94 Volvo 850 TM, Car turns over but no start.

SHAKAMAMBUTU89 · Post by **SHAKAMAMBUTU89** » 02 Feb 2015, 15:49

Hi,

I recently bought a Volvo 850 Turbo Manual. Since I bought it it takes longer than it normally should to start which is 4 to 5 seconds. Recently though it takes a minute or more sometimes. Today I was trying to start it and it took so long that my battery died and the car still didnt start. This normally happens if I dont drive the car for more than 3 to 4 hours and then I try to start it.

Basically it keeps turning over but I think there is no fuel coming into the block. Please advise quickly as I need to use my car in a few hours!

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 02 Feb 2015, 16:17

Check for fuel pressure on the Schrader valve on the end of the fuel rail, just above the throttle body. If you have no fuel pressure then chances are you either have a bad fuel pump or a bad fuel pump relay. Protect your eyes and you can use a tire gauge (the gauge will be wrecked but they are cheap). The pressure should be around 40 PSI. If you have little or no pressure then the try to bypass the fuel pump relay.

To bypass the relay remove the cover to the fuse box and remove relay 103. Use a jumper wire to connect the socket positions associated with pins 15 and 87 on the relay. If the car starts and runs the relay was the problem and you can either repair it or replace it. The car will run normally with the relay bypassed but the relay should be dealt with sooner rather than later.

...Lee

SHAKAMAMBUTU89 · Post by **SHAKAMAMBUTU89** » 02 Feb 2015, 18:02

Okay so took out the relay. what is a jumper wire?

Also there are four pins that go into four holes. How do yoy do it then?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 02 Feb 2015, 18:32

A jumper wire is a piece of wire that is used to jump between two of the socket positions. Ideally it would be a wire would be about 3 inches long, around 16 gauge or bigger, and have a spade lug crimped onto each end. That said, you can do the test with a paper clip. A typical piece of lamp cord would be fine.

If you look at the bottom of the relay there are four terminals and molded into the plastic next to the terminals on the relay there are numbers. Locate the numbers 15 and 87 on the bottom of the relay and insert the jumper wire between the socket positions associated with those two terminals. The terminals in question are perpendicular to each other with one being on the front side and the other being in the back side as you look at the space from the front of the car. Don't plug anything into the other two socket positions.

Robert has a video that I think shows the fuel pump relay location and the testing steps.

...Lee

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 02 Feb 2015, 21:44

I am the brother of the OP. first of all, this car has been modified by the previous owner. The intake manifold is from a non turbo I believe, and there is a vacuum hose connected to what I believe to be the FPR which connects to something (not sure what it is) and the other end of it connects to the vacuum tree. this piece that I have no clue what it is, is just hanging in front of the intake manifold. This car always took longer to start, and we thought it was due to modifications done by the previous owner.

Now for an update: we used a jumper wire and connected 15 and 87 pins, but there was no change. It still cranked with no attempt to start. We unplugged the MAF and tried to start, and still nothing. We even sprayed some starter fluid in the intake and nothing. When turning the key, there definitely is a humming sounds coming which leads me to believe the fuel pump is working.

It was too cold to open things up to determine whether there is spark. I think that is the next step. I read that the cam sensor is a very common issue with higher mileage 850s. Would it be a good idea to try and clean it? How about the crank sensor? Can a faulty FPR be the cause of this?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 02 Feb 2015, 23:53

Spark is the next test. Cleaning the camshaft position sensor and/or the crankshaft position sensor really doesn't do much. If they are really covered in crud then there is likely another problem and it might get the car to start but even if it does it won't last.

The fuel pressure regulator failure mode is for the diaphragm to rupture which pumps raw fuel into the intake manifold through the vacuum tree. That is easy to check by just removing the vacuum line and see if it is dry or if it is soaked with fuel. If it is wet with fuel then the regulator is bad and the only fix is to replace it.

Is the check engine light on? Have you read the codes from port A-2? If you have error codes post back the numbers. DTC numbers eliminate much of the guessing.

...Lee

Post by **rspi** » 03 Feb 2015, 01:37

How to read and reset error codes with the diagnostic tool on the Volvo

Post by **rspi** » 03 Feb 2015, 01:42

Post by **rspi** » 03 Feb 2015, 01:44

My guess would be the ECT.

huzzsaba · Post by **huzzsaba** » 03 Feb 2015, 12:41

Thanks for all the replies. I pulled the codes from the box under the hood and all I got was code 232 from port A2. I did not check the others.

I believe 232 is for (long term fuel mixture too lean or rich at idle). I'm not sure if its related to the starting issue. I cleared the code but didnt try to start it yet because the battery is dead.

ECT is cheap and doable, so should that be the first repair attempt?

I dont know if it was mentioned before, but although the car always had trouble starting, once started, it runs like a champ. you wouldn't know there was any issues with it. It also just returned from a 5000 mile cross country trip without a problem.