Car won't start, worked yesterday. 2000 V70 manual

Post by **FireFox31** » 22 Aug 2017, 17:05

Maybe the solar eclipse fried my car. It worked yesterday, but 24 hours later, it won't start.

It's a 2000 V70 manual with 260k+ miles which is rather healthy (cylinder five is burning oil, but it still runs strong). All electrical systems work. But when I turn the key, the engine doesn't even try to turn over. I had the ignition lock cylinder replaced about six years ago (because the key would spin in the ignition if the steering wheel lock was engaged against its stop).

An hour before I discovered this, I had checked the oil dipstick. Could I have knocked loose a fuse or relay by closing the hood? Starter relay? Fuel pump relay?

Or maybe the clutch pedal lock out switch suddenly died (car won't start unless clutch pedal is fully depressed). Retrying the pedal and wiggling it around at full throw did nothing.

I couldn't go to work because of this and really need to go tomorrow. Any ideas? I'll be searching the forums like mad for the next few hours. Thanks!

Post by **kahl** » 22 Aug 2017, 17:40

The first thing I would check is the battery. On these cars if your battery voltage is to low the starter will not engage. Any way to check your voltage? Put a charger on your battery?

Post by **abscate** » 23 Aug 2017, 01:12

There is a key bypass for the starter described in a thread here if you search.

The list of things to check, in order, for a no crank situation is

Battery
Key switch ( using bypass, car must be in neutral!!)
Clutch switch
Ignition switch , electrical part ( separate from the cylinder)
Wiring

Post by **FireFox31** » 24 Aug 2017, 12:37

Thanks for the recommendations. Volt meter test across the battery posts with no load and no residual charge measures 12.35V. According to everything I read, that sounds low. My 2002 Mercedes wagon currently reads 12.3V, its battery was on a charger a few weeks ago, and it starts fine. Thus, I'd like to try the starter bypass before removing and charging the battery.

Here's the thread showing the remote starter connection terminal. How can I safely run a wire from the battery positive post to that white terminal? Do I need a specific gauge wire with a specific clip to reach inside that terminal? Best solution I can think of is to put needle nose pliers in the terminal and connect jumper cables between it and the positive post.

Thanks for the help.

Post by **wizechatmgr** » 24 Aug 2017, 13:39

That isn't going to be a high current draw, even 18 gauge wire should have no issue, you're just manually triggering the starter solenoid. It isn't high voltage, just don't jump the positive lead to ground on accident.

You won't get shocked by this, no matter how hard you try...

Post by **abscate** » 24 Aug 2017, 15:37

FireFox31 wrote: ↑24 Aug 2017, 12:37 Thanks for the recommendations. Volt meter test across the battery posts with no load and no residual charge measures 12.35V. According to everything I read, that sounds low. My 2002 Mercedes wagon currently reads 12.3V, its battery was on a charger a few weeks ago, and it starts fine. Thus, I'd like to try the starter bypass before removing and charging the battery.

Here's the thread showing the remote starter connection terminal. How can I safely run a wire from the battery positive post to that white terminal? Do I need a specific gauge wire with a specific clip to reach inside that terminal? Best solution I can think of is to put needle nose pliers in the terminal and connect jumper cables between it and the positive post.

Thanks for the help.

That last idea will work great.

Parking brake set
Confirm car in neutral
Put 12 VDC onto starter terminal to crank.

It won't start with key out, of course

Post by **FireFox31** » 24 Aug 2017, 18:05

Since another thread warned about "arc welding" when trying this remote start, I bought a remote starter switch from the local auto parts store. I added pictures to the remote start thread linked above.

I was not able to start the car in any of the many configurations that I tried. The Acton brand remote starter has nice alligator clips, but they're almost too big to fit on the white terminal and on the starter's terminal with the red/green wire. I tried them in both of those spots with the other clip on the positive battery post. I had the key in the ignition set to off, I, and II. None of these worked.

Then I disconnected my battery and used jumper cables to connect the wires to my running Mercedes. I tried remote starting it with the key on position II. Of the four times that I tried, I think I heard the Mercedes strain slightly on two of the tries.

Maybe there's some excessive load when trying to start?

I put the battery on my Schumacher charger. After five minutes it read 50%, and after 40 minutes it read 100%. So I think the battery was almost fully charged reading 12.35V between its posts. The battery is only 6 months old.

Another thread blamed a loose nut on their positive battery cable for serious intermittent problems. My positive cable has been covered in black goop for seven years but has always worked. I may try to clean it.

So, bypassing the battery and key switch didn't solve it. Next up is the clutch switch. I saw a thread talk about bypassing it, which I may do short term so I can actually use it.

: IMG_5485.JPG (4.45 MiB) Viewed 3394 times

Post by **abscate** » 24 Aug 2017, 19:50

If it isn't cranking with 12VDC on the remote terminal, your starter is bad. It could be the battery to starter cable, which does look bad in Your picture.

Either way, starter should come out

Post by **wizechatmgr** » 25 Aug 2017, 09:44

If you keep having to charge the battery, odds are the starter has a locked rotor or a short to ground in the windings. You can verify this by monitoring the voltage at the battery while attempting to crank, it should go down severely. I wouldn't attempt to crank it for more than 1-3 seconds, you're just looking for a massive dip in voltage. If you don't get a dip at all, then the starter solenoid could be the issue or the windings/brushes could be bad.

No matter which of those it is, it basically requires either removing the cooling stack or the intake manifold to replace.

The reason you don't need to worry about it arc welding is you aren't bypassing a solenoid (high current) just a small relay (low current) that goes to the starter solenoid. I've crossed a solenoid with a screwdriver before, it's like the 4th of July!

Post by **FireFox31** » 25 Aug 2017, 11:20

Thanks for the pointers. My last battery (Sears DieHard) lasted me 8 years. You should have seen the look on the guys at Sears when I traded it in for a new one.

I'm pretty sure that some part of my starter is bad. Voltmeter shows full battery voltage to the red power cable on the starter solenoid and 12V to the red/green wire from the ignition when trying to start via the key. I'm not going to short the two large posts on the starter solenoid (but if I did, I'd connect a jumper cable's black clamp to the left and right clamp to the positive right, then away from the car, touch the two other ends of the cable together).

Thankfully, my local dealership has a remanufactured starter (part # 8251551) in stock for $350. That's a little more than eEuroparts, FCP, and Volvo Parts Web Store, not to mention IPD and FCP's Bosch reman for $180.

Now it's time to use Tina's starter replacement tutorial and my Haynes book to replace the starter. Haynes says I don't need to remove the fan, but Tina does. Let's see how this goes.

This no-start diagnostig post and thread were helpful, since they linked to this starter troubleshooting page (now only on archive.org).

Thanks to everyone present and past for posting information about this. I'm always glad to learn and fix these problems myself (especially since I currently can't drive the car to anyone else for service).