2001 V70 2.4T - Rear electrical gremlins

sbricker · Post by **sbricker** » 30 Jan 2012, 17:25

My wife's 2001 V70 is experiencing the following strange electrical problems:

The rear wiper will not stop working and the rear brake lights and reverse light will not go out. This even occurs with the ignition switch off. I tried pulling the fuses in the back panel with no luck. She misplaced the manual today trying to figure it out herself so I am not sure of the location of other modules, etc. that I need to research.

We had to disconnect the battery to stop these from completely draining it.

Hopefully I can find an answer on here soon! Thanks in advance

sbricker · Post by **sbricker** » 30 Jan 2012, 18:07

Forgot to mention, the gas gauge does not work either! They must all be linked. Still searching............

RaymanSean · Post by **RaymanSean** » 31 Jan 2012, 05:52

My first place to look would be the wires in the tailgate hinge, a common failure point in cars. The other possibility is damage to the wires near the steering column (yes there is a lot of them). Which fuses were pulled and why?

Post by **regent** » 31 Jan 2012, 06:00

Similar multiple problems may occur due to loss of ground. You want to inspect the grounding points for water ingress, loose/corroded terminals or broken wiring, recessed connector pins, etc. The wiring diagrams (available here on the forums) are pretty helpful to locate the points to look at.

sbricker · Post by **sbricker** » 01 Feb 2012, 14:34

RaymanSean wrote:My first place to look would be the wires in the tailgate hinge, a common failure point in cars. The other possibility is damage to the wires near the steering column (yes there is a lot of them). Which fuses were pulled and why?

Many thanks RaymanSean for the reply!

After scouring this site and a few others yesterday I saw the info about the tailgate hinge and yes our wires are seriously broken and mangled. I got off work early today but it is pouring rain. I'm rigging a shelter to work under and splice the wires back together.

When the lights were still burning with the ignition switch off I systematically pulled the fuses in the rear fuse panel to try and get them to go out without having to disconnect the battery. It didn't work, the mass of broken wires coming together I am hoping caused all these strange occurrences.

sbricker · Post by **sbricker** » 01 Feb 2012, 14:36

regent wrote:Similar multiple problems may occur due to loss of ground. You want to inspect the grounding points for water ingress, loose/corroded terminals or broken wiring, recessed connector pins, etc. The wiring diagrams (available here on the forums) are pretty helpful to locate the points to look at.

Regent thanks to you too. I hope my broken wires are to blame for all this. I will soon find out.

Now off to look up battery hook up procedures.

sbricker · Post by **sbricker** » 01 Feb 2012, 17:45

Problem fixed! The info on this site saved us!

I spliced the wires back together at the tailgate hinge and all seems to be back to normal. The wires were in really bad shape. I used wire ties to try and secure them to the metal hinge to minimize movement to the damaged area.

I wonder if Volvo is routing the wires in a different manner now.........
Thanks again