dead '87 240

[rmozer]

I have an '87 240 that's been off road for 2 years. It ran fine before I took it out of service. It's a father/son project to get it running and sold. We just recharged the battery and it won't even turn over. Just to make sure the battery wasn't the problem, we tried a functioning battery from my son's '92 240 and the '87 did the same thing. After the battery is first hooked up, the interior door chime works, but will not turn over and the headlights don't come on. After hitting the ignition switch, we hear a short click under the hood, but only once. After that, no sounds, nothing. If we disconnect the battery and then hook it up again, we hear the same click, but only once.
We checked the fuses and they seem ok.
Does anyone have any ideas where to look for the problem. If it's something simple, we'd like to try to at least get it running before we have it towed to a local mechanic.

Bob

[CarVolvo]

if its not even turning over.. i would suspect that the starter has seized... take a hammer and start tapping on it as someone tries to turn it over and see if it makes a difference.. also check the cables to the battery and the starter as it may have corroded.

[wojeepster]

See if the engine is free and you can turn it first, if you can see if you are getting 12v at the starter when you turn the key to start.