Symptom - Wife's 1991 Volvo 240 Wagon non-turbo was starting and running reliably. Last time start was attempted all the dash lights come on as normal, but no cranking. No sound of any attempt from the starter at all.
Diagnosis so far - Checked the neutral safety switch first, which looks pretty new and seems to be functioning correctly. So moving to the starter, I disconnected the small yellow/black wire from the solenoid which I assume is starter circuit from the ignition switch. Weird thing is that I have 12 volts there as soon as ignition switch gets to the ON position, not just the START position as I expected?? I tried jumping that spade on the solenoid directly with 12v and got no response.
It seems like somewhere that starter circuit has shorted out and is being held ON while engine is running and that probably cooked the starter? Does that sound right? Is there a common failure mode that could cause that, maybe in the ignition switch?
Current plan is to pull the starter and get it tested, assuming it is dead. But I need to resolve the wiring issue before installing a new one.
Thanks again for any input on this problem. Definitely not as easy as I was hoping when she came in and said "Honey my car won't start"
