Hello, I just joined from the Catskills in NY. I just bought a 2006 S40 T5 AWD Turbo. It had a dead battery, so I had help jumping it. Unfortunately, a person helping crossed the battery cables!! It won't start now even with the battery charged, but everything else works. I was told that crossing the cables might have killed the SEM. Now I am facing having it flatbedded to the nearest dealer. Any other ideas for what damage crossing the charging cables might have done? I haven't even driven my beautiful car yet.

 

I have not had that problem but you may have just popped a fuse that prevents just what you did from causing a lot of damage. I found another post that suggests that it might not be a horrible deal.

https://forums.swedespeed.com/showth...rt-attempt-doh!

Don't panic yet. You are not the first person to do this. I'm surprised that you didn't have a lot of sparks hooking the jumper cables up backwards.

 

It would be helpful to define what you mean when you say the car does not start.

Does the starter even engage and turn?
Does the starter turn as usual but the car won't fire?

Why was the battery dead? Was it just old? Or was it dead because someone was trying to start the car and ran the battery down? Maybe the no-start problem happened before the jump start and has nothing to do with that.

I'm concerned you're getting ripped off in some way, buying a car that doesn't seem to run and getting some bad advice along the way. Maybe you should go direct to the dealer for help just to get you out of a bad situation there.

 

Turns out that there was a blown fuse; the car also had to "go to sleep" for a few hours. Once the battery was charged and the fuse replaced, it reconfigured itself and it starts!! Dodged a bullet there. Now it's getting the 120K service that was never done, new timing belt and head gasket kits installed, and the head resurfaced. It will be like new when my Volvo master mechanic is done with it because he's going through everything. He's also my fiance', so this work won't cost me. Thanks all for your advice!

 

Thanks for your concern, but my Volvo master tech/fiance' went with me to buy the car. It was running hot and we bought it for a song. He knows exactly what to do. People hear "head issue" and are frightened away, but not him. When he's done with it I'll have a great car for little cost.

 

It's good to hear you have someone you can trust doing the repairs. Sounds like you had a blown head gasket. The previous owner must have been hard on the car. Let us know how it all turns out.

 

My last post doesn't appear, so I will repeat it. After having the head machined, new rear brakes, new front control arms, new timing belt kit, and two new tires, my beautiful S40 is in great shape. What a terrific car! Really a pleasure to drive.

Now, what to name her? She's black. Ideas?