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Bundled Cable Jackets Falling Apart - how to replace?

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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j-dawg
Posts: 1154
Joined: 20 April 2013
Year and Model: 1999 V70 T5
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 33 times

Re: Bundled Cable Jackets Falling Apart - how to replace?

Post by j-dawg »

you can use Techflex to clean it up a bit. techflex is the brand name of a braided nylon cable sheath. it's reasonably cheap on ebay and you get a lot of mileage out of a relatively small amount. with five dollars' worth or so, i did the injectors and plugs on my 99 and had a big chunk of it left over.

it's easy to cut with scissors but the ends fray as soon as you handle them, so you have to use a lighter to melt the ends to keep it all together. if you've got a bigger project you can use a hot knife to cut it, which will prevent fraying, and if you can access the ends of the wires you can use some heat-shrink tubing to clean up the ends. (i could have used electrical tape - what i found on my harness was that the plastic sheath had almost entirely crumbled away except for where the electrical tape had been wrapped around it.)

i can't comment on the effectiveness of this given that oil probably soaks through the techflex if you leave it in there long enough. also, it's kind of pointless for aesthetics since the injector and plug wires aren't normally visible anyway. but it may at least protect the wires from abrasion, it was kind of fun looming up the wires, and i know it looks nice inside, which, i'm told, is what counts.
plug wires before
plug wires before
plug wires after
plug wires after
injector wires before
injector wires before
injector wires after
injector wires after
annnnnnd you can't see any of it.
annnnnnd you can't see any of it.

if you want to take a crack at it, i used Techflex Flexo F6 with a 1/4" inner diameter. you'd be surprised how much wire you can stuff into a quarter inch.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/350999178330
1999 V70 T5 5-SPD | ~277k mi | sold

timmybdaddyof3
Posts: 119
Joined: 14 August 2014
Year and Model: 1998 V70 T5
Location: Arizona USA
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by timmybdaddyof3 »

As you said, it does not protect against oil, but proper automotive wire is oil resistant anyway, the big issue is heat cycles, you want a bit of isolation.

at a shop i was with years ago we did a show car with techflex over flex-conduit absolute PITA, but looked killer....every wire had to be disconnected after testing to wrap the stuff..

sea warrior
Posts: 7
Joined: 3 September 2014
Year and Model: V70 XC SE 2000
Location: San Francisco, CA

Post by sea warrior »

Hey All-

Thanks so much for all the replies and pictures too! I will be getting right on this one, as it sounds like these serve a real protective function.

And may I just say as well, delighted to be a "new" owner of (what I hope will be) a "classic" used volvo. Very glad to have found this site, and thanks again for the replies.

(And, any other tidbits of advice you may have on this model/year would be very much appreciated too.)
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2000 V70 XC, 103,000 mi. USA
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2000 V70 XC SE, @103,000 mi. when purchased this year, USA

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