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Wiring Harness[240-260/DL] posted by Terry Flahive on
Wednesday, 29 April 1998, at 1:49 p.m.
I keep reading these horror stories on the wiring harness and wonder what is wrong with mine. Have an 85 DL 194k miles, original owner. Only electrical problems have been OD relay 150K and Fuel pump relay 175K. Am I on borrowed time or am I lucky. Car has spent time in Cal., Fl., La. and Pa. (was in the Navy) car was always garaged, do you think that has been the wiring savior? I had a 78 244 also original owner, traded for an 850 in 1994 and my 78 never had wiring problem. Must be lucky.
Re: Wiring Harness[240-260/DL] posted by Dan kasha on
Wednesday, 29 April 1998, at 2:50 p.m.
I have an 85, that spent time in Virginia, and then mostly texas. It
aws garaged at home, and work as well (at least for the second half of
its life). It has 160K miles, and has not had electrical problems
until recently.
When I bought it, the wiring looked good. It is degrading FAST. At
the connector at the fire wall, the insulation is present, but has
many cracks. At the alternator end, the insulation looked good a year
ago, but now is flaking off.
Re: Wiring Harness[240-260/DL] posted by craig on
Thursday, 30 April 1998, at 12:14 a.m.
My 82 240 turbo, when I purchased it had serious wiring harness problems with most of the insulation flaking off to expose bare wires. My guages eventually started bouncing from low point to high and my fuses randomly sparked and blew out when hitting bumps. I sprayed the wiring where I could get to it in engine compartment with rubberized undercoating to keep them separated and buy some time until I could replace harness- this worked.
Volvo purchased a bad lot of wire (non heat-resistent insulation) in the early 80's, so a lot of cars from 81 to 85 have developed this problem. The solution is to replace the harness (about $190) and a weekend to do the job. Otherwise, you will fry guages, computer or have an engine fire! The new harnesses have no such problems, so the fix should last for the life of the car. Good luck! Craig