Hey guys, let me open this topic by saying I'm a moron... got that out of the way.

K, so about mid-October of last year the starter went out on my post 250,000 m. 95 850 GLT. No biggy, moseyed into the replacement process without undue concern. The local parts store only had a reman in stock (and that's all I had the money for at the time regardless), so put it on there and it worked fine. It was too short for the bracket that secures the front of the starter to the block, but otherwise it functioned.

Fast forward to December, starter ceases to function. Online search revealed that scads of owners have had trouble with remanufactured starters on Volvo. [Sigh], welp, parts store replaced it of course, this time with one that had an extended bolt on the end so the front/passenger side bracket thing would reach, so overall it seemed like a positive change.

At the time, what with the typical holiday stress, the wife and I had been bickering and I stormed out to fix the car in a huff and in a hurry... and neglected to disconnect the battery. Arced the starter quite well.
On the bickering with the spouse front "Thank you baby for fixing this or that" had turned into "What have you messed up this time!?", and thus my prideful arrogant *** lost all motivation for fixing her car.
(Note: Nowhere in the above did I claim to not be a jerk)

Annnnd Now, I've no longer got a truck. So here we are with four kids (one autistic and one deaf no less, lots and lots of hospital and specialist visits), and no way to ride. I've went out and twiddled with on occasion, trying this or that, to no avail. Time to crawl out from under my egoistic rock, acknowledge that a low-budget holiday season had stressed us both out, (I work construction, and it has gotten much better since 2008, but the market still takes a dive around the holidays), and I never should've responded the way I did.
Huh... just used you folks as my own personal bartenders/therapists... sry for that.

TLR - I arced the starter, now the thing won't start... starter tries it's hardest, spins nice and strong, but the engine won't catch. Now what?

 

 

Are you saying that the starter rotates the engine, and you think you have something going on that sounds like normal cranking?

Lots of us have experience with that situation, of course. You need to check for fuel pressure and spark and then we'll go from there.

 

Righteo, (thx for the vid, btw).
Yes, it sounds like normal cranking, annnd when I click the ignition switch over I can press the valve on the end of the fuel rail and get a good (repeatable) squirt of gas which I take to be the cranking enrichment.. uh.. "charge"?

only home for a sec, I'll check spark when I get off of work.

 

Update: Not getting any fire from the coil to the distributor, thoughts?

 

Check/change the high voltage wire from the coil to the distributor. IF that does not work, check for power to the coil. If that does not work, check all the fuses in and under the underhood fuse box and let us know how that turns out. You are on the right track!

 

I agree with above. Then, check Diagnostic codes on the OBDI system.
https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/se...s-NonTurbo.pdf

The cam sensor is really easy to check. The crank sensor less so, but there is an ohm specification for that. You can read about that here:
https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/se...sicTesting.pdf
Skip down to where it talks about the crank and cam sensors, since you have fuel and we don't have a breakout box.

I have had this experience where the fuel injection relay is not "on". They have a style of plug that rots with age.

On your car, do you have 3 computers in one box? Separate ignition, fuel injection, and transmission?

Good luck!

 

I'll bet the cam sensor is out. Seems like when the battery is dead shorted or a battery charger is connected with reverse polarity, the cam sensor gets taken out. Follow the troubleshooting guide outlined above and you'll know quickly if the sensor is bad.


Thanks,
Andy

 

Goooot it! WHoop!

Hot wire to the coil. Actually just the end of the hot wire that screws to the batt terminal had corroded off. (All this time.. that one little thing, and it's sat there all this time.. *facedesk*).
Thanks guys.
I'll be back on later to discuss the transmission fluid leak (it's the driver's side seal around the CV axle).

 

Sweet!!! Glad you got it fixed and that we could help!!