Hello all...I"m shopping for my 2nd volvo. I've found a 89 740 GL for $350. It's been in one family it's whole life and the owner tells me it just needs a new wiring harness and possibly a mass air flow sensor, both of which I think I can find relatively cheap used.

So here's my question...

How difficult of a job is a wiring harness? My uncle is quite a competent amateur 240 mechanic and has offered me his help in sorting myself out. Will knowledge and experience form a 240 transfer somewhat to a 740?

Thanks alot. Those Volvos are wicked machines....

Hello Deez.

I dont really see why the car needs a complete new harness, unless its been in a fire or flood, I would ask the seller why he/she thinks this is required.

As for replacing it, well its a lot of work - you will have to completely rip out ALL of the interior trim, not impossible of course just a pain of a job thats all.

A wiring harness is just like any other harness so knowledge of another model is useful, one thing i would say though is make sure the donor car that the harness comes from is as standard as possible - otherwise you may find extras and deletions along the way.

Regards

AF

I agree with AF that your car really shouldn't need a whole new harness without something pretty major having happened to it. Perhaps they feel that the connection from the wiring harness to the Mass Air Flow Sensor is not making good contacts.

Just so you know, a whole harness for your car probably costs about $1000 from the dealer. I'd bet that there is probably 2 main harnesses for the engine compartment, one for the car and one for the engine. Again, it'd be best to find out why he thinks it needs a harness. Most likely you are buying a car with an intermittent problem no one can seem to find or fix and the belief is that it "needs a new wiring harness and possibly a mass air flow sensor".

While there are plenty of differences between the 240's and 740's, any help from someone familiar with Volvos is always good.

-Best of luck

Hello.I have a volvo 740 gle 1987 and i replace the engine wiring harness just myself.I am an amateur mechanic.I was buy the cable very cheap on ebay.There are many old 740 volvos with the engine wiring harness problem.They peel after some time. I dont know if for the interior compartment wiring harness is the same trouble.

i dont believe the interior harness is the same. I believe, after reading somewhere, that pre87 models suffer from this and some 87-90 models do also int he transition period. This was apparently because of a duff insulation that couldnt withstand heat and moisture. It usualy is only the engine bay that suffers. it can be a tricky job, but some knowledge of wiring, and how the engine works is usually handy. can take a while.

also check why they think it needs a new harness also pointed out earlier in this thread