Hello to all , i just joined as i am looking for the wisdom of experienced Volvo owners

I purchased six months ago my first Volvo , a 1998 T4 V40 as my username indicate ^^
It was in good condition so far with the exception of some struggle with ignition . A cold start it would launch the engine with no issues whatsoever , but when trying to start the engine right after driving for some miles it would struggle to initiate ( like the Battery was on low power even though it was not ) . I purchased a brand new battery but the problem kept going on . This ongoing winter i noticed the battery could be drained unusually quick even though my car currently sleep in the garage days & night . Today , after a week without moving the vehicle ( and even though last time i switched my battery with a fully charged one ) i found my Volvo with the battery completely dead !

So when it comes to these electrical problems ( i assume the ignition problem is also electrical ) i have two right now :
- the engine struggle to initiate when it is still warm but not when it is completely cold
- the battery gets empty at an alarming rate especially during this winter

Do you have any clues as to what could be involved here ?
Thks a lot .

 

Have you measured the system voltage? A fully charged battery should be in the 12.6 to 12.8V range - if its down around 12.2 the car may fail to start. Now start the car - what's the volts at idle and then around 2000 rpm? With no load - ie headlights/defroster/HVAC blower etc you should see 14V or more. Now when you turn on all that stuff, the alternator should still put out 13 to 14 V (say over 13.5). Finally you should measure the current draw with the engine off. Not sure what the spec is but if I saw over 50 or 100 mA then I'd be concerned about some parasitic draw. Start pulling fuses and relays until this drops to a low number to ID the circuit. Last thing to do is check the battery terminals and cables. On the red + cable that goes to the starter, look for any bubbled insulation or signs of swelling (corrosion within the wires will limit the amps to the starter). Clean/tighten the terminals to the battery, the chassis ground points and starter motor. Warm start issues can be a few things - battery cabling, weak starter, low engine compression, weak spark (keep in mind, cold start gets an easier to fire enriched mixture) etc. Have you checked plugs and are they the correct gap and heat range? PS - does the T4 have the two coil design similar to the 1.9Ts (2000+)? If so, replace the plug wires and inspect the harness connectors that runs from the firewall to the coils to make sure there's no cracking.

 

Thank you for that quick response !

To be more precise about what i was saying : last week the battery was too low on power ( battery #1 , the one i purchased with the vehicle ) so i switched it with battery #2 which was fully charged ( i purchased 6 months ago = Varta Silver Dynamic 12 V 77Ah 780 Amps ) . Trying to ignite with #1 was not possible back then ( there was a CLAC CLAC CLAC sound i never head when dealing with low on power batteries ) , after i switched with battery #2 the car ignited immediately . When i measured the battery #1 & #2 with my OBD2 Scanner there was a clear difference of results between both

Today , i switched the batteries again and the car drove fine with Battery #1 but i also discovered that battery #2 is now completely dead : after removing it i tried charging it at home and my Battery Charger refuse to start the charge on it .
So i agree with you on this : something must have been draining power while the car is off . My car does have a red key on the motor block , turning it off shut down completely the electrical system so i disabled everything to avoid that electrical leak killing my remaining Battery ...

I will try to address the points you mentioned tomorrow , and gives more technical informations about all this .