Im getting rid of this nightmare if someone cant help me out.
I am experiencing full electrical shut down in short but frequent intervals, but the cars engine is not shutting down every time this happens. When it does happen it is only for about 2 seconds and everything goes back to normal including the engine turning back on.... um yeah. Head lights turning off at night are scary (but the corner lights are staying on), radio off, everything but the corner lights and the rear fog lights, and I've got a family to haul with me some times. Where would I start looking for a short of this caliber?

 

I would start with the wire harness. It sounds like a major short running from the ECU.

 

I dont really know what you mean. I know where and what the ECU is, I know from memory there is a bundle of wires covered by a plastic shield there leading up to the firewall....

 

First off, doubt this is a short; sounds more like an intermittent open circuit.

And if everything is shutting down, then i would suspect main feed(s) from the battery have a loose connection somewhere. Ck both positive and negative cables coming from the battery.

You say the running lights (corner lights) and rear fogs stay on? Anything else? I will look at the schematic; see what see...

Assuming this is an 850; what MY and model?

Update: Just thought something: Can you induce the failure or make it go away by jiggling the ignition switch? Give that a try...

 

I have tried the wiggling of the key and can not introduce the problem, though two different volvo tech's I have spoken with online agree its the ignition switch. I still feel uncomfortable just throwing money at the car with shotgun fix parts. I will check battery connections where they go after connecting to the battery.

 

I would probably check the battery cables and maybe the alternator. But I believe you can drive the car if the alternator goes out as long as you have a good battery. How old is the battery? When was the last time you replaced that?

 

Also check the starter connections.

 

Battery should be good. It was manufactured in feb 08 so it must be pretty new. I cant do much until Monday and if I dont find a fix by thursday it will be more than a week before I would be able to tackle it again. Vacation woot!

 

You think it could the ignition switch?

 

It is possible as well.

 

does it happen when you turn the steering wheel ? volvos are one of the worst cars made ,one problem after another ! bring it to a junk yard and laugh as its being crushed . a real money pit ! my 850 spends more time being repaired then on the road .

 

you have a bad solinoid on your starter

 

A different view of my problem. My girlfriend drove my car today even though I asked her not to and she encountered this. The car drove fine with the headlights on for 10 miles. She had to stop behind a car at a red light and could see the headlights flickering in the reflection of car in front of her. Just then the car died. She turned the headlights off and started the car up just fine and drove without incident for another 15 miles.She left the place she was at and felt like she needed the headlights on, so she turned them on and made it about 1 mile and the car died. So again she turned them off and drove 10 miles with out incident, until it started to rain and she had to turn the headlights on again. About 1/2 of a mile down the road the car died again. She started it up and tried to pull out and it died. She started it again and pulled out and made it maybe 50 yards and you guessed it....the car died again. However, she just turned the headlights off and the car powered back up without having to stop and restart. She made it all the way home....no more incidents. This is baffling to me. Please help I have three days left to consider working on this car before I am off to leave for a week on vacation.

 

i know this mite sound stupid , is your headlight switch in the dash or on the column ? if its in the dash replace it if its in the column replace it ! every volvo i have owned has had major electrical problems ! i stopped dumping money in to them ! got a jeep ! NO problems !great suv !i got a wrangler but if you find a cherokee another great suv plus it has 4x4 drive

 

Are you a Jeep salesman? I've dumped more money into my Jeep than I have into my Volvo.

Back to the point - If using your headlights/wipers makes the problem happen you can probably make it happen if you turn on the seat heater or the rear defrost. If it were me I would check the alternator and would probably find that either a) it isn't putting out 14 volts - or - b) it is not flowing enough current. It doesn't take a lot of current to keep the motor running, it does take a lot to light the headlights/run the wipers/defrost the rear window/keep my butt warm in the winter. A voltmeter and a clamp-on ammeter will tell you how well the alternator is working. Measuring at the battery without the car running it should read 12.5 volts, less than 11.5 is a battery going bad. Car running without headlights should be about 14 volts. Turning the headlights on should see no drop in voltage, if there is the voltage regulator is going in the alternator.

Hope you find your answer.

 

Thank you Mike i will consider your suggestion in the morning although I was thinking yesterday "where the heck is my voltmeter?" I may have to ride across town and see my my father has it then I have to consider engine cool down time, ugh this is so discouraging. I should have never sold my 93, 850 is was cream puff other than some small body damage.

 

You know, I'm still thinking ignition switch and here's why..

You said when the fault happens everything goes off except items (running lights, etc.) that don't go through the ignition switch.

If the connection at the ignition switch is weak/intermittent, then adding extra load (like headlights, wipers, seat heaters, etc.) is going exacerbate the fault in the switch by drawing significantly more current.

If your alt was going out, you would have other symptoms; like the battery's state of charge being low, making for hard starts and slow/no crank. You haven't been charging the battery with a charger, have you?

I hear ya about not wanting to shotgun diagnose it; I'm the same way. If you really want to trouble-shoot it, here's what you need to do:

1. Get yourself two voltmeters and connect them to the ignition switch connector.
2. Have one volt meter monitor terminal 30 (red); this is the hot wire from the battery.
3. Have the other volt meter monitor terminal 15 (black w/red) and/or 15I (black w/yellow) (they may be common inside the switch..).
4. Then drive around; when the fault happens, ck the volt meters! If they're both at or above 12 volts, then the fault is downstream of the ignition switch. If they're both low, then it's upstream of the ignition switch. My bet would be terminal 30 will be fine but terminal 15 will be low; i.e. bad ignition switch.

Let us know what you find and good luck!

 

Well lets be honest. I dont have the money to buy another volt meter, but you and about 4 other including IPD think its the Ignition switch. Have you ever dealt with one giong bad and replaced it? If you respond yes I am probably going to buy one I found for about 35 bucks. Or could I get away with guying a know good used one? The good used one will be the same price but Volvo brand.

Yesterday I cleaned up the battery connections there was some minor corrosion, I took out the battery tray and found it was clean I cleaned some other grounds and still need to clean the two on top of the engine block which I don't know what are. After cleaning the battery the engine ran real poor and needed the gas pedal pressed to stay running for about 10 starts, now it starts just fine I guess the computer had to re learn. Actually it runs a lot better with way more power, but my forgetful self forgot to turn the headlights on. While its on my mind does anyone have a picture of where the ground to the chassis and the ground to the engine block are? OzarkLee from Matthews Volvo Site suggested cleaning those and checking their integrity.

 

More information. While I was inspecting the two grounds on top of the engine valve cover the one right in front of the turbo on the drivers side was stripped pretty bad. I did what I could for now and places a lock nut washer on there to fill up some of the space in hopes it would stay grounded more often. I don't really know what this is grounding though. A little help? I will eventually have to re tap that hole which will be a job for the dad.

 

Ive been told to replace my starter solenoid and my ignition switch by so many people on 4 different forums dedicated to Volvo's so I am thinking I am going to go with the starter solenoid first. I have check most of my grounds I have one left and its tricky to get to.