Haunted radio '89 245

About 80% of the time my car radio looses its presets when I turn off
the engine. Does not seem to be dependent on duration of "off" time.
Does the stock Volvo radio have a lithium battery inside to store preset
info? Is it owner serviceable?

Jeff

 

It probably gets continuous power from the battery, it'd be easy enough to
check. How's the condition of your fuse box? You may have some corroded
fuses. Could also be a cracked solder joint inside the radio. If it does use
an internal lithium battery it's probably not intended to be user
serviceable but it's certainly possible to do so.

 

Another........... "cracked solder" joint........ LOL....... I don't
believe it!!!!!!!!
James,..... what is your fascination with "cracked solder" joints?????????
Herman '83 282 5.0 H.O. formerly 242 Turbo intercooled.

 

Seems to me that Herman doesn't believe in cracked solder joints. My
experience is that the malfunction off any electronics is caused by exactly
that in more than 50% occasions. I dont mind if Herman belongs to the
majority of this worlds consumers who throw anything away because repair is
to expensive. Just leave it to us "believers" to save a lot by fixing solder
joints.

P.S just fixed the fuel pump relay on my '98 945 ( cracked solder joints )

Per Hauge

 

Same here funnily enough. Dry joint on my fuel pump relay, fixed. Dry joint
on my PC's sound card pcb, fixed. Burnt trace on my video card, fixed. Dry
joint in the "gun" in my television, fixed. Dry joint, telly again, this
time on the scart lead socket, fixed. Washing machine wouldn't run, guess
what? This time it was brushes, fixed LOL. A dab of solder has saved me a
fortune.
Dry joints aka cracked are so common it's the first thing I look for when
something goes tits up.
50% ? more like 90% I'd say............

Stuart, the one with the soldering iron and a steady hand ;-)

 

No, no, no my friend,........ actually I "am" one who very strongly
believes in "repairing" things. I do not however believe it's "always"
cracked solder joints....... I keep reading over & over again in this
group ( which by the way I have been reading for several years) how some
problems are "possibly" cracked solder joints or cold solder joints, I
have "rarely" encountered such a problem over my years and I have been
involved with Volvos and electronics for over 35 years. My '83 still has
it's original "untouched" fuel relay by the way, which according to
"some" in here should be impossible!!! ;-)
Herman '83 282 5.0 H.O.& T-5 formerly 242 Turbo intercooled
P.S. I would think my car is "some" proof that I believe in "not"
throwing something away ;-)

 

You are a lucky man. You must be able to afford the best
electronics/electrics along with your Volvo. Good Luck. I will keep my
soldering iron handy after being "involvoed" for only 22 years.

 

LOL,........ I guess I must be lucky ;-), but I do research my purchases!!!
I "do" have a seldom used soldering iron & gun
Herman, '83 282 5.0 H.O. & T-5, formerly 242 Turbo intercooled.

 

I'm an electronics repair tech, I service consumer electronics and cracked
or "cold" solder joints cause at least 75% of the failures I come across,
with a large remainder of those going to failing electrolytic capacitors.
99% of the time when you have an intermittant fault, poor soldering is to
blame.

 

The thing is, most people keep using a malfunctioning device until something
else fails. Very often in TV's for example, the hot running components in
the horizontal drive section develop cracked soldering, this causes a spike
that takes out the output transistor and sometimes part of the power supply.
I've seen other sets, particularly projection, where a cracked solder joint
will cause a loss of deflection and burn the phosphors in the picture
tube(s).

 

You're running on borrowed time, as a general rule I reflow the solder on
the heavy connections in the fuel pump relay of any car I own, it's not
worth getting stuck in a bad part of town or some lonely mountain road
without a soldering iron. It's such a common problem and so easy to remedy
while at home.

 

Very well.
I have not been involved with Volvo's for 35 years but does have 20 years
off professionel lifes as electronic engineer, and then some on hobby basis
with electronics. If you have been involved with electronics for 35 years,
I can not believe that you only rarely encountered problems caused by
cracked solderings. Any parts that are handling some power (read
current),and thus be exposed to temperature cyclings, would be likely to
develop bad soldering joints.
I also think that you be able to read the same observations on lots of other
forums on the internet dealing with consumer electronics ( televisions,
radio, PC's ).

 

Put me in a list of people in favour of the "cracked solder joint"
theory. I've seen and fixed many, including one in an overdrive relay
in a car my neighbour was test driving at the time with the owner in the
back seat! The owner could tell I knew what I was doing, and when the
overdrive worked after he was amazed to say the least. (No I didn't
have a butane soldering iron with me, I just forced the solder together
at the crack with a key.)

While cracked solder joints is not the only thing that goes wrong, it
happens often enough, and since the cost of fixing can be $0, it's
always a good first place to look.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)