V50 2.0d will not start

[MikeV50]

Hello,

I've just had to go and tow my wife back from the gym due to the V50 not starting (2005 2.0d manual 100k miles). It has never had an issue like this before but I did a very quick search on the net whilst waiting for a family member to arrive at our house to relieve me of children duties and it mentioned certain procedures to help clear the error.

The ignition comes on fine at stage 2 but no starter motor at stage 3, checked fuses, battery fine, tried to lock/unlock 5 times then wait for 30 secs for deadlocks, tried other key. All nothing, so we had to tow it back home.

at one stage it did say immobiliser fault on display which it obviously is but just couldnt reset it or get the car going.

I tried searching on here for common issues but for some reason my keywords arent letting the search do its function. Is this non starting some common fault, not had an issue with it till now, I've used it three or four times today and there was nothing odd.

Im reluctant to get it recovered to a volvo dealer as we dont have breakdown cover etc and if its something obvious I dont mind swapping a part over. any help would be greatly received.

[MikeV50]

Just a quick update on the V50 not starting.

After trying for a day or so to get the thing going I gave up and arranged for a recovery company to transport it to a specialists in Southport who had the VIDA and TIE software readers to do the job for less than a main dealer.

We pushed it off the drive as the recovery wagon couldnt load it where it was parked and..... the bugger started first turn of the key, I couldnt beleive it!.... I'd already handed the money over so I let them take the car and drop it off 25 miles away. It apparently started another 20 times at the garage before failing again but hey ho, I didnt want it dieing on my family miles from home so it needed fixing.

The fault as I'm sure is no surprise, was the dashboard mounted start control unit and the bill came in at under £300 which was still a bit steep for something that shouldnt have broke in the first place.

I dont know how much I would have paid at the main dealer in Preston but I didnt want to take it to them as they wanted £94 just to plug it in and tell me what was broke.

So if anyone else in the North West has a similar issue I'd recommend the place I took it to, Southport Auto centre Volvo specialists as after ringing around their arent that many specialists I could find who could help with this particular fault.

[HEAVY747]

Hi There

OK - 1st thing if dashboard lights up and you hear steering lock unlock with the zip sound when you turn key that means ignition barrell is working and communicating to the CEM and steering lock.

I would check the leads which bolt to the starter motor - unbolt the leads and clean with emery cloth to a shine all metal connections and reconnect. Make sure you undo negative terminal off battery before you do this. Try turning over now. If it does not work than likely cause is starter motor itself.

My S40D 2004 had ignition barrell failure for which I took dash apart (no dashlights or steering lock release when key put into ignition barrell). Fixed it anyway and made picture slideshow to show how it is done:

http://img607.imageshack.us/slidesho...=dsc00045g.jpg

Volvo stealership charge was £500 to replace. It cost me £5 for torx right angle keys to open up everything and clean up barrell and put back.

All working OK for time being.

Just click under above link to see removal of ignition switch barrell (SCU) and it's innerds!!

I hope this was helpful.

[kopite]

Southport auto centre saved to me favourites... cheers!
Need a service doing anytime now

[ranss10]

Same happened to me on holiday. Called breakdown and ended up using a piece of wire direct from starter motor solenoid connector to positive battery terminal every time I needed to start the car. Found this thread when back home and also downloaded wiring diagram. Traced problem to ignition barrel not making the starter circuit live when moved to position 3. Followed the pictures in the link above and stripped/cleaned the barrel. To do this a very small torx bit is needed but instead used an exact fit jewellers screwdriver. Other than the printed circuit as seen in the pics the barrel is nothing other than a series of electrical contacts that are spring loaded to make connection or physically opened when the inner drum of the barrel is rotated by the key. Due to a small amount of dust from the components sliding against each other the action of the spring was not enough to overcome the friction and then make the electrical contact. This makes sense of another thread which said to put the key in place and tap it lightly with a hammer! This would only help to make the electrical contact if the key was hit when in position 3.
Anyway after good clean the barrel was re assembled and all works fine again. Big thanks to Heavy 747 for the post.
In addition to the pics,taking apart involves removal of a number of torx screws of same size plus clips as below
the radio/cd cover has two clips, one on each side
the panel behind the centre console unclips
the centre console has four screws
the radio/cd screen unit is unclipped and pushed out
the radio has two screws in the front
the panel with the 12volt power unclips.
the speedo rev counter top surround has two screws in top and pulls forward to remove.
the dash has two retaining screws just below and beside ignition barrel that must be removed to allow the dash to be pulled forward to drop out the ignition barrel.
the barrel is held in by two screws.

[Kingsford G]

I`ll try this and report back