Crossed booster cable, now no power.

[ridemore]

My '97 volvo S90 does run, but had a misfire issue which I wanted to have the mechanic diagnose.
I called a tow truck to tow it to the mechanic for me. When the tow truck got there, it turns out the volvo battery was low and needed jumping.
I connected one end of the jump cable to the volvo battery while the tow truck driver connected the other end to the boost car. He made a mistake and connected the cables in reverse (neg to pos and pos to neg). The error resulted in spark at the booster battery and he immediately corrected it.

I got in and insert key in the volvo, but no sound from the starter. Then I noticed that there was no red or orange lights on the dash either. No headlight and no horn. I told him that I think he blew a fuse when he swapped the jump cables but he insisted that Volvos are funny like that and he has had some that sometimes won't start due to the alarm. Bottomline is that I used to jump this car and it will start, but since he swapped the battery cable by mistake, thats when all this no power across dash and starter started.

Facts to consider:
1) fuel pump relay does click and pump does buzz/prime when key is turned.
2) Alarm does sound when battery is reconnected and driver door is opened without first locking and unlocking it (horn blowing).
3) Turn signals does flash once when battery removed and reconnected.
4) Locking and unlocking all doors still work fine using key in driver's door.
5) No horn, no dash lights, no starter action.
6) Parking lights work when light switch is turned once. Turn twice and it goes off and no headlights come on.

I did some research online and the best I found was to use key in driver's door to lock and unlock 5 times. I did that yesterday and the condition remained the same.

Does anyone know if this is a fuse or relay problem and how to go about troubleshooting it? Personally, I think it has to do with crossing the battery cable. Everything worked fine until that incident happened. I looked at the fuses and they seemed alright.

[Crazy LEDs]

Not a Volvo but i put a battery on a megane the wrong way and it needed a few fuses replacing but was fine after
Booster packs are a thing of the devil and can fry ecu at the drop of a hat

[Oilydad]

From the 700/900 series FAQ:

1.Before wasting hours of expensive diagnostic time, test all fuse circuits with a DVOM or approved test light. Remember that fuses can fail without showing signs of an obvious burn-through. Since a loose or corroded fuse connector may also cause many intermittent circuit failures, thoroughly inspect and clean the fuse circuits before proceeding with your diagnosis.

What a pain. Hope you get it sorted.

You may be lucky and it will be a fuse or two, but there's also a good possibility that you could have done more serious damage. Including, but not necessarily.......Blown battery/ Fried ECU/ Fried section/s of wiring loom/ Blown starter/alternator etc etc.

Unless you are quite competent with electrics, I'd respectfully take this to an auto electrician, and get him to check it out, but certainly check ALL fuses and relays.

NOT SURE if there is a main battery fuse on the 960 (S90) but I'm sure somebody WILL know. Some years ago WE had a major electrical loom meltdown on a Renault Scenic. Turned out that the previous owner had bridged the main battery fuse with a nail! Would have cost him about £3.00 to put a proper fuse in and rectify the actual problem which was a frayed cable Cost me over £200.00!! Wunker!!

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Originally Posted by ridemore

I connected one end of the jump cable to the volvo battery while the tow truck driver connected the other end to the boost car. He made a mistake and connected the cables in reverse (neg to pos and pos to neg). The error resulted in spark at the booster battery and he immediately corrected it.

Why should YOU be doing all the work?

Get a Volvo Dealer, competent Indie or known good auto electrician to deal with the situation and get your lawyer to deal with the knuckle-head who fried your car.

Des. . .

[migrator]

Connection sequence should have been Positive on boosting car to Positive on flat car, Negative on boosting car to suitable earth point on flat car. Worth a mention before any claims about 'frying the car'.

[TonyS9]

Does seem like a fuse or something. The electrics are normally pretty reliable, and do not need the supervision of a computer, ie lots of independant analogue systems.

My alarm is a little temperamental if you are a bit jittery putting the battery terminal on. Otherwise the comment about 'Volvo's being funny' is utter boll**ks, the 900/V90 use standard wiring (no CAN bus or anything). If the battery is connected and charged you should get some lights when you turn the key.

I don't think you can easily check all the fuses by looking at them, but maybe you have damaged a relay.

[Oilydad]

Meant to say that I also agree wholeheartedly with CTC Network's post.

You should claim every penny back from the recovery people. They are supposed to KNOW what they are doing.

[ridemore]

Thanks for all the advice. This issue was just one done to me by the tow truck driver. We finally pushed the volvo out of the driveway, opened the garage and brought out my '92 benz 600SEL V12. He was to flatbed it to a bodyshop that will do some painting of the driver's fender. We got there and he backed in to the parking space where he will set the vehicle down, right? He got out and tilt the flatbed to a 10o'clock and 4