i bought a 2004 volvo v70R used at 44k miles a week ago.

it has now been in the volvo shop four times regarding an electrical failure. unfortunately they have NOT been able to figure out a solution, so i was wondering if anyone else experienced the same problem???

i was driving at 40mph on a highway a week ago right after i bought the car and i got a number of warnings within four minutes in succession:
[ol][*]rear left passenger door was ajar. (it obviously was not.)[*]brake failure, stop safely.[*]SRS airbag maintenance urgent.[*]and then: my dash went blank. all of the pins marking mph, rpm, fuel and temp went limp. (but the car kept running fine.)[/ol]
i pulled over and turned the car off. i was not able to start the car up again. the car would not turn over. after about ten tries, the car actually started and i was able to drive to my personal mechanic. he discovered that the positive cable connecting to the battery was loose. he reconnected and i drove off.

a few minutes after getting back on the road i experienced the similar problems.

so far, after the four visits to the volvo dealership, they have not come up with a solution that eliminates all problems. they updated the CEM software, switched out a broken relay. these fixes solve the problem for a short time, but after a day or so, the problem always comes back. some other symptoms i experience were the headlights and A/C clicking on and off together, the power windows failing sometimes all three together.

usually if i stop and start the car up again it is all fine, but that doesnt mean it wont happen later that day or the next day.

as a note: whenever any problems arise, the car still drives fine. its a manual tranny that shifts and accelerates just as it would if the electrical systems worked.

some thoughts: could it be an overheating problem?? washington DC is VERY hot in the summer. possibly things are melting or warping? could there be an electrical short somewhere? maybe I overloaded the system when playing the volvo installed subwoofer too loud. or, does this all step from the loose battery cable?

Thanks in advance for your help! i'm terribly heartbroken that the car was only two days under my name and i was already experiencing serious problems. hopefully this can be sorted out!!