Ok guys I'm looking for an experts opinion not a bunch of guessy loos...I am a rear wheel drive Volvo mechanic and have messed with VERY few of these new wave front wheel drive cars. I recently aquired a 96 850 GLT wagon non turbo, 5 speed manual. Issue is a cold start problem. Car will take 4 or 5 times of cranking b4 it will turn over...then it will start fine the rest of the day as long as it doesn't sit for hours...then go to start it in the morning or after been sitting a few and same thing crank crank crank no start and finally will start...anyone else have this same issue and can pinpoint what it is? Cold start injector? Thanks!!

 

First off let's get some terminology straight; "cranking" and "turning over" are the same thing. Assume you meant to say it cranks but doesn't start.

How bout some more info; what have you checked? These don't have a cold start injector. I would ck the fuel pressure straight off. What about it's state of tune (stage0)? Done compression test?

And of course, any codes set?

Is it cranking slow? Could be starter needs an OH.

 

Also, have you checked vacuum lines and do you have a cel?

 

I've worked on a few of these new wave front wheel drive cars and I own a FWD Volvo. The only big difference I've noticed is the engine is sideways.
The same things you'd do on a RWD for hard start still apply to FWD.
As you haven't brought the car over to my place all I can do is guess as I can't see, hear, touch or smell how the car is running. But it's common for a car that cranks hard to get started, but runs ok once started and starts again later normally but again is hard to start after sitting a linger time, is one of two things in almost all cases. You could have a fuel pressure regulator or check valve in the fuel pump that leaks down or bleeds off the pressure the engine needs to start or you might have a temperature sensor that is going out. I kind of lean toward the sensor as you say it starts ok until it sits for a long while. Both problems share the same symptoms so without taking a pressure reading on the fuel rail or reading the temp sensor with a scanner it's just a guess. I haven't had this problem but I've fixed this symptom on quite a few customer cars.
If that sensor failed in a way that it's telling the management computer that the engine is hot then the computer will lean out the mixture and cause it to crank and crank to get enough fuel to finally get it to fire. Once the engine is physically "hot" or at least warm then the air fuel mixture is closer to what it needs and starts properly up until the engine gets too cold and finds the mixture too lean to fire back up. You need to do some diagnostic work to narrow it down.
Just to make sure it isn't electrical you could always pull a spark plug lead and have someone hold it close to a ground when the vehicle has sat for a good long time and make sure you have spark with the no start. That way at least you know it's fuel.