Hi,

I just bought an 85' 245DL Wagon 3 weeks ago, and this is my very first Volvo. The car is great, I love it at first sight. It only has 134K miles and almost everything is in good shape (for an 18 yrs old car, I think it's great). I went for a pre-buyer check and the mechanic told me that the only thing I really need to change asap is the radiator since it was the original plastic type, it might crack anytime. Considering I'm in Arizona and summer is coming (actually it's already here, today's like 105+), and the engine temp seems pretty high on the temp gauge, so I decided to go ahead with the change to the metal type earlier this week. That costs me about $600 (parts and labor). :(

Anyway, while I was 'admiring' my new radiator, I noticed that some of the engine wires' insulation are almost gone, with the bare wires showing off their "beautiful, arizona-tanned color". I checked around, and most shops quote me from $6-800 to do the harness replacement. Since I just spent a bomb on the radiator change, I really do not want to spend another $800 on that. I came to this site and saw some previous messages that said that it isn't too difficult to replace the harness by ourselves. I am thinking of doing that myself, but has concerns for the "difficulties level". I never really worked on cars before, though I have some basic electric knowledge. I don't think I know how to (or want to) remove the intake manifold (as said somewhere in this site) to do the changing of the harness as I'm afraid I will screw up somewhere and cause more problems.

Is there any good advice/instruction as to how to change the harness without removing the manifold? Greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Tzer