Project Volvo 740, interior headlining finished! Pg 23.

[danthecapriman]

8 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Electric aerial? Mine didn't have that... 

Oh yes my friend. Electric! I’m far too important to waste my time and effort walking around the car and pulling it up. Simply switch on the radio, wait a moment then listen to the horrible buzzing scraping noise as the aerial rises!

Oddly though, this ones got electric aerial and cruise control but doesn’t have front fogs!? Though I do intend to fit them!

[Shirley Knott]

Think I might well have a CR type RWD radio left in my box of spares, it's untested and I'm pretty sure I don't have the code but it might be decent for spares? It can be yours for the cost of postage if you'd like it?

I shall have a look and make sure I've still got it this afternoon.

[danthecapriman]

30 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

Think I might well have a CR type RWD radio left in my box of spares, it's untested and I'm pretty sure I don't have the code but it might be decent for spares? It can be yours for the cost of postage if you'd like it?

I shall have a look and make sure I've still got it this afternoon.

Ohhh, I might take you up on that if you’ve still got it! Thanks!

Theres a few different CR type radios but I think they all fit all models. I did see a refurbished unit on eBay but it was a 940 unit and was grey, I need black!

 

[Shep Shepherd]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Oh yes my friend. Electric! I’m far too important to waste my time and effort walking around the car and pulling it up. Simply switch on the radio, wait a moment then listen to the horrible buzzing scraping noise as the aerial rises!

Oddly though, this ones got electric aerial and cruise control but doesn’t have front fogs!? Though I do intend to fit them!

 

The Volvo had an electric aerial from new (part of the SE spec), but it was replaced with a fixed mast job long before I bought it. I'd like to go electric again at some point, but I'm not very good with car wiring, Theoretically, it should be plug-and-play, but as the car has had various non-Volvo head units with ISO connections for many years, I expect that some kind of wiring surgery will be needed to get an electric aerial to operate; having it go up/down when the ignition's switched on/off would work for me, as the radio's invariably on when I drive the car and I don't use automatic car washes.

[danthecapriman]

Just had another play with this.

With the ignition on the head unit is powering up, display comes on and asks for ‘code’. Input the code and it accepts it, ‘code’ disappears from the display and it shows whatever station it’s set to. Use the seek button and it can pick up stations and seems to hold them. The electric aerial also rises as it should once the head unit powers on.

However, there’s no sound at all coming from three speakers and the remaining one speaker (drivers door) emits horrible squealing and ticking interference noises. Start the engine and rev it and occasionally those noises will rise and fall with engine speed but by no means always! It also sometimes completely cuts out and no noise comes out at all.

Ive got no clue wtf is up with it tbh! I’m leaning on the speakers being knackered as the head unit seems to do what it’s supposed to upto the point of no tunes! Any ideas?

[catsinthewelder]

I'd try connecting speakers that you know work directly to the radio.  If that doesn't work you know that it's taking the radio apart time.

[danthecapriman]

11 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

I'd try connecting speakers that you know work directly to the radio.  If that doesn't work you know that it's taking the radio apart time.

I’m not sure I’ve got anymore speakers!

It seems there’s also a separate amp in these cars, mounted under the dash that might be cause for concern but I have no idea what I’m looking at with stuff like this! God knows how it’s supposed to work! From what I’ve read on the web the head unit has power and aerial feeds, then wires back to the amp then the speakers wiring comes from the amp? 

ill try to pull out the head unit and see if there’s anything amiss back there...

[danthecapriman]

Right, I’m completely and utterly stumped.

I can’t get the radio out of the dash, it just won’t move so I can’t tell anything about it. But given that it turns on, seeks etc etc I’m fairly sure it’s not that at fault.

Ive taken the lower dash cover off and had a look behind. Apparently that’s where the factory amp (if fitted?) should be... I’m no expert but I can’t see fuck all there! But I don’t even know wtf an amp even looks like or why it’s even needed!? All that’s in there is an aftermarket alarm module - which itself is disconnected.

Ive checked all the inline fuses while I was in there and they’re ok, although I think they’re part of the old aftermarket alarm system and of no use.

