What year did the bad harness menace begin? the IPD catalog says 1981 but I seem to remember Dave(is that the right name?)-the-harness-guy starts it at 1980.

I started to write a long post with the recent history of electrical problems but deleted it, in black and white it seems stupidly obvious. Symptoms at various times: starter that doesn't quit running, temp gauge pegged out even when engine is cold, suddenly dying, somtimes only running if the starter is engaged, and tonight flooding upon restarting which quit after I disconnected the cold start valve.

This afternoon I had checked connections on the small wires at the starter and must have wiggled the harness enough to get those two wires to not short and suddenly it was running nicely. So when it was time to go down the hill two miles to get pumpkins for the kid's jack-o-lanterns, I said let's take the Volvo. It ran sweet all the way there and about a third of the way back up the hill. This time I had to work by feel in the dark. Disconnected the cold start and, with the starter staying engaged, managed to merge with heavy traffic while digging ruts in the soggy shoulder to move another 50 yards to where the street widens to include paved parking. Then more blind wire jiggling at the starter and once again it ran nicely home. I'm thinking I'll cut the sheathing off the bundle and repair/splice wires. I hate to drop another $100-$250 on it at this point because I just had to get the alternator repaired again and since the problem was the other rotor to slip ring lead, the shop owner suggested that the engine might have a vibrtion problem: I think he's right but I can't pinpoint the vibration source. It could suddenly become a parts car.