I am having problems with the portion of the wiring harness neat the ECU on my 1985 240 wagon . Every once in while I will loose spark . I first though it was hall sensor problem but all of that checked fine and have cleaned all contacts and fuse connections repeatedly. By accident I have found that jiggling the wiring harness from the ECU near the engine (behind the alternator) gets things going again - I bet it is shorting agains the engine or body . I looks like I have finally isolated the problem . The last time I igggled it (on a cold day ) the black covering split open . I would like to remove all the covering in this area and repair as necessary if I can't find a Pick-a-part section from a 1998+ model replace it with . What material ( and where do it get it ) do I recover it with ? - thanks

1st thing disconnect the battery negitive post..

Then you can do this with out so much risk..

You have choices of reparing wire with butt connectors in short sections, using liquid tape and or plastic handle goo, or rebuilding the harness right.. Or combinations of all 3.

If you just recoat plastic covering with a liquid and allow it to dry and the wires are still sound that can be the fastest way.

If the wire itself is falling apart then adding wire in will be something to consider. Butt connectors are handy and you can add liquid sealers to these. Soldering and having heat shrink tubing is a option as well, and a good one.

If the wire is really gone then a new rebuilt harness might be called for..

If you go one wire at a time take great care to get them right the first time.

After all the repairs are made a plastic conduit can protect the harness some. As far as I know there are 2 kinds. One has a split side, and the other winds on. Porbably the split side is the best protection as it has the least ways in for something, and you could add liquid tape to the split sort of.. Mac

Joe, if you want to be fairly true-blue in your restoration of the harness, you'll find 90% of what you need, including the vinyl tubing at Waytek Wire (MN) but once you repair the insides you could just cover them with the split tubing you'll find in most chain auto stores.

Take a look at this ugly mess. This is probably one main reason I got this car as cheaply as I did.

Thanks for the source. BTW the upper harness on my car (no the the part I am having trouble with now ) looked just about as bad as the one in the picture before I repaired it a couple of years ago . I really want to protect this other repair from oil and heat if possible .

Joe, I did you disservice. I just re-read your original post and recognize the trouble you are having to be one covered by a service bulletin and repair kit. The connector on the ignition computer is known to be a poor fit, and sometime around your year (Alldata subsribers, please help here!) Volvo issued a TSB that involved adding sleeves to the pins, or certain of the pins on that connector, to ensure better contact. I guess I focused on the "covering" question. Yes, there is a bit more heat on that side of the motor, but frankly, I've never seen the harness deteriorated because of it, just that lousy ICU plug. I figure they did the free repairs, because any slop in the motor mounts and it will cause the car to die trying to make a quick left hand turn in an intersection.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore