I, too, have had great success beating on the dash. Temporarily cures not just relay problems, but also mystery rattles, chirping fans, sticking ventilation flaps, radio static, fluttering cassette tapes, screaming kids in the back seat,.... Just try to do it in privacy so as not to appear too dumb to the motorist beside you (Volvo drivers already have an image problem). I personally believe this is the primary cause of Volvo dash splitting, just that no one will admit to it.

I think maybe C.P.Singh should use this approach with his 850 to work off some of his Volvo frustration and at the same time probably cure half his problems (come to think of it, beating on his dealer might cure the other half). I didn't want to post in that Volvo slamming thread, so I'll say it here: Out of the three Volvo's I've bought new over the years (and not counting the two used ones that had no problems), all came with some problems and one (an early production 16 valve 740) was an out and out lemon, racking up well over $5,000 worth of warranty work plus $1500 of out of warranty work. There were days I sounded just like C.P., he has my sympathy, but just when I was ready to write Volvo off my list I was able to tame the 740 to reliability and now they come out with V70AWD's for me to drool over. Maybe next century I'll even buy one to replace the wife's 245, but oh the $$$ -time to go beat on the dash again.