Hello,
I have a 1993 Volvo 240, automatic with 97K miles on it. I am the original owner of the car. About 3 weeks ago the car would not crank when I went to leave work. I had a jump pack in the car and it started right up. The battery was 7 years old so I had it checked and it was down to 450 CCA from the 650 so I put in a new one. 2 days after that the car did the same thing. Again start right up with the jump pack. I had the alternator checked all good. I had a spare known good starter, swapped it out, fine for two weeks and it did it again. Now a new twist. When it did not start this time, I turned the key to the crank position 4 times and on the 5th time cranked normally and it started.

Terminal voltage under load 13.7
Terminal voltage no load running 14.1
Terminal voltage when cranking 11.9
Battery CCA 670 (tested)

Thanks Lewis (email qm4020@yhoo.com)

 

could be the starter control circuit, which goes from the ignition key through the park/neutral safety switch, to the starter solenoid input. also could be the big heavy power wire that goes from the battery to the starter, or the ground at either the battery or the starter.

when it doesn't start, does it even try (click, boggggg, dash lights dimming out), or do you get nothing at all ?

 

Hello,
The neutral safety switch has already been checked and eliminated. When it does not start you do hear the starter click, The battery terminal voltage while trying to crank is the same as when it starts normally. I am about to start to check all of the grounds to see if I can find anything. Strange thing is when it cranks it always cranks normally and when it does not crank it always responds right away to my jump pack.

Thanks
Lewis

 

if you hear the solenoid on the starter doing its loud CLICK, then the starter is bad/flakey, or the positive or ground to it are bad.

when you say 'jump pack', you mean an external battery with jumper wires that you clip across your vehicle battery? if the battery has 12V I can only suspect the battery posts aren't connecting to the battery reliably. take the leads off the battery posts, clean the posts with a battery post brush, clean the inside of the lead clamps with the other side of said post brush, and reassemble.

 

Hello,
OK the starter was eliminated, I took a known good one out of my other 1993 Volvo 240 wagon put this one in, no issues for 3 weeks, so I crossed off the starter. The battery is fairly new, and the terminals were cleaned and properly tightened, load checked the battery shows 670 CCA. This afternoon, I just tried to start the car, I turned the key to the crank position , no crank. Then I did it again and held it there for 2 or 3 seconds and then it cranked all of a sudden.

The jump pack I used is an external battery pack that can load check and jump start. Great to have on hand. I bought it through the fire rescue station locally

Lewis

 

sounds like a flakey starter switch to me, then.

 

Hello,
When you say starter switch, do you mean ignition switch where you put in the key?

 

yes.

oh, hey... there's a blue connector shell under the hood with a pink wire thats a 'mechanics starter' switch. I think its along the left fender, or maybe along the firewall near the wiper motor (depends on the car). you'd jumper this single pin connector to battery + to manually override the starter switch, you might try this next time you're having starter problems, before resorting to your jump pack... if this works, then its even more likely your starter switch.

on the back of the ignition switch, pin "50", a pink wire, is the starter control signal. this pink wire goes to a connector, then a blue wire to the park/neutral safety switch, then a blue-yellow wire back to that same connector, and a blue-yellow wire to the starter solenoid. the blue jumper shell I described above is connected /before/ the park/neutral safety switch.

 

Hello,
Well I got up at 6am this morning and cleaned every connection from the battery to ground and the starter, still no luck. So I went back to what you said about a bad ignition switch since I knew everything else was good and when it would not crank with the key, I could also jump the starter terminals and it cranked fine.
Well I founf the problem, when I bought the car new in 1993, I had a Viper Alarm system installed it it. About 5 years ago, driveing down the road the car shut off. The alarm system was at fault but as long as I left it in valiet position, it worked fine. Well gues what, for some reason it came out of Valiet into the normal setting. I cut out every &^*% part of the alarm system, including the siren and it cranks perfect.
I really want to thank you for your help, letting me bounce things off you. Now I can go back and enjoy my 1993 Classic

Lewis

 

meh, I *hate* car alarms.

 

Ignition switches definitely wear out on the 'start' contacts - there's a lot of current before the 'holding' coil in the solenoid takes over. I had to abandon an ignition switch for starting purposes and used a spare dash toggle (aerial?) - that's also a good anti-theft device - nobody can start the car.
Anyway I've got a bounce problem that's got me stumped. It's not the ring gear - another starter works fine. There WAS a slight improvement when I put in a relay to run the solenoid, but I'm back to half a dozen false 'bounce' starts. I have noticed that Bosch just spot welds the internal holding coil wire to a mild steel plate - a bit of a dicey connection I thought - so maybe that could cause the intermittent bounce. I like that word - "intermittent" - isn't that the bane of all diagnostic fault finding?! I was thinking maybe there could be a mechanical (spring?) and not an electrical problem. I don't really feel like unwinding and rewinding the NON-SERVICEABLE! solenoid as I've done with another starter - it's worse than stitching and mending socks! - so I guess I'm appealing to the great Volvo gurus in the sky to call on their expertise. Cheers guys.