The Volvo XC70 is a type of SUV that is designed for comfort and utility. It's good for families and can handle different types of weather and road conditions.
A wiring harness is like a bundle of wires that connects different parts of a car to help them work together. It makes sure electricity can flow to where it's needed, like lights and sensors.
Dashboard warning lights are little lights on your car's dashboard that tell you if something is wrong. For example, if a light comes on, it might mean you need to check the engine or that a light bulb is out.
The headlight assembly is the part of the car that holds the headlights. If it's not working, you won't be able to see well at night or in bad weather, which can be dangerous.
Volvo is a car brand from Sweden that makes vehicles known for being safe and reliable. However, some of their cars have had problems with wiring in the past.
Wiring issues are problems with the electrical wires in a car. If the wires are not good quality, they can cause parts of the car to stop working or even create safety risks.
Insulation is the protective layer around electrical wires in a car. It keeps the wires safe from heat and moisture, and if it's not good quality, it can cause problems.
A six cylinder engine is a type of car engine that has six separate cylinders where fuel and air mix and burn to create power. It usually provides a good amount of power for the car.
The front crankshaft pulley is a part of the engine that helps turn other parts, like the air conditioning. It uses a belt to connect everything together and keep the engine running smoothly.
LIVE
Hi, it's Mark.
I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Vancouver's best auto service experience.
And we're talking cars.
How are you doing, Bernie?
Doing very well.
So today's guest is a 2008 Volvo XC7.
What was going on with this vehicle?
This vehicle had a couple of issues, but one of them was the headlight was not working,
did a little examination on it and found that the wiring harness inside the headlight assembly
was basically fraying, broken apart.
All the insulation was coming off.
Wires were not connecting properly.
Short circuits were occurring and needed wiring repairs.
So was there any indication on the dashboard, check engines, anything like that, saying,
hey, there's a problem?
There probably was.
I wasn't a tech who actually worked on it, but probably would be because Volvo for many years,
like going back like 50 years has had like warnings on the dash when light bulbs don't work.
So they've had a pretty sophisticated monitoring system.
And I'm quite sure that there would have been a warning saying this particular light wasn't working.
Awesome.
Let's go over the map here.
Yeah, let's go have a look at some pictures.
So there's our vehicle.
Yeah.
I'm looking for an 18 year old vehicle.
Yeah, not bad looking.
And it's in really good shape too.
So, you know, it's what you get when you take care of a car.
Can last a while.
So I'm assuming this is the problem.
This is the right headlight assembly.
And that's a picture of the light assembly installed in the car.
These, by the way, are nice and easy to remove.
There are many manufacturers that make their headlights difficult to get at and thus expensive
to repair.
But this one here, you can pull the headlight assembly out, change the bulbs pretty quickly.
And I'm going to assume we got our next picture of is some of the problems that's going.
So this is the wiring harness inside the headlight that we took and replaced.
And if you look closely, you can see that there's some wires here.
And then there's a bunch of frayed wires, frayed wires, broken wires.
We may have cut a couple of them just to take everything out for ease of removal.
But the basic problem is you can see that these wires are bare.
I believe someone had actually been in there before and put some tape on some of them,
but really ineffective at this point because the insulation is broken down.
It just disintegrates.
You wiggle the wire and it just snaps off.
So there's nothing you can do but replace the wiring harness.
How common an issue is this on vehicles?
Not that common, but we do it from time to time on certain models and makes their various
Volvo over the years has actually had some wiring issues.
And the cause of this is basically the wiring is just not, not of the standard.
For some reason, they must use wiring that's crappy.
That's basically the bottom line.
There must be a run of wiring that they buy that is just not up to snuff for insulation.
There's a bit of heat inside the light assembly,
but really not much compared to what you would get on an engine.
Yeah, just clearly just poor quality.
Interestingly enough, we looked at the left hand side and the wiring was all in good shape.
Not sure why this side went and severe.
Not just the yellow wire, but the black wires, the amber wires,
all the wires are basically of the same quality and coming apart.
Yeah, things that make you go, yeah, just to quickly show this is the assembly.
This is the back of the assembly out of the vehicle.
That is the back out of the vehicle and that has the new wiring harness in it.
You can see the wires are fully insulated and covered the right on the right hand side.
You can see a sort of green piece.
That is one of the headlights.
I believe that's the low beam.
And on the other side, that would be the high beam or vice versa.
So those are the bulbs that can be changed.
Those are the bulbs.
Yeah.
And they unclip from the wiring harness.
You just twist them out and change them.
And I said, the light assembly removes quite easily.
The cover comes off the back.
It's really not difficult to do on a Volvo, fortunately,
but the wiring harness is quite a pain to change.
Because you can see it's all tucked and looped around inside there.
Most of all, that wiring that we showed you earlier is not, you know,
you can't even see it because it's hidden away.
Yeah, there was another close up there.
I think you're looking at some of the bad wires.
So is the turn signal was also part of this wiring?
Turn signals there, the side marker light, pretty much everything.
It doesn't look like this car has fog lights.
So pretty much all the lighting on the front is in these two light assemblies.
I don't know if there's a light there or not.
No, that's not a light.
That's a vent.
So it's all inside there.
And once changed, everything's happy.
One eye is brighter than the other.
Yeah, they're both the same.
Yeah.
So there you go.
If you're looking for service for your Volvo,
let me ask you this actually before we jump into that.
Volvo's big reputation for lasting a long time.
I've owned Volvo that wasn't very good.
What about this kind of generation?
2008, 18 years old?
Yeah, they're pretty good.
I remember when this design of Volvo came in,
these ones are weird because it's a six cylinder engine that has the belt.
Most engines have the front crankshaft pulley,
and that's where the belt and the accessories are all like the air conditioning.
These ones, they did it differently.
They actually run the accessories off the backside of the engine
over top of the transmission.
Weird design, complicated.
I remember actually when it came out and they don't make it anymore.
I guess I'm getting old because things are changing.
Anyways, bottom line, they're pretty reliable.
Things do go wrong.
They're expensive to fix, but generally a good car.
So there you go.
If you're looking for service for your Volvo in Vancouver,
BC, Canada, the guys to talk to are at Pawlik Automotive.
You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com.
You can book your appointment right there on the website.
They'll get back to you.
They'll check and find out just verbally what's going on.
They'll get ready for your appointment, or you can call them 604-327-7112.
Hard to believe in this day and age of the banks who don't answer ever the phone
or the phone companies.
Pawlik Automotive will look after you.
Thanks so much for watching and listening.
About this episode
A 2008 Volvo XC7 faced headlight issues due to a frayed wiring harness inside the assembly. Bernie Pawlik explains the diagnosis process, highlighting Volvo's sophisticated warning systems that likely indicated the problem. The discussion includes the ease of accessing the headlight assembly for repairs and the rarity of such wiring issues in vehicles. The episode also touches on the overall reliability of this Volvo generation, noting some unique design aspects and the importance of quality repairs.
