Here goes,

Bought a 1996 960 from a dealer in Texas. Drove it home to Calif, and ONCE on the way home it stumbled (had a rough idle). Once home we took it to the dealer to have the 90K and 100K service done. Soon after the dealer service, it started to stumble more often. It would run great for days then it would stumble at once traffic light, and be fine by the next one. Soon, it would do it every day. One minute it would run great, the next the engine would be shaking. So, the nearest Dealer is 60 miles away. The check engine light starts coming on and flashing. So, I take it to a local Volvo specialist. The codes show misfires on three cylinders and he shows me that the bottom of all coils are cracked and the wiring around the coil connectors is green and falling apart. So, I replace all six coils (thank you AllOEMVolvo.com), and he splices in a new connector to replace the worst one. By now, the engine has been shaking so much that the cat converter goes out. So, $600.00 buys me a rebuilt one. But, the misfires continue. The dealer recommends I put in a whole new engine harness. So, I go to the junk yard and buy a new section of harness (the section where all the coil connectors are) and splice it in. The car is back to working great one day and barely running the next. Take it to the dealer and he messes with the injectors and the coils. He does not know what is doing this. The only codes we are getting from the ECU is missfire codes. Dealer gives up and says its the harness. So, I finally give up and spend $1150, and get a whole new engine wiring harness put in. That was three days ago, car runs great. Lucky me. Now the passenger seat wont work, oy.

New wiring harness for 1996 Volvo ?!

What the … I though the “bad” years were back in

late 80-ies.

Mine is 1986 and still original. Yes, I had to re-insulate

few burnt pieces. Nothing serious.

Typical of most shops today. Spend as little time as

possible troubleshooting, replace more than you have to,

and charge premium for it.

With this type of reasoning, next time instead of replacing

a fuel injector, they’ll put in the whole new engine…

for, I don’t know… $ 8,000.00 ?

It’s sad that with all the fancy equipment shops use today,

they are unable to isolate the failing component better.

My 95 is falling apart in several sections.

FYI, a new engine for that pig is almost $11,000.

The car had been in for service at a Volvo dealer EVERY 5k. Car ran great while we test drove it (for over an hour. I only paid $8500 for the car, so I am still way ahead. I have told my wife, I hope you like the car, cause your gonna earn a million mile medallion!!!

...before you give it ALL to the dealer....

On your passenger seat... see if the red button labeled "STOP" has been pressed. Just check it.

Also, wasn't I helping you with some brake issues a while back on this car?

Whatever happened with that? Did you let the dealer fix that too?

BTW, Patton is Shadow and vice versa. Only, I'm home from work now.

I'd give you a Gold Star! Sorry to hear of your troubles. Seem like these cars have gremlins or they don't. Did you have any records with this car? It appears it has about 20K miles per year on it, which should not be a big sweat, but ya gotta wonder what kind of abuse it suffered. Do you have any recourse through the purchase dealer in Texas? Did it stumble when you test drove it? I know, I'm rationalizing right now, but owners of these cars either love them or hate them. I hope you will eventually fall into the former category.

I'll bring you a big red bucket.

Per chance, were you pulling codes 113 and 115?

There is one, grounding tie point buried in that harness, below the intake manifold. It is held together by ultrasonic welding as opposed to solder, which is evil and bad for the environment.

Trouble is, that joint comes apart with time and is nearly impossible to trace.

In my case I pulled the manifold and all the crap in the way. Split open the harness. Excised all the bad material. Re-twisted the joint and laid in a big, fat load of silver solder. Taped it up with self-fusing silicone wrap and buttoned it up.

Never had another problem.

Sorry.

Yes You are seeing correctly. I had to laugh my ass off when this guy was slicing and dicing. What a huge amount of money to spend for some solder. Anyway, I guess with the long weekend, I'd better get off my ass and check my solder my harness. Preventive maintenance you know.

Love, wb

BTW, I'll replace a few hoses, coolant, spark plugs, I'll see if I can find some shocks, and vacuum all the junk out from under the seats.

Nice fix. This is the one for the Red Star!