Okay, here's the story. This 2007 XC90's shifter's gotten kinda wonky. Sometimes it sticks in Park and requires a pretty firm jerk getting it out of there. Well, the other day, my wife had to jerk it out of Park and the shifter came apart -- well, at least the button did. It broke and she wasn't able to operate the car. Well, it was possible to drive it, but she couldn't get it into Reverse, nor into Park. So when she finally got it home, it was late. So I told her just to leave it in Neutral and put the parking brake on and that I'd take a look at the shifter the next day.

It was actually a pretty easy fix -- or partial one at least. I was able to use super glue on the button and it held, but there's a piece on the top of the button's plastic that's missing -- plastic that holds a metal pin in place. Anyway, I installed the shifter and it worked as before, with me usually having to jerk it pretty hard to get it out of Park. But when I went to start the car, there was nothing. No lights, no warning bongs, nothing. And obviously the starter didn't work. We hit up our next-door neighbor for a jump start. I'm assuming I was using the correct spot to hook up the cables. The big hot wire connection next to the fuse box next to the AMM under the hood. I grounded the other cable on the shock tower. Got a decent spark when I completed the circuit with the neighbor's car. But there was still nothing. Not even the smallest of lights. And obviously the starter didn't operate. So I called my Volvo mechanic and asked if they could help -- maybe there's a master fuse or link or reset switch somewhere that needs to be attended to? But no, they had nothing. Told me we'd have to bring it in and let them check things out -- at the better part of $100 an hour.

So, I'm tossing my predicament out to the forumind. See if y'all know something that I don't -- which is likely considerable. Recommendations? Repair procedures? Give up and have it towed to my Volvo guy? I'm open to any and all suggestions -- except maybe the last one. TIA.

 

The battery completely drained when the car was left with the key on. (you can't turn everything off without the shifter in park)

Then you used probably consumer gauge jumper cables to try to jump start the car. Consumer quality jumper cables won't jump start a car with a completely dead battery. You explained how you connected the cables in your car. (red to the bolt next to the fusebox, and ground on the body) How did you connect to your neighbors car?

You need to fully charge the battery before trying to start the car. It's also possible the battery is damaged from being completely discharged. Older batteries don't like to be completely discharged. Do you have a simple volt ohm meter to test the battery voltage?

 

Yeah, I have a multi-meter. I didn'/t check the battery because I just assumed it was dead. Doesn't seem to matter to me how dead it is, but I can check.

First I've heard of "consumer gauge" jumper cables. Mine are pretty dang beefy. As for how I connected the cables to the neighbor's car, I hooked the hot cable to his battery terminal and the ground cable to a good chassis ground under his hood. I dd wonder if the reason it didn't work was because the battery might have been too far discharged and needed a bit of charge before it would work, but then I just figured that the XC90 was borrowing my neighbor's car's charging system and it shouldn't matter.

I'll check the battery with my multi-meter and maybe I can go ask my neighbor if he'd be willing to give us another jump. I have a trickle charger, but I don't know where it is. We recently moved and almost everything is still in boxes. It's in a box, I just don't know which one and I have hundreds to choose from. <sigh> Even though it's just a trickle charger it'll usually put a sufficient charge on a battery if left on overnight. Maybe I should just buy another one. Maybe one with more juice to it. I've had this one for over 30 years.

Thanks for the additional info.

 

Okay an update for you.. I checked the battery with my multi-meter, and I'll tell you what -- I've never seen a car battery as dead as this one was. 2.4 volts. Yow. Well, given we've owned the car fof over three years and this was the battery that came with it, I just decided to buy a new battery. Problem solved. The car started right up with the new battery. Back to normal. But I've learned my lesson -- never leave this car in neutral with the engine off and the key out.