I bought a 1987 volvo 240DL a little over a year ago and drove it for about 4 months during which it had intermittent starting issues. One day at work it just wouldnt start so I had it towed to the house. At the time I had limited knowledge about these cars so I thought the fuel pump was bad and replaced it to no avail. I even hardwired the pump and still ...nothing (it did pump fuel). Eventually I gave up and it has sat for almost a year now. Be4 I gave up I took it to a volvo specialist and they told me the harness was bad which was an $900 repair i only paid $800 for the car. This past weekend I worked up the motivation to fix it and give to my girlfriend who is in the market for a good reliable car. Also this past weekend I got it to start by spraying carb cleaner in the intake (started for a second then died). This at least told me it runs. Now I've been all over the net reading forums and whatnots on these cars and it says from 1980-1987 the harnesses were really bad and that is almost always your problem (the volvo specialists wasn't bsing me). This makes sense because the problem I'm having seems like a wiring issues with the wiring of the fuel system. (I'm an electronic repair tech) My question is, is it feasable to pull off this harness, rework it, wrap it in high temp heat wrap, and reinstall it or am I just taking shots in the dark?

 

You can do that if you want to take the time to do it.
The insulation falls off and then the wires touch each other and cause problems.
If you have the time and the patiance then go for it.

 

I would check to see if you can purchase a complete un-hacked wiring harness from a junkyard or ebay. Also, I have read about stories telling of the fuel injector relay having a bad connection. The relay is usually good but the connections need to be soldered on (So I have read). Here is a LINK