Little electrical surprise

Tuesday night I was presented with some pretty coloured lights on the dash of the 240 on my way home from work. The combo of battery, parking brake, brake failure and bulb integrity sensor.

That combo of lights means the alternator isn't charging. And they were showing intermittently, but I managed to get the car home, and even start it the next day to return to work.

Luckily for me, there's an auto electrician next door to my office, because the lights stayed on for the last 5 minutes of the drive into work and the volts gauge dropped into the red, in the 10 volt zone.

It was a cheap and easy fix, the voltage regulator had died, but luckily Volvo had the foresight to use a Bosch alternator, which are really easy to get parts for, so after $80 for supply and fit of the part, things are back to normal.

Today the 240 is in at the local Volvo specialist, having rego check done, the reverse lights fixed as well as a C service done, plus a look at a leak and why the gearbox is suddenly doing weird stuff (hoping an ATF change will stop the problems getting out of 2nd when it's cold and the overdrive disengaging at random times). Either way the guy is not cheap, so I am not looking forward to his bill.