Basically, I ain’t got a fucking clue!! I might put a post up on the VOC forum and see if anyone over there can help.

[Shirley Knott]

If they're anything like the 900 series ones then the square fascia that sits around the radio (About 1" diameter) comes out with the radio as one piece as it's connected to it by screws.

There should be little slots down either side of that allow you to squeeze some small screwdrivers down and push the sprung clips in. Even with the screwdrivers in the right place and the clips correctly held back mine still needed a fairly hefty tug to come out IIRC.

EDIT to say I'm pretty sure they all (700/900 CR type radios) work from a separate amp that lives elsewhere in the dash, might be worth looking at that for issues as that might well explain the radio functioning but no sound being produced?

[danthecapriman]

25 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

If they're anything like the 900 series ones then the square fascia that sits around the radio (About 1" diameter) comes out with the radio as one piece as it's connected to it by screws.

There should be little slots down either side of that allow you to squeeze some small screwdrivers down and push the sprung clips in. Even with the screwdrivers in the right place and the clips correctly held back mine still needed a fairly hefty tug to come out IIRC.

EDIT to say I'm pretty sure they all (700/900 CR type radios) work from a separate amp that lives elsewhere in the dash, might be worth looking at that for issues as that might well explain the radio functioning but no sound being produced?

I tried using two proper tools in those holes to get the radio out but they just bent! I even tried to yank it out by putting my fingers in the cassette slot and pulling for extra leverage but it won’t budge.

What does the amp even look like? I’m guessing some kind of little black box? If it’s missing (as in was there but someone removed it) I can’t see any unplugged wiring etc that might be from it. 

[Shirley Knott]

The head unit spring clips are very stiffly sprung indeed, I also bent my radio removal keys with them and found screwdrivers to be the only things that were rigid enough to prize them back properly. Holding two screwdrivers prized apart from each other with one hand and using your spare hand  pulling from the tape deck is the technique to use.

RE the amp, I honestly can't remember how it looked or where exactly it was, I've had loads of interesting car related shit to deal with since then and the memory's gone I'm afraid (Not much use I know) The more I think about it though the more it seems like a good idea to check it given the symptoms though...

[danthecapriman]

Success!!

How the radio or heater facia hasn’t broken I’ll never know, but getting that out took some serious force. I did exactly as you said, two small screwdrivers to prise apart the clips then heave with all my might!

So, here’s what it looks like.

Thats exactly as it came out. There’s a couple of unused wires & plugs for the big multi plug/associated wiring, the big black aerial lead and the two 3 amp fuses (both are fine). There’s a spare plug inside the dash behind the radio but there’s nothing for that to plug into on this radio so must be unused for another radio or equaliser.

The last pic shows what the two din plugs on the back of the radio do according to the manual. Port 2 is for an equaliser - not fitted on this car so is blank with its blanking plug. Port 1 is for an extra amplifier - also seemingly not fitted as the plug is unused and there’s no cable for it either. I think it’s telling though that the manual says ‘extra amplifier’. Sounds to me like it wasn’t standard to fit an amplifier but an optional extra? Mine perhaps didn’t have. I certainly can’t see that someone went to the effort of removing the amplifier for whatever reason and stripping the cable out too. If it fucked up, you’d surely just disconnect it and leave it sat there unused?

 

[danthecapriman]

Here’s some more pics of the underside of the dash where the amplifier is supposed to be...

Someone on the VOC posted a pic of an amplifier and it’s location. There’s nothing here that looks like one or in the right place, no signs of the amplifier DIN cable either!

Unless I’m being blind!?

[Zelandeth]

No amp I'd guess then given there isn't anything plugged into the amp-out socket on the head unit.

First thing I would try would be testing the speakers with a known source...not the other way around!

I've had head units (Renault branded Philips ones usually) which have failed in such a way as to start throwing a large DC voltage out across one or more speaker terminals, this is almost invariably fatal to the speakers.  As such I'd check the speakers are good or not with a known audio source rather than risk any speakers you care about connecting to a questionable head unit.

The actual functions of the display and tuner are pretty much independent of the audio amp stages in the head unit, so it switching on and seeming to work isn't any guarantee at all that it will actually produce audio.

