Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's extremely popular car line -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.
erikv11 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:36 pm
The cable from the battery to the starter is not the B+ cable, it's the starter cable. Agreed, basically every 850 the starter cable has gone bad by now or is going.
As posted above the B+ cable runs from battery to fuse box. The B+ is plagued on 99+ P80 cars but basically trouble free on 850s.
I can feel the smugness in your post all the way from Iowa to NY
The other way I've seen my car fail to crank is when the battery has developed an internal failure, which can sometimes be intermittent. Have you tried load testing the battery to see if it's capable of outputting the current needed to crank the engine?
1997 855 GLT (Light Pressure Turbo) still going strong. Previous: 1986 240 GL rusted out in '06, 1985 Saab 900T rusted out in '95, 1975 Saab 99 rusted out in '95, 1973 Saab 99 rusted out in '94
It's not that bad but the only available cable is mediocre quality. Will definitely work out of the box but may not last and the cable gauge is a little light, thinner than the factory wiring harness cable. Some people have made their own. Their are several posts here about making one if you search. Here is one post about replacing the cable but there are others viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75883&start=10
I'm not sure I would replace the cable yet. Is the voltage from the positive terminal to the starter the same on a cold engine as on a hot engine? Is it the same when the car won't start? If it drops when hot (especially when in no-start mode) then the cable likely needs replacing. If the readings are high enough and stay the same then I'd look elsewhere.
This problem could maybe be dirty ground wire connections, what do people think about that? That's free to look at, you find all the ground wires, unhook them and get their connections shiny clean.
Remember when you are working on the starter cable it is unfused , so it is really important to disconnect the negative terminal and make sure it isn’t anywhere NEAR the post. Put a glove over it to be safe
So I guess I was wrong with the car not starting only when the engine is hot. I had the car sitting for about 40 minutes and then went to start it up and nothing cranked. After about a minute it started up again. Does this make anything more clear as to a diagnosis?
When no crank issue appears...try to start it in "N" position.
If it starts...it's PNP switch...if not....it could be ignition switch or starter solenoid.
Last edited by misha on Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'97 850 2.5 20v / fully equipped / Motronic 4.4 from the factory / upgraded with S,V,C,XC70 instrument cluster / polar white wagon
'91 Citroen XM 2.0 SI /fully equipped/mandarine red metallic
History of Volvos in the family:
'71 144 S
'73 144 De Luxe
'78 244 DL
'78 244 DL
'79 244 GLE
'85 340 GLS
wackenhut wrote: ↑Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:49 pm
So I guess I was wrong with the car not starting only when the engine is hot. I had the car sitting for about 40 minutes and then went to start it up and nothing cranked. After about a minute it started up again. Does this make anything more clear as to a diagnosis?
Thank you.
That's a good pickup. Not sure that it says to look somewhere else right away but good to know.
misha has a very good idea to check the PNP switch. Also to help "clean" a failing PNP switch, push the button in and row the shifter back and forth though all the gear positions. Do this rapidly but smoothly you don't want to force or jam it. Just back and forth rapidly though all the gear positions like 20 times, if the contacts in the PNP are bad then this action will clean them up a little and the problem may improve.
The PNP switch has been replaced a month ago due to this issue. I guess it was not that lol. The starter has been replaced and the ignition switch. I am totally stumped!
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