My wife owns a 1993 960 sedan that recently developed a problem starting. We have a 3 month old baby and this is our only car to move him with (i drive a cargo van for work) so any help or advice will be much appreciated. I will list the symptoms with as much detail as possible.

A few months ago, it developed a quirk where if you started it and then turned it off shortly (like just to move it out of the garage or something) it would not start again for a few minutes. All dash lights would come on, fuel pump would engage but nothing happened when the key was moved to the start position. No clicking of the starter, just nothing happened. After waiting a few minutes it would start fine and give no further problems throughout the day. If it was started and driven for a while before turning it off, it would not have this issue. It happened very rarely at first. Battery is brand new.

Within the last few weeks, the starting issue described above began to happen more frequently. Also it has begun to stall. When it stalls, it looses all electrical power. Even if the key is turned off and back on, there are no dash lights, no door beeper, no fuel pump. The only hint of power after a stall is a clicking under the hood and a very faint flickering of the light on the "economy" button next to the shifter. After sitting for a while it may start again normally, or may display electrical power but fail to start in the manner described in the first paraghaph.

One other symptom is that my wife has said that while driving it over the past few months that on very rare occasions, the flashing arrow indicator light would come on (winter mode engaged/transmission fault as described in the manual) and the lights on the "winter" "sport" and "economy" buttons next to the shifter would all flash. It happened rarely and went away after driving for a few minutes.

My uneducated guess is that there may be an issue with the selector for the 3 driving modes (w,s,e) or the shifter itself. If it gave a false indication that it was in gear if it wasn't it would expain why it wont start but I'm really not familiar with Volvo's so I could use any advice as to what/how to check or atleast what to suggest to a mechanic. Thanks.

 

Well, some of your first symptoms, sound like the culprit could be the Neutral Safety Switch (prevents car from starting if the trans is not in P or N.) But once going that switch will not make the engine stop. So, the stalls are the new problem and they seem to be caused by some electrical failure. Make sure the battery is in good shape-Volvos sometimes seem to develop weird (to me at least electrical tantrums if the battery is the least bit weak), and that the charging system is up to snuff (easy check with a multimeter). There might be another reason for the electrical misadventures such as a bad ground or a short which is always the joker in electrical systems. Report back.

 

To me it sounds like you have a bad connection to..your battery,positive or negative or ground path. I'm not familar with this car but my 850 has a ground connection block under the battery tray that you can't really see unless the battery and tray is removed. The arrow on the instrument cluster is an example of just how a bad ground can show up.

How and why? Just an idea.. When the battery is sitting for long periods it's open circuit voltage rises( a long story) while at the same time the resistance of all wiring and connections goes down(another long story) so current can flow through these lower resistances more easily than when they are warmer or hot. But if you have connection/s creates/ing just enough resistance you might have enough to start but not restart until the battery voltage comes back up or the alternator can slowly recharge the battery(not that the battery is discahrged it just has to have high enough voltage to supply the circuits, through the high resistance paths,what they need to make the car start and run.

I'd check all grounds. Not just at the battery..follow the ground wire from the battery and inspect all connections on its path. then same with the positive lead. The 850 had a stud on the positive battery terminal lug that has many red control power leads, yours may be similar.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will check what I can as far as grounds. The battery is brand new (august '09) and the car was driven daily up until the stalling started. Pittsburgh winter with a new baby is no time to have a car stall. It has been in my garage, but only for about 5 days now since it has been driven last and I have the battery on a trickle charger. I don't suspect the battery, but who knows. Will check the grounds and go from there. Thanks. Keep the advice coming...