Starting Problem

[Bluegrass-XC]

I know this is not the MY 2K forum, but I figured I'd post here to maximize the exposure. Sorry.

Anyway - I've recently began experiencing a strange bug when starting the car for the first time in the morning ... It Won't. I'll release the parking brake and "jiggle" the shifter, and it will then - almost reluctantly - start. Every dash light that could possibly come on does, then they all turn off normally. It almost seems like a weak battery syndrome, but it's a fairly new battery. After the car warms up and I drive it for a while, it will restart without any problem.

I put over 1,500 miles on it last week with half of that in some blinding rain. I still have a small hole in the right headlight lens from an incident with a flatbed 18-wheeler (rock) a few weeks ago, and I'm wondering if water hasn't gotten in there and is shorting out something that would prevent the car from starting. I just had the dealer's warranty checkup (oil, lube, tires, etc.) at 60K mikes and there were no issues.

Your thoughts and comments are most welcome! Thanks!

[cetaft]

Mike, SWAG, but does the shift lever align properly or is there a bit of play? For example, if you "jiggle" the lever, does it always come back to the same position or does it move (and remain) ever-so-slightly up or down the scale?

(I'm asking 'cause I had a similar problem with a 745 until the mechanic corrected the shift lever's alignment under the console cover plate.)

[Bluegrass-XC]

CE - It seems to return to the same position. There is very little "play" in it, and I'm not totally convinced that the "jiggling" has anything to do with allowing it to start. The first time it happened it didn't seem to be all the way into Park though, and I did pull up to a concrete wheel stop kinda hard when I parked it. I definitely need to get it to the dealer to have it checked out since I'm gonna be on the road a lot in the next few weeks.

[HeadXC]

Have your dealer check the wifi security chip readed that reads the chip in your key is working properly, there have been several cases of this reported personally and in this forum.
ALl of the jiggling around may just be repositioning the key so the antenna can read the chip easier and have nothing to do with the other items.

[Bluegrass-XC]

HeadXC - That's an interesting theory. A day or so before the problem arose, I dropped the entire key FOB into the kitchen sink and into a pan of water (soaking w/dish washing detergent - I keep the keys on the window sill above the sink). There were no noticeable problems after drying off the FOB. Everything seemed to work properly - door locks, ignition, etc. Could this be a possible source of the problem?

[skiweld]

I had the same issue with my XC. On three occasions, the car wouldn't start and I got a fault message in the electronic message center. Gear placement and brake position were all fine. I took the car to the dealer last month and there was a fault in the security chip/ignition/key match-up. They replaced the ignition and all is well.

[Bluegrass-XC]

Well, well, well. This thing really blew up in my face last week. I had to drive from Louisville KY to Destin, FL - about 660 miles - and the starting problem wasn't quite resolved - but I hit the road anyway.

I'm tooling down I-65 and the ABS and Traction Control lights kept coming on and off intermittently. Occasionally the SRS light would come on and off. No biggy since there seemed to be no noticeable loss in performance or handling. I was getting a little concerned about the SRS light the more I thought about it, but since nothing was happening, I kept on. Well - about 40 miles north of Birmingham AL, I hit a bump in the road (pavement transition from asph. to conc.) and the car totally shut down - flat out quit on me at 78 mph - then started right back up like nothing happened. I thought - "WTF Was THAT????" I was getting really worried by now. About 5 miles down the road - it did it again - but this time it stayed shut down. I slid the shifter into neutral and coasted to a stop on the shoulder. I put it in Park and turned the ignition to Off. I tried to start the car and surprisingly it did!! Shocked the 'ell outa me - so I put it in gear and tried to pull back onto the highway. Well - it started off like it was in 3rd or 4th gear - very slowly. I wondered if I hadn't accidentally put it into "Winter" mode - but there was no dash light indicating that I had done so - so I was totally baffled as to why I couldn't accelerate properly. Seemed like it took 5 miles to get up to highway speed. I decided that I was going to pull off at the next exit and call for help. When I slowed down at the top of the ramp - it still felt like I was in 3rd or 4th gear. I finally limped to a gas station and turned it off. This time there was no restarting it - I was dead in the water.

I called AAA and they loaded me up onto a rollback (flatbed) and took me into Birmingham to first get a rental car and then to the Volvo dealer on the south side of town. Since it was Sunday evening, I left them a lengthy note describing the gremlins I was experiencing and shoved the keys and envelope into the night drop, then headed off in search of a hotel room and dinner.

The next morning I drove down to the dealer and talked to the service writer and he said they'd call me when the tech had diagnosed my problem. About 90 min. later they called. Remember my second post to this thread when I mentioned that I came up to a concrete wheel stop kinda hard? Well - that was enough to jar loose the main power connection up at the firewall. IT WAS A LOOSE PLUG!!!!! DAMN!!!! :eek: I could have fixed that on the side of the road! That was also the root of the starting problem - no contact at the power cable. Of course - I probably benefited from the complete diagnostic check and total system reboot from the dealer. Starting off in 4th gear made sense now - I was in a high gear when the system shut down and the main computer didn't know any better - probably communicated to the tranny that 4th gear was where it was supposed to be after the power failure.

Anyway - they charged the battery and test drove it for 5 miles to verify everything was working properly - then charged me $85 for the diagnostic check and sent me on my way.

So - if you find yourself stranded in Birmingham Alabama - go straight to Royal Volvo on the south side of town off Hwy 31 at Columbiana Road - right off I-65. They were even kind enough to give me a ride back to the dealer after I dropped off the rental car. Good people!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[John@CdnRockies]

Boy, you must have smacked that concrete stop pretty hard to jar loose the main electrical connection. My guess is that the plug might not have been properly seated to start with (maybe at a prior servicing?).

In any case, nice to see that all was resolved at modest cost.

John

[cetaft]

Probably related to the blower motor. :D

Seriously, glad it all worked out. Coulda been scarey if a semi came up behind you at speed while you were limping along.

[Bluegrass-XC]

Probably related to the blower motor.
ROFLMAO !!! Good one !!!!

John - Yeah - my thoughts exactly (prior "servicing"). I long for the days when I could do it all under the hood. I think I can recover a portion of my costs (hotel and rental car) through AAA. We'll see.