My car would not start while out of town. Mechanic indicated bad battery and sold me a new battery. Would not start again. After a jump we drove home with the following symptoms; check engine light on, transmission malfuncition arrow flashing under tach, alternating light flashing between w and s transmission settings. My Volvo mechanic of 12 years indicated that my 100 amp alternator never put out more than 38 amps. He replaced the alternator. (Now things are gettng expensive.) I got back in the car today and started it up. Same symptoms; check engine light on, transmission malfunction arrow flashing under tach, alternating light flashing between w and s transmission settings. The car runs fine. I have experience a very slow acceleration at times which I suspect is the winter mode actuatng for no apparent reason.

I started the car several times to judge if I may have an output problem. It seems fine. Fluke reads 12.62 V at battery with no start / 14.04 while running.

Sorry so long. Please help.

 

Just in case you can't read my mind, the car is a 98 Volvo S90.

 

Sounds like the starter is on its way out.

It needs extra Amps to crank it over.
With the fluke on there holding the key how many Volts does it read?

 

tech,

If I just turn the key on with no start, I get 12.57 volts.

If I have someone start the car, the voltage drops to 11.01 during the crank cycle. After crank, the voltage is back to 14.07.

Today when I started the car, the trasmission malfunction light WAS NOT on but the check engine light was on. I ran erands and at one point when putting the car in gear "D" the transmission malfunction light tripped and the car bacame sluggish. I think it was in winter mode as the light was alternating again between "W" and "S" while the mallfunction arrow blinked as well. What a nightmare. Do you have any idea what is happening here?

By the way, I owned 5.0 Mustangs for 17 years. I still miss my 89 5.0 5-speed coupe. It was a sad day when that one left.

Mark

 

I am thinking maybe you have a bad PNP switch.

When it doesn't start do you hear the starter click?
If not check for power at the starter. If you have no power at the small wire then the PNP switch is bad.

Did they pull codes when you had it in the shop?
If so did they tell you what they were?



I love my Mustang they are so fun to drive. The Notches are getting really hard to find in the Factory V-8's

I will have mine till either I wreck it or it falls apart.

 

When it will not start drop into neutral and see if it will start. Could also be a relay but witha ll the lights on the dash(check engine, upshift arrow) I would suspect the PNP.
Dan

 

tech and BIGDAN,

Thanks for the replys. To answer questions. I don't know if they pulled codes at the shop. They just indicated that the alternator was not putting out properly and changed it and of course it looked like the problem was solved at first. I don't know about the the sound made during "no starts" because my wife was the one out of town and doesn't remember if it clicked or not. As of this moment, it starts consistently with no problem.

Also, I read about a procedure for cleaning the contacts on the PNP were you go back and forth between "P" and "L" for 30 times. This seems to have made the transmission trouble indicator go away. Does anyone know if this will work long term? I'm not getting my hopes up.

Thanks Again.

 

It won't be a long term fix it will only work for a little while.

 

Thanks Again Tech. I'm flying out tomorrow but I'll be back next week and get the PNP tacken care of.

 

Hello,
I knoiw it has been some time since you posted this but my mothers S90 is doing the same thing with the transmission malfunction indicator flashing, the transmission selector buttons flashing between S,W, and E and the check engine light is on. So far the speed sensor, transmission selector and ignition switch have been replaced. The check engine light came back on and the malfucntion light and selector lights started flashing again however the last two things are intermittent although the check engine light still stays on. I was wondering if your car got repaired and what fixed it and does anybody else have any suggestions. The code for the check engine light is the speed sensor.