at work I removed the fuel/temp gauge and circuit board from my pristine spare and fitted to my inst panel.
Both gauges now seem to give reasonable readings but will have to do about 400 miles to check out low level light.
Fairly easy job,not many (non volvo) inst panels can be removed by removing just 6 screws I bet !!

Edit...the only diesel panel i found was priced at 100 quid,so if I have fixed this problem for the 10quid I paid for the petrol panel...I will be well chuffed !!

cheers baz

[shimon340]

hello

did you change the blue plastic PCB/ circuit board on your instrument cluster?

I did this on my dad's mk 1 440 and the fuel gauge worked for a while (original fault) but soon after it stopped again. Im thinking the problem is with the wiring between the sender and the instrument panel or with the connector plug not seating quite well enough into the instrument panel (common problems on the 480s).

A replacement sender unit didnt make a difference. I didnt install it in the tank, rather it was connected up to the wiring plug above the tank and the float moved up and down with the vehicle's ignition on to see if the gauge responded.

glad your car is sorted!

Shimon

[bvs]

Hi Shimon
Yes i swapped the circuit board as well..my old one looked quite corroded.Have done about 130 miles since fitting new gauges and the readings still look reasonable,so will be keeping my fingers crossed that the low level light works ok.
There are a couple of threads about fuel gauges,or you could try buying a complete inst panel from a breaker,I was shocked/pleased to find a couple of low mileage cars in my local 'scrappy',couldnt see much wrong with either of em !!

cheers baz

[bvs]

Luckily I put a spare gallon can in the boot to run the fuel tank down to check gauge accuracy ...yep the engine cut out just as the gauge was almost down to the red sector...however ... I think the gauge is accurate because i only managed to squeeze 52litres in on fill up.
So i figure that the last approx 8 litres of fuel is not usable,I did have suspicions about the fuel feed from the tank because she has cut out twice on a steep hill,so will keep the fuel topped up until I get the time to look in the tank !!
The new temp gauge is much more stable but lower reading than the old,so I changed the thermostat yesterday,the original one looked almost new and I briefly
thought I had wasted my money until I looked at the temp stamp on it... 82 c ... I thought that a bit low so have fitted an 88 c one and the gauge now sits nicely in the middle

cheers baz