Replaced Starter, Now not Starting (1997 850 T-5)

Post by **FireFox31** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:14

Try connecting a jumper cable from battery ground to a sturdy spot on the engine, then try starting the car. If your car has grounding straps between the engine and the car body like my 2000 V70, than they may have failed.

My 2000 has two braided grounding straps from the top center and top right of the engine to the car body at the back of the engine bay. Visually, they looked oxidized but intact. A year after changing my starter, the car simply failed to crank or start. It didn't even click/pop like yours, so the symptoms aren't an exact match, but I'm mentioning it anyway. I installed a homemade replacement strap using 8 AWG wire and wire terminals and the car worked perfectly.

clutchcinabon · Post by **clutchcinabon** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:16

The starter was one of the new $174 ones from Bosch on FCPEuro.

clutchcinabon · Post by **clutchcinabon** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:21

FireFox31 wrote: 08 Dec 2020, 12:14 Try connecting a jumper cable from battery ground to a sturdy spot on the engine, then try starting the car. If your car has grounding straps between the engine and the car body like my 2000 V70, than they may have failed.

My 2000 has two braided grounding straps from the top center and top right of the engine to the car body at the back of the engine bay. Visually, they looked oxidized but intact. A year after changing my starter, the car simply failed to crank or start. It didn't even click/pop like yours, so the symptoms aren't an exact match, but I'm mentioning it anyway. I installed a homemade replacement strap using 8 AWG wire and wire terminals and the car worked perfectly.

Where did you ground it on the engine?

Post by **FireFox31** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:27

The attached pics show the failed ground (which looks perfectly fine) and where I connected the jumper cable to battery negative. Remember, this is a 2000 V70 so may be different from yours.

Post by **Chuck W** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:42

Based on the video, it sounds like you're hearing the solenoid "pop" and engage, but it's not spinning the starter motor.

Post by **xHeart** » 08 Dec 2020, 12:55

Chuck W wrote: 08 Dec 2020, 12:42 Based on the video, it sounds like you're hearing the solenoid "pop" and engage, but it's not spinning the starter motor.

^Bench test the starter, if good then install.

moodymama · Post by **moodymama** » 08 Dec 2020, 23:02

Ha same issue about 7 months ago. Pos cable was bad. It was brand new from fcp euro, I had bought it last year and kept it on a shelf until I got around doing it. I had symptoms prior to new cable, sometimes getting a click and sometimes it starts right up. Every once in a while I would need a jump, assuming the battery wasn't being charged correctly by alternator for being bad cable.

It did need replaced so I put it on when I replaced the starter and after that it would not start. I tried tracking down grounds and all sorts of stuff. Use a jumper box pos cable directly to starter and neg on the jumper to battery neg. If it starts it's the pos cable to starter needs replaced.

clutchcinabon · Post by **clutchcinabon** » 09 Dec 2020, 13:27

As far as I can tell this starter is good, right? I don't see any major moving or fluttering of the pinion gear. So that would mean that it's the wiring to the battery that's the issue?

Post by **Chuck W** » 10 Dec 2020, 08:21

You can verify that in the car by running running a secondary connection to the starter like mentioned in the post above.

clutchcinabon · Post by **clutchcinabon** » 13 Dec 2020, 17:05

Chuck W wrote: 10 Dec 2020, 08:21 You can verify that in the car by running running a secondary connection to the starter like mentioned in the post above.

This was it, the starter was good but there was no power getting to it. Time to replace the battery cables, I suppose