I have a 93 850 glt,5 speed manual transmission my car is not cranking at all when I started not even the clicking sound, my battery was brand new about a year old, the funny thing is if waited about 5-10 mins. the car will start, I'm debating if my starter is bad or my ignition switch, pls. help.

 

Search the form for battery cable issuse. Also, ignitions usually have other problems, other than starting. You can check to see if the starter is getting power, that's pretty easy.

 

Volvo 850 starters have the starter solenoid on the starter. If you turn the key to "start" and you hear nothing than it's likely nothing is going to the starter. If the starter was intermittent you would hear the click of the solenoid pulling in. If you have no sound it's likely nothing is getting to the solenoid so my guess would be the switch.
That ignition switch works with the PNP switch. The PNP is Volvo's name for a neutral safety switch which also tells the computer what gear you're in. It's on the transmission pretty much right below the distributor.
Next time car won't start, try to "wiggle" the key around a bit in the switch and see if the starter will start to spin.
Not working? Move the shifter to "N" and try again. If still nothing try to push the shifter a little froward and a little back to see if that energizes the circuit.
If this works you likely need the PNP switch.
If you still can't get it to work it's likely an ignition switch.
Best I can do from here.

 

thanks, but my car is 5 speed manual transmission, i did try it the car car still won’t start but when i wiggle the key it started, do you think the pnp switch is bad or the ignition switch?

 

Ignition switch or battery cable. As I said before, the ignition usually has a lot of other symptoms of going bad before it wont start.

 

If wiggling the switch works a couple times you have a no start, it has to be the switch.

But when you have a no start and you remember to, hold it in the start position and try not to move the key while you try letting up on the clutch a couple times. You still have a neutral safety but not that damn PNP one!