1986 is a bad year, but don't let it scare you. Just replace the harness, and you're in business. With good wiring, this generation of 240's is unstoppable.

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 314k, Dog-mobile
1990 245 DL 134k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces, Draco Wheels
1991 745 GL 300k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars

Hello,

Just read the thread and I have an 86 with insulation issues, just not the engine harness.

After reading about 86's and bad engine harness, I found my self thinking just about anything that went wrong might be engine harness. A hitch in the idle, a hesitation on take off, and almost any other issued that came up. My car pro who used to work on Inga feed the issue by pointing out bare wires.

The big grey connector on the fire wall, the red Alt wire, the starter wire were in awful shape. Also had issues when the green wire went over to the low pressure switch and back to the compressor. Then there was the rotten wires over by the wiper motor with the insulation.

Well one fine hot day at the PUP, I found an 85 with a replacement harness (they have a big blue and white Volvo sticker on them. Took the next day off work to pull them both and bought them for $35. Installed that harness and stuck the old one on a hook in the garage, took about four to five hours. Busted the connector on the distributor and had to get one out of the PUP the next day that took almost as long as the harness.

Looked at the two harness that I pulled out later before they were to go into a trash can and to my surprise there is not a single wire that has a crack in the insulation in either harness. The harness was stiff and oil covered, but there is nothing wrong with either.

The bad insulation was the harness that comes out by the drivers side of the car, not the engine harness that comes out of the passengers side. I have replaced and or fixed all the other wires going to the washer motor and compressor now.

Bottom Line is yes the 86 has some insulation issues in the harness, but it was not the engine harness. Four wires off the gray connector which come out of the driver side, and lots of others on that side were bad sure.

Before you go though the effort and expense to replace the main harness, do this check. Slice the black sleeve apart where the harness passes though the intake manifold and move the wiring around. If you have one of "those" harness, you will see the insulation cracked and falling off. If you open it up and nothing is wrong, fix the places the wires are bad other places and know you don't have a main engine harness that is bad.

Regards,

Paul

Good point!

I spliced in a big chunk of that driver's side harness from a later 240. Our PS reservoir sprung a leak, and just wrecked all of the wires that run along the fender.

-Ryan
--

Athens, Ohio
1987 245 DL 324k, Dog-mobile, E-codes
1990 245 DL 137k M47, E-codes, GT Sway Bars, GT Braces, Dracos
1991 745 GL 304k, Regina, 23/21mm Turbo Sway Bars
Buckeye Volvo Club

I replaced the harness on my 1983, it was intimidating at first.
My car was stalling for reasons unknown and the wiring was bad, both
at the coil area and at the white plug on the firewall near driver side.

After I began to install the newer harness I realized this is
fun. I re-routed the new harness above the engine and used plastic
wire ties to keep it away from the engine's heat and from touching
the engine. I removed the fuel injector, it just had eight bolts,
if you also do remove this buy a gasket online first ($5.00 or so).
Once removed it makes this an easy job and you get to clean up the
are too, including the breather box.

The two problems I encountered were;
1) On one of the two wire plugs on the new harness one of the wires
was pulled back into the sleeve and did not connect when I plugged
it into the block sensor. I got on Brickboard and luckily goatman
was online and was quick to help out. Then when I fixed the wire
and plugged
in the block sensor the sensor fell apart due to heat over the years.

2) My dirty engine. Clean yours up under high water pressure, like
at a car wash bay.

Not really a tough job.
Joseph Segura in New Mexico

The wiring on mine is original and has no problems.
--
1986 Volvo 245

Bad.
My daughters old 87 showed signs of bad insulation (bare darkened wires)around at certain connectors so I never, ever messed with the wiring, just left it alone. Eventually I painted and dripped on some of that vinyl semi liquid insulation. you will see it at Lowes. The wiring never gave a problem, we sold that car at over 250K
--
David Hunter

David,

We were just talking about painting insulation on in another thread but were wondering how it would hold up in high heat areas. Did you do this to the wires behind the alternator?

Jesse

I've used that stuff called plasti-dip before with no problems. I bought it at Harbor Freight tools but I think I saw it at Lowes also. It's got a picture on the can of someone dipping a pair of pliers handle into the can so I think it's supposed to be used for putting grips on you tools. They don't mention on the can using it for anything electrical but I've used it to repair a deteriorating engine harness on my old '84 and it never gave me any problems. Note: the car wasn't givng me problems prior to that, I just saw all of these bare wires and decided that they needed to be insulated before something bad happened. That car's since been wrecked but I probably drove it for a year and a half after using that stuff. I've recently used it on my drivers door central locking actuator assembly because those wires had crumbling insulation as well. If you can't afford (or don't want) to replace the harness you could try this. Good Luck!

I was not looking to restore her car but only keep it on the road as long as prectical. There was no specific problem that I was trying to fix. I only applied it where I could see crumbled insulation and bare wires which was typically right at the connectors. I did not go searching for trouble as merely twisting a harness or connector to have a look would have knocked off more insulation with the risk of allowing wires to make contact. Cannot remember exactly which connectors were involved but do seem to recall the larger ones by the firewall and fenders. I think the high risk areas are at the connectors and not along the length of a harness or at breakout points. If the 2 or 3 wires connecting to the alternator look bad then coat them. But I repeat, do not go twisting and tearing looking for trouble unless you are prepared to replace the harness.
--
David Hunter

Bad, check wires at the grey connector mounted on the center of the firewall.
Dan

I'm with Dan: attend to the gray connector first. My son's '83 had nasty looking wiring at the gray connector, but the rest of the wiring is in decent shape (repaired by a previous owner).

definitely bad. My 86 740's harness began to rapidly deteriorate at that grey connector, but then I found breaks in the insulation all over under the hood - pretty much anywhere the wiring wasn't protected by black tubing.

Good, cause now you'll have the opportunity to put a harness on that engine. You'll be able to boast about it for years to come. Really its nothing more than unplug, pull, and reroute and plug em in. The injectors are sort of tricky and the throttle switch clip can be confused with the Idle Control valve. Just put tape around such clips and mark them during removal. Compare harness before installation and you'll have a better time.

$125- $150 for a harness on ebay. Look the little metal clips inside the "clips" for any stretched open little metal clips like at the AMM. That one caused me a couple years of wondering what was wrong with my car.