1992 240 Hot Starting Woes

Post by **mdm+mfm** » 29 Mar 2015, 21:56

I'm hoping someone out there can help me identify and solve a starting issue that developed a number of months ago with my 1992 245. Love the car, but this issue has been making me think differently, so much to the point I will not let my wife drive it until I get this problem solved. Anyway, the issue first showed after my warmed up car had sat at my friends house for about 45 minutes, and then I went to leave, the car would not turn over, period. All the lights came on, but no turning over. My friend, who had been a mechanic, ran a jumper wire from the started solenoid the positive terminal on the battery engaging the starter, and it started right up. OK, so that seems to take the starter out of the issue pool. After researching some more, it sounded like it could be either the ignition switch (which I did replace to no avail) or the neutral safety switch. I thought the neutral safety switch took care of the problem, but the other day, which was very hot, I drove the car for about 15 minutes (streets and highway), stopped it for about 30 to 45 minutes, and when I went to leave, same problem again: no turning over, but started up with the wire my friend made for me from the solenoid to the battery. The other test that I had read about before replacing the neutral safety switch was checking the voltage at the yellow/blue wire going to the solenoid when the ignition switch was turned to the starting position. I did this during a no start situation and found the voltage to be 12 volts. Am I missing something here? The connector to the solenoid seems to be making good contact, and to prove that to myself, I had my dad turn the ignition switch for me during the no start scenario and I checked it for proper contact to see if there was any play or it was loose; there was none. Sorry for so much verbage; just want to make sure I give as many details as possible. The problem seemed to be happening very regularly before I changed the neutral safety switch, but now I don't know if that really was part of the equation or not. I'm just plain tired of starting this up like I'm hotwiring it. Just to clarify, after a number of hours, or the next day, the car starts up just fine as if there was no problem whatsoever. Any help/guidance to what else I could be looking for/further questioning would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance; it is most appreciated.

lummert · Post by **lummert** » 29 Mar 2015, 23:01

A possible problem with the starter solenoid or wiring?

Post by **mdm+mfm** » 29 Mar 2015, 23:19

I guess I was ruling out the starter solenoid since I able to turn it over with the wire from the terminal on the solenoid to the battery every time. Yes, I considered wiring as well, so should I be looking at the yellow/blue wire or something else?

krenekj · Post by **krenekj** » 06 Apr 2015, 08:58

I had the exact same issue with my 93 240 wagon and I think I have it solved on my car.

I found that the battery was not getting a full voltage charge when the car was running. The drop between the alternator and battery was too large. I ended up cleaning all the positive connections from the alternator, battery and starter. This reduced the voltage drop and the battery is now getting a full charge when running. And the car now starts fine each and every time - no issues.

I detailed this in my brickboard post here:

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/16 ... _time.html

Thanks

Post by **mdm+mfm** » 06 Apr 2015, 11:50

Thanks for the tip and link to your brcikboard; I appreciate it. I will check those out.