Hi guys,
hope everyone had a good christmas or at least better than mine.
Not exaclty the 1st post id of liked to make btw.... :blush:

I had to sell my imported mpv and go back to driving a volvo for economy ! ( whoever thought that would be applicable ) upto 60p per gallon more for diesel is just becoming a joke now in the UK.

The problem,,
after 10 days driving around, sensibly i might add.. in my newly acquired 850 T-5 1996,
i pull out of a car park, get a light on the dash, not sure what it is i pull over and grab the book to check...
its the engine management light.....
next thing, lots of white smoke , plastic burning smell, and badly lumpy like running on 2 plugs.
after spending half of boxing day waiting for the AA to send someone out, even though i told them it was recovery only, no point in an engineer. they still made me get an inspection first...

I'm not sure why , but upto 6 or 7 , mostly earth wires and a stat or two, shorted somewhere and melted.
Im hoping this is just down to the age/wear and tear of the wires as used to be a common thing with older volvo's. wires getting hot, turning brittle with age and shorting. If memory serves, i had this happen on 2 x 740s a few year ago, over the manifold.
anyone know of this happening often ?
anyone know if its like to have fried anything else other than the battery ?
or is there any other common causes of this ?.
like the old days, some parts are still over-priced (£750) for a new loom .
Insurance write-off due to fire is not practical, i did the sums..
I managed to take the whole loom out, putting one back is sure gonna be fun....
Re-wiring it wouldnt be my 1st course of action, its quite a mess..
Any ideas or help would be appreciated,
AL

ALSO:
I did notice that halfway through the loom conduit, at the bottom rear of the rad, there is a large unsheathed, bare cable earthwire that goes straight from the conduit, to an engine bolt. its only about 6 inches long ? is this not a heat conductor straight into the conduit that might damage wires ?

Why not have a competent, reputable auto electrician have a look at the wiring.

It is possible an experienced auto electrician may be able to locate the actual source of the fault and suggest the most cost effective solution.

Would your insurance cover the cost?

I apologise that I cant help you much on this one. Am a sucker at all the diagrams etc...