[AndySnapper]

If you haven't done this already (now you have the radio out) disconnect the multiplug and aerial and spray with some cleaner and allow to dry before re- plugging. It may just be a dry joint there.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[danthecapriman]

Ok, so after a thorough look around there is no amp and no din lead. As far as I was aware/been told these old head units in these cars almost always have the separate amp. That can’t be true though! I’m now 99% sure the amp thing is a red herring?

Tomorrow, I’ve got an old but working aftermarket CD player up in the loft so I’ll get that out and plug it into the car in place of the Volvo unit. I know that CD player is good so if it works then it’s the head unit at fault. I’ll try it this way as I don’t have any other speakers to try! I think it’s very strange there’s no separate amp though. But there’s not even any other wiring or connectors in the area that would indicate the amp has been removed for whatever reason. The absence of the din lead is very odd too.

ill also check the wiring into the radio against the wiring diagram in the manual to confirm the age and type of the wiring loom, someone on the VOC recommended doing this as my car might be on a changeover year for certain things.

This is weird though. I’ve never had so much shit from a non messed about with sound system! It’s not even like I’m trying to alter any of it, just make it work as it used to do.

[Shirley Knott]

Glad you managed to get it out! As you say it takes an unnerving amount of force to get them free, never great with old plastics.

Weird that there's no amp, I pretty much thought they'd all have one but there you go.  As mentioned I'm almost 100% that I've got a spare one of these with your name on it, I simply haven't had the willpower to venture out to the shed as it's been pissing it down all afternoon.

[Shirley Knott]

The rain's subsided, I've been out for a dig in the shed and found these two...

 

 

A decent looking CR906 and a battered CR708. I don't have the codes to either unfortunately but you're welcome to them both. PM me some address details if so!

[danthecapriman]

I’m going to temporarily shelve the radio situation. From what people on the VOC say it’s a bit of a shitty system on these and seemingly designed deliberately to make fitting anything other than the factory sound system difficult. Apparently even non OE but age correct radio systems from the likes of Blaupunkt etc aren’t always guaranteed to fit onto the wiring connections etc. Plus, there’s the additional problem of old unknown parts, which applies to the OE systems too. I’ll have to try a few things and see I think. I don’t have a clue wtf to do at the moment though, but whatever solution I do come to, it absolutely must look right in the dash. I absolutely hate ugly modern stereo’s in old car dashboards!

Any further solutions or advice still very very welcome though...

 

For now I’ll have a go with something else. As alluded to at the top of this page my car doesn’t have front fog lamps. I don’t know why as I thought being a GLE it should do, but maybe mines a GLE with minimal options ticked? Who knows!

Anyway, that’s something I intend to change! Ok, you don’t really need front fog lights but I think they look good just being there if nothing else! And it’s one of those things that mark the car out as a high end model and above the more common peasant spec models! Plus my old one had them so this one will too.

So after trawling ‘the Bay of e’ I’ve managed to bag myself a pair of front fog support brackets for underneath the front bumper, these are both brand new. And a pair of OE spec fog light units and their plastic brackets which are coming from Germany. That leaves the switch and associated wiring.

The wiring can be done either myself or by sourcing an original front fog wiring harness from  scrap car. Using an original harness would make everything fit perfectly but that’s assuming the old wiring is any good after so long and I’d then need to unpick it from the scrap cars wiring loom the refit it into my cars loom. It’d also mean trying to fit it into the cars fusebox and relay box - which will be an utter ball ache! So I’m not doing that!

Again, trawling eBay, I found a complete kit pretty cheaply to specially fit front fogs or spot lights. It’s got ready made up wiring with connectors crimped on, a relay and in-line fuse, earth wires etc etc. It’s basically ready to fit without poncing about making things up from scratch or having to buy it all separately. It also comes with an illuminated rocker switch and bracket but I’m not using that as... yes, it won’t look factory!

