Auto Electrician in Sydney (pref north)?

arthurba

Hi there!

I have a 2001 v40 in good condition. It's been at the volvo dealer (svm lindfield) for the past few days - but won't pass rego inspection because of a short in the headlight. They can't find a wiring diagram (?) and can't fix it (not for want of trying).

Anyone know of a good auto electrician in Sydney I can take it to. Rego due on Monday, so I'm in a bit of a hurry.

We're up on the northern beaches - so somewhere north would be great...

Philia_Bear

The issue is in the headlight or power to the headlight?

arthurba

@Philia_Bear, good question. On my way to pick up car now from the dealer. I'll ask that.

arthurba

The dealer thought they'd fixed it by running a new wire from the relay to the headlight. But after test drive - not working.

arthurba

Dealer says needs new 'wiring harness' from junction box in engine bay to headlight. Any recommendation for an auto electrician that can do this asap? What's the likelihood that they are going to have a compatible harness in stock or available to order at short notice?

Volvo2106

I have been happy with Bagnalls in Mona Vale

arthurba

Volvo2106;125206 wroteBagnalls in Mona Vale

Thanks for the recommendation @Volvo2106 - I did call him this arvo, only problem is he can't look at it until end of next week - by which time we're out of rego... Good to know he's recommended by other volvo drivers tho...

arthurba

An update on this. It's now sorta-fixed and OK for rego to be completed on Monday (cutting it fine). Narrabeen Auto Elec (in Warriewood) came to the rescue and Sandro managed to find a fix.

What he said is that the 'multi function control module' is at fault- the driver side headlamp works (mostly) but the passenger side not at all. I got the impression that the control module is a bunch of micro relays in a package. He said that he pulled it out and couldn't see any problem - but clearly there is. The workaround was to hang another relay off the driver side and connect that up to the passenger side. So as long as the driver side works - so will the passenger side.

But he did give the impression that the Driver side is a little intermittent, but generally OK. So maybe it's on the way out or maybe not.

So I may be up for a new 'multi function control module' or one from a wrecker. He did say that replacing the 'micro relay' is a possibility - fiddly - but if I'm willing to pay for the hours when it's not a rush job anymore then that's an option. I'm concerned that getting one from a wrecker could be just inheriting someone elses problems, or switching one problem for another...

Obviously Sandro is not a 'volvo person' so he's maybe using 'generic' names for things that volvo have other proprietary names for. If anyone knows what volvo's official name for the 'multi function control module' is please let me know!

Any feedback welcome!

Philia_Bear

The body control module if bad is a vin coded module and is pretty much Volvo only for replacement :-(

arthurba

Spoke to the dealer yesterday - they didn't even know what a BCM was - they were looking for a 'brake control module' - so I said BCM/CEM and then they understood. Said the part cost is $2,500 and it is factory programmed to the options on the car and they can't re-program a second hand one. They were basically saying: don't replace it.

Googling I see lots of conflicting info about this - but the majority of people say that if you take a CEM from the same year/model that it works (regardless of part number - apparently each year has a LOT of part numbers). But there do appear to be separate LHD/RHD models. Anyway - on eBay it looks like I can get a 2nd hand RHD one for about AU$100 - so I'm thinking this may be worth the investment to have in the 'parts bin' as a 'just in case'

Any thoughts/feedback?