Hey all

My first Volvo, an 99 S40 1.8 is giving me grief.

I had a timming belt (and associated tensioners), water pump and drivers side CV/drive shaft raplaced on Friday (yes, this bit is relevant i think) and all was well....for a while. After picking up the car and running a few errands ( maybe 3 or 4 and hence a few on/off sequences) i returned to my car to turn the key with all lights comming on etc and II position but when i turned the key to start it was dead as a door nail. I was puzlled, at first i thought it was the battery but all the lights were find and the car didn't even attempt to turn over, silence. From then i noticed the imobiliser light flashing madly after i turned the key.

I eventually established the problem lie in the 20A 'engine' fuse under the bonnet in the fuse box. It had blown. I have since replaced this same fuse 2 extra times and each time i seem to get about 3-4 'starts' out of the fuse. Then this afternoon i left the parkers on for a minute with the engine switched off and the car locked and when i returned and started the car succesfully without having replaced the fuse (and after turning the lights off) i noticed my clock had been reset as had my trip cpmputer. Can anyone have a guess as to what might have been disconnected and either not recconected at all or recconected incorrectly. I (with very little mechanical knowledge) am guessing perhaps some kind of earth cable and hence shorting, blowing this particular fuse (over and over again) or is it perhaps just a coincidence and an unrelated issue to the work which has been carried out. The vehicle has been owned for a number of years by my dad and he has never before experienced any electrical problems with the vehicle.

Any information would be appreciated.

Cheers

SS