My plan therefore is to find a Volvo original front fog switch and simply pop out one of the blank switches in the dash, pop in the front fog switch and wire the new wiring onto that instead to create a factory looking dashboard but now with the front fogs. Problem is, these old pre facelift 700’s don’t use the same type of switch as facelift ones or 900’s! On the later cars it seems that the switch for front fogs is combined with the same switch for rear fogs - makes sense as if your using the front ones your obviously going to be also using the rear ones so there’s no real need for two separate switches. On these pre facelift cars there’s two separate switches, one front one rear, the front one only being fitted to certain cars depending on its spec. This makes finding the front fog switch (has a green light in it and correct style light diagram) I need a bit of a pain! And I couldn’t find one anywhere! Even the local scrap yards didn’t have any as pre facelift 700’s are becoming quite rare now.

Annoying but I’m not one to be defeated and if I’m hell bent on something with my cars IT IS HAPPENING!

So I went on eBay.com (the Yankee one) and sure enough found one (only one though!). The switch is $6... not bad... the postage and duty is about three times that much! But fuck it, it’s only money right!? Besides I’ve done loads of overtime this month.

That means I now have, at least on order, the required parts to fit the lights! I’ll wait until it’s all here then I’ll need to remove the front lower bumper section, mark out the position where the fogs fit and cut out the holes, then fit everything up. Should be easy!?

 

 

 

[danthecapriman]

Here’s a pic of my old one just to show what I mean about the switches.

[Zelandeth]

Have you double checked that the wiring isn't already there?  It's not unknown for common options like that to have the wiring installed as standard at it makes it cheaper to produce than having multiple versions of the vehicle loom. 

Certainly was in the first Saab I had, I know that because I nicked it to run my override switch for the radiator fan.

[danthecapriman]

4 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Have you double checked that the wiring isn't already there?  It's not unknown for common options like that to have the wiring installed as standard at it makes it cheaper to produce than having multiple versions of the vehicle loom. 

Certainly was in the first Saab I had, I know that because I nicked it to run my override switch for the radiator fan.

I think certain parts of it are there, but from what I’ve read online some bits aren’t. I think it’ll just be easier to add completely new wiring, relay and fuse into it than try to work out which bits already exist and which don’t then try to adapt it to work. I don’t think there anything behind the bumper for the lights anyway... though I might have just not seen it tucked away somewhere?

When I dropped the lower dash down to look for the radio amplifier the other day I couldn’t see anything wiring wise for the switch behind the dashboard either.

[nigel bickle]

Have you tried a cassette innit - to see if you get a different result? Just saying, like.......

[MorrisItalSLX]

When I looked into fitting fog lamps to my Jag I found that everything was there except the lamps themselves, very handy.

This is probably overkill, but could it be worth buying a donor car with the accessories/options already fitted and robbing them off that? Then roffle it for a huge* profit?

*Not guaranteed

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, nigel bickle said:

Have you tried a cassette innit - to see if you get a different result? Just saying, like.......

Not yet. I don’t have cassettes to hand either! Nobody uses them these days! There’s a chance it could get stuck in the head unit too? Not that it matters I suppose, if it’s fucked it’s only going to kill a cassette.

 

2 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

When I looked into fitting fog lamps to my Jag I found that everything was there except the lamps themselves, very handy.

This is probably overkill, but could it be worth buying a donor car with the accessories/options already fitted and robbing them off that? Then roffle it for a huge* profit?

*Not guaranteed

Getting a donor car isn’t a bad shout, but it’d mean trying to find another pre facelift car in GLE spec but that’s got more options ticked than mine. Not the easiest thing to do now! Plus I’ve got no space and I’d probably end up keeping the donor car too!

[Zelandeth]

17 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Not yet. I don’t have cassettes to hand either! Nobody uses them these days! There’s a chance it could get stuck in the head unit too? Not that it matters I suppose, if it’s fucked it’s only going to kill a cassette.

That reminds me I still need to retrieve the one from the stereo in the Xantia...the tape deck there works just fine in every way aside from the belt on the eject mechanism being knackered...so the tape is currently trapped in there until I find time to fish it out.

[Ghosty]

The radios on these are a PITA to fit, I had trouble fitting one too and had to mess about fitting ISO connectors due to bodgery. I think on some of them, the radio was a dealer fit thing which increases bodgery potential.

