Hi, We have just picked up our new Volvo V70 2009 Model yr and was wondering has anybody fitted a towbar to one of these and if so did you use a 7 way smart by pass relay. The dedicated wiring loom is £180.00.
Any advice on fitting the electrics this way would be most welcome.
My 2005 V50 needed a dedicated loom, the total towbar cost was £450 at a towbar fitters. The reason for this is that the electrics are the canbus type which is similar to a computer network and needs the dedicated loom to understand what the computer is sending it.
the dedicated wiring loom is the best way , why spend thousands on a brand new car and cut corners with the towbar wiring . I made that mistake 4 years ago with a new Passat tryed to save money by using a back street cheap towbar fitter who hacked into the wiring loom and connected the cables with scotchlocks and the wiring connections failed when i was in france resulting in the batttery and fridge not working . Went to VW on my return and got the dedicated wiring kit fitted no problems after that .
Money spent on the wiring kit will be saved in labour time to fit it. Also, you can take the kit out when you sell.
Many cars need to go to the dealers to have the towbar electrics "switched on" on the ECU.
I ordered my new car with the towing facility fitted prior to taking delivery. It is a detachable towbar and, although not factory-fitted, it is manufacturer warranted and was fitted by the dealership. This time, because of the economic climate, I managed to get it amortised along with a few other items into the basic vehicle price, so was a very good deal.
Would having something not fitted in the correct manner not cause problems should you have a warranty claim? When we bought our last two cars, we ordered towbars to be fitted prior to collection. I didn't want to risk them being able to wriggle out of any warranty claim.
Just to re-iterate, if the V70 is canbus electrics the same as my V50 it WILL need the dedicated loom, the vehicle loom is a twin wire computer network, there is no wires to "hook into" it is a network that requires a dedicated "plug in" unit for it to recognise it.
A decent local towbat fitter will advise you accordingly, try my local guys, they have done all my towbars with no problems at all.
Quote: Originally posted by Basilbrush on 16/10/2009
Would having something not fitted in the correct manner not cause problems should you have a warranty claim? When we bought our last two cars, we ordered towbars to be fitted prior to collection. I didn't want to risk them being able to wriggle out of any warranty claim.
BB
When a vehicle is ordered from a franchised dealership with pre-fitted extras which are recognised by the vehicle manufacturer, the warranty fully covers everything as being an integral part of that vehicle.
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Topic: New 2009 B70 Volvo Electrics
