[SOLVED] Deer slammed side of 07 V50 2.4i. Cranks but no start [SOLVED] Topic is solved

[dudeitssm]

Hi all.

A deer t-boned my baby 07 Volvo V50 2.4i FWD this past weekend, just 97k miles on it.
Slammed right into it at a right angle, and didn't have the opportunity to dodge it. Just glimpsed the deer from the corner of my eye.

Anyway, it dented the driver side door, took out the driver side headlight, and somewhat damaged the fender.

I was able to re-bend the fender using just muscle power.
I don't need it to look perfect right now--that's what I'll take it to a body shop for later.

Unfortunately, the impact also popped the driver seat side airbag (facing the window) and locked up both front and back seatbelts.
I had it towed to my house since the car went into crash mode and will not let the engine start--it cranks as strongly and solidly as ever, so I doubt any engine or transmission damage. I've inspected under the hood as well--nothing significantly damaged, all cosmetic related.

I've ordered a clone J2534 and am waiting for it to arrive before I can get a list of all codes from vida.
Most certainly, it'll have a couple for the SRS and seat belt tensioners.

I plan on using MyAirBags to reset the airbag module along with sending in the 4 seatbelt tensioners, and replacing the driver seat with a junkyard pull (saves me from having to replace airbag).

Questions:

How can I start up the car to make sure it's still good?
Is there a way to bypass the "crash mode" on this model of volvo?
(I noticed there were a few forum threads where the user hotwired relays or fuses to let the fuel pump run).

Any and all pointers are much appreciated.

[BlackBart]

Wow, a deer hit set off your side airbags? That's quite a thump!

[dudeitssm]

Yes siree... BUT! I have good news: I got the Volvo started up!

It appears there is a safety feature on the 2007 V50 2.4i (and possibly other variants), where the fuel pump is disabled after large impacts.

Here are the steps I took to get it working, and a potential unknown(?) that may or may not have helped:

1. made sure there was no leaking fuel under the car
2. made sure I could not smell any fuel under the hood of the car
3. disconnected the battery NEGATIVE wire harness (in other words, your battery NEGATIVE terminal should be completely naked, nothing connected to it)
4. waited at least 5 minutes
5. touched the disconnected negative wire harness to the positive side of the battery and held it for 10 seconds (discharging any potentially charged up capacitors)
6. connected the NEGATIVE battery wire harness back to the battery
7. started up the Volvo; fired up first try!

(POTENTIALLY UNRELATED)
After step 5, I jumped to a blown fuel pump fuse assumption, leading me to take these steps, perhaps without any real merit...
a. underneath the passenger glove box, there is a CEM (Central Electrical Module) that contains a bunch of fuses; I simply unhooked the clips and slid this module out towards me WITHOUT DISCONNECTING ANY WIRES so I could continuity test every fuse with a multimeter
b. according to the schematic of the document `TP 3999202 2007`, F45 is responsible for the front and rear 12V aux outlets. ODDLY ENOUGH, this was the ONLY fuse that was blown--I have no idea why! My USB charger connected was plugged into it and was working fine before the crash. Anyway, while I was in there, I replaced it with a spare 15A fuse obtained from the fuse box under the hood (there are a couple spare ones and a fuse extractor on the back of the cover)

There is still much work to be done, namely replacing all 4 seatbelt tensioners and latches.
I can do these myself, mailing them in to MyAirBags or another service that can refurbish them with OEM standards.
I did manage to find a garage on Yelp that will be able to replace the airbag with an OEM one, so that's good.

The dash currently has a red triangle and SRS urgent message displayed.
Those won't be gone until the new airbags and/or seatbelts are in.

Anyways, just wanted to give a heads up before people get too heartbroken over airbag deployment and thinking their car will have to be scrapped. There are no laws that state you cannot drive a vehicle without airbags, at least in the US, or else you wouldn't be seeing 60 year old classic Ford trucks driving around. YOUR CAR CAN BE SAVED! THINK POSITIVE!

[BlackBart]

How does #5 work?

[dudeitssm]

How does #5 work?

General electronics knowledge.

If you want to try it out: immediately after disconnecting the NEGATIVE wire harness from the battery terminal, if you use a multimeter to probe the voltage across the positive and negative wires, you'll see a voltage that gradually drops down as the parasitic draw of onboard circuitry and resistance uses up the charge stored in the capacitors of the electronic modules.

I suppose you don't have to wait the 5 minutes--you could just immediately short the negative wire harness (unplugged from battery first) to the positive side of the wire harness (or battery terminal).

Still, the SRS module is able to keep a few hundred milliseconds of power even after losing the battery altogether, so I waited 5 minutes just to drain this out.