I have a 2000 V40 with 130000 miles. This has happened now 3 times in a 1 year time frame. Get in the car and won't start. All the lights come on and when you turn the key to start nothing happens, actually all the lights go out, dashboard display and the headlights. Let the key loose and the lights come back on. After several tries it starts and no problem. I checked and cleaned the ground strap from the battery to the chassis.
Any more suggestions where to look?

Thanks,
Dutch Connection

 

Is there a click sound from under the hood?

 

There is no noise at all, no click from the solenoid and like I stated before all the lights go out when you turn the key. So it looks like a short.

 

I would try all the simple stuff first.

1) See if the car will start in neutral.
2) Clean the battery and starter terminals
3) have battery and charging system inspected, there are lots of place that will do this for free. I like Les Schwab's.

 

The battery was replaced 6 months ago, so I had this issue already before. The terminals are clean. After you wait a little it starts fine without doing anything else than turning the key. This tells me that it is not the battery or charging system. Otherwise the battery would run down and be dead. I'm puzzled on where to look or check. Especially because it is so intermittent.

 

A simple test/rule that has never proved wrong to me for 40 years is this: Turn on the headlights, Have an assistant watch the headlights closely while you attempt to start the engine. If the headlights go very dim, but not out completely, then you have a low battery, or a possible short / open in the starter. If the lights go completely out, then you have a bad connection somewhere. test every connection from the battery all the way to the starter.

 

If you were on here looking for someone who knows about the common volvo quirks and problems, i can't really help. I'm a relatively new volvo owner myself. And they do seem to have a lot of.... quirks..... But i do have good understanding of electrical circuits, and other things in that field.

So if you already know how to trace down problems and trouble shoot; and you were just looking for common problems i cant be of much help.

I think it's more likley you have an open somewhere than a short. I would check the small wire on the starter to see if it has 13v when you turn the key, and trace back from there. you can do this with a multimeter or even a cheap 99 cent test light and a friend.

*EDIT did you try starting in netural, when it's having the problem, still could be the netural saftey switch*

 

Because it only happened 3 times in one year it is really hard to analyze. After it starts it runs fine and cannot duplicate the failure. I just have to wait for the next time and hopefully it happens when I'm home so I can have a really close look at it.

 

Sorry i could not be of help. Maybe someelse will know of a common v40 starter problem.