1993 240 Wagon - Battery Dies; Car Stalls

pkzip5 · Post by **pkzip5** » 22 Aug 2015, 19:33

All,

I recently bought my kid a 1993 Volvo 240 Wagon as his first car. He loves it and we feel relatively safe that he's driving.

That said, we continue to have problems with stalling engines and dead or dying batteries. I just returned from a 16 mile limp home with it after finding the battery dead upon restart in a mall parking lot. I've looked on this site (specifically, here: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 2&t=649690) and on the Brickboard and can't seem to find an exact duplication of the issues here or a lasting solution.

I've already checked or replaced the following over the last 30 days:

Fuel pump relay
Battery (replaced last week)
Cat and oxygen sensor (unrelated to this problem; needed to replace to pass CA smog test)
Alternator (twice)
Replaced all fuses in driver's side fuse compartment with same voltage/color fuses.
Reseated fuses in fuse cluster attached to + battery cable.

Driven the car with the A/C, fan, radio, iPhone (via lighter) and headlights on and driven it with all off and still...the battery dies.

I plan on checking the ground (earth) straps next, but I have my doubts. This is a SoCal car and has a clean engine bay. I have trouble believing the ground straps are corroded or aren't making good contact.

During today's trouble, I noticed the following over the course of the drive home.

1. Radio, fuel guage, ABS and SRS lights cycle on and off. The fan works regardless but goes faster as the battery recovers.
2. Car will stall unless I keep the RPMs high.
3. Revving the engine seems to help with charging/power but not consistently.

When I got the car home, I used the voltmeter to check the battery, It was at 7.9volts and rising (assume that I'm getting some battery recovery). I will check the battery/alternator with the voltmeter after a full charge.

Many thanks for your collective thoughts on this.

Peter Kaufman
1993 Volvo 240 Wagon
2009 Honda Odyssey
2007 Toyota Prius
2012 Toyota Prius

lummert · Post by **lummert** » 22 Aug 2015, 20:18

Is the alternator grounded to the engine block?

pkzip5 · Post by **pkzip5** » 23 Aug 2015, 10:49

Checking that next. Will keep you all posted.

Boycey · Post by **Boycey** » 23 Aug 2015, 12:28

Hi does the battery light illuminate with the ignition on?
Or does it come on while driving ?

pkzip5 · Post by **pkzip5** » 23 Aug 2015, 21:10

Turned out that Lummert was on to something. The ground to the alternator had, indeed, become disconnected. The ground wire had been tucked in around the B+ connecter so that it felt that it was connected. A little more fiddling and it broke free.

Prior to reconnection of ground to engine: battery voltage w/ car off: 12.8v; with car on: 12.5; with load: 12.2V

Reconnecting ground and alternator charged batter - even with load at 13.8v.

With this driveway fix and the flush and fill I did on the radiator of another car, it was a good day!

I think I'm good now, but so far, with this car, I can't be sure. I will keep you all posted.

Many thanks!

Peter Kaufman

93 Volvo 240
09 Honda Odyssey
07 Toyota Prius
12 Toyota Prius