Hey all! I've referred to this forum quite a bit for issues with my car in the past, so I'm hoping someone may be able to suggest something with this problem. My 2007 Volvo S40 T5 broke down today. Suddenly while driving, all the warning lights on the dashboard flashed, with the oil light staying on, and the car stopped accelerating. I was fortunate to be able to pull over before it stopped completely, but it was never able to accelerate again and will not start now. After trying to start it a few different times, the car started smoking (white/ light gray smoke that smelled like burning rubber), but it stopped pretty quickly once we stopped trying to start the car.

When the key is in the ignition, the lights come on like normal and there is no clicking that I would expect with a battery issue. The oil level was where it should be, and there was no indication that the car was overheating before this happened.

Has anyone experienced this before and could possibly suggest some causes? I'm trying to get it to a mechanic ASAP, but would like to have an idea of what to expect.

 

did the car turn over at all while trying to restart? The dashboard lights coming on suggests the car lost voltage or stalled while the engine was running. Did you try a jump start? where did the smoke come from - ie under the hood, out of the tail pipe? I've had two cars die on the road like that - both were failed alternators but neither smoked - just engine died, got all the dash lights, wouldn't crank to restart. Interestingly when my 850 did this, both headlights fried their bulbs so I suspected it went into a momentary overcharge or sent a voltage spike which blew a couple of fuses.

There's really not enough to say what to expect here. You may have something like an alternator issue or a cabling problem or you may have lost the serpentine belt or the timing belt...

 

Thanks for your reply! I didn't try to jump it because it started smoking from under the hood right when we were about to. I didn't figure it would be safe at that point. Like I said, it only started smoking after trying to start it a few times. It didn't smoke when it first died, at least that I could see.
It doesn't seem like it's turning over at all either. The lights will all come on, but nothing else when I turn the key.

 

hopefully its a wire/cable that's shorting that caused the smoke