 

[danthecapriman]

17 hours ago, Ghosty said:

The radios on these are a PITA to fit, I had trouble fitting one too and had to mess about fitting ISO connectors due to bodgery. I think on some of them, the radio was a dealer fit thing which increases bodgery potential.

 

Sounds about right!

To be fair to mine, it appears, at least on the face of it, that it hasn’t been hacked about or altered. It’s still a factory wiring harness with factory plug for the radio. The biggest problem with mine is that it’s not standard for some reason. The amp isn’t fitted and seems to never have been (it should have one by the sound of it!?) and the wiring harness into the radio isn’t standard colours, which means the wiring diagrams I’ve got are pretty much worthless! Apparently though this era of Volvo are notorious for this sort of shit with their sound systems.

My fix is going to be to move away from a factory stereo. I’ve found a wiring adapter to convert from the factory plug in the car to ISO standard then fit a different stereo that has ISO plugs. I’ve also got a facia adaptor as the original radio is bigger than its replacement.

 

In other news, I’ve now got a pair of brand new front fog lights (from Germany), a pair of new fog light mounts and the required wiring etc. All I’m waiting for is the OE switch, which should be here in the next few days. 

And, as noted in the grumpy thread, I got a speeding fine in this the other day! 36 in a 30! Bastard!!

Im half tempted to swap back to the euro headlights temporarily and claim the car in their photo isn’t my car!

 

[danthecapriman]

Haha! We have music!

Ive not touched this for a while due to waiting on parts to arrive and the utterly utterly FUCKING WANK weather we’ve had over the last 6 months... ok 6 months is a bit of an exaggeration but it feels like it! I just couldn’t face going outside in the pissing rain.

However, everything is now here, so I’ve started with sorting the radio out first just so I know if there’s something else not working or if it’s just the head unit.

I bought two iso leads - both very similar but there was a slight variation in the pins in each of the plugs. I got both as you can guarantee if I only got one then it’d be wrong and I’d need the other!

Tried the first one which fit the cars loom multi plug. Then dug out a spare iso standard CD player head unit I already had and hooked it up... nothing! Not even any power! Ok...

Tried the second one which was a much shorter lead (good as there’s not much space behind the radio/centre console in this car! Connected up the radio and it powered on straight away! Connected up the aerial lead and it immediately picked up stations, seek works and everything plays well, the speakers seem to work perfectly. CD player also works fine and the electric aerial also works as it should still. Success! The fault must be with the original head unit.

heres how it looks at the moment.

Radio on and picking up channels.

CD player on,

To get it to fit I had to get a dash facia adaptor. That fits fine and the radio security cage went in fine and the tabs bent over ok. The only downside is the cage edge is still very slightly visible at one end on top despite the radio itself having a front trim to hide this. The trim seems a bit loose though so I don’t think I can do much about that. I might pop the radio out and paint the edge of the cage black at some point to try and make it a bit less obvious.

I know it’s a modern head unit, which is something I wanted to avoid ideally but I don’t think it looks too bad tbh. On the plus side, it’s a CD player and it’s also got an AUX plug and can play from iPod etc too. And, most of all, it actually works! So I might leave it as is for now and see how I feel about it later. If it still bugs me I’ll just get an old radio/cassette off eBay or somewhere and fit that instead now I know everything works and can be plugged in ok. For now though, that’ll do!

 

 

[Shirley Knott]

Well played chap! That doesn't look too out of place and having aux in capability will be nice.

If you did find at a later date that the modern head unit wasn't to your taste, there are actually some quite attractive (If a little pricey) aftermarket radios about that are made to look period correct...https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/263230707401?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=263230707401&targetid=594043310150&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006736&poi=&campaignid=6466412116&mkgroupid=77204287093&rlsatarget=aud-381667280803:pla-594043310150&abcId=1140486&merchantid=115115143&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9fntBRCGARIsAGjFq5F_KtS1y01elGQkxtUtTsjTvgt_yoGtBVv7ZWIFyV3ot4Lxr9pVZZ0aAqNREALw_wcB