Wiring Loom Water Ingress - Common Fault?

HI I have a S reg V40, the other day I put the key in and it was dead - nothing no lights on the dash and would not start. Checked the battery and even put a booster pack onto it and again nothing although the doors open with the fob, the horn works but apart from that - dead. Took it to APB motorsport in Crewe who I think are OK and they have told me that the wiring loom has allowed water in and it's corroded etc. Resolution is to replace it at a probably huge cost. They reckon that Volvo said it is commonish. Does anyone know if it is and does anyone know what the cost ought to be? Thanks Much appreciated. Andy

common fault 

yes, this is a knowm fault, you do not however got to go to the expense of a new wiring loom, a competant auto electrician will be able to cut the bad part of the loom out, situated underneath the radiator, and splice and solder new wires in, or, you could of course do the repair yourself.

wiring loom 

How easy is it to remove the wiring loom to make such a repair - thanks for the help it is very much appreciated. Andy

access 

remove the radiator, and you will have access to the wiring loom.

wooooha! Hang on. No need to "remove" the radiator. Here is what you do: 1. Unscrew the two top radiator brackets (two hex bolts in each). 2. Lift the radiator out of its bottom brackets (no need to disconnect any pipework). The radiator will happily lift a few inches and move back a few inches to give you room to work from under the car. 3. You will find the loom in black plastic trunking running in a channel in the front bumper/sill 4. Liberate the wires from the trunking! 5. You need to trace each wire as far as you can accross this area. 6. Any corroded sections will have swelled up and are fairly easy to spot once you have seen what to look for (they look like those swollen bits you get on worms sometimes!). 7. cut out and solder in replacement sections for any corroded bits. 8. tape it up well. 9. now the difficult bit...getting all the wires back into the black trunking. Patience is needed! 10. everything else is just reverse of steps 1 and 2. So far on my 1998 V40 I have had the same wire you had fail (total power loss, but I think the radio still worked!), also the main power feed to the lambda probe heater element, and the ABS power lead have all needed TLC in the last few years. Costs nowt to fix other than a bit of time, a metre of wire and some solder. Let us know how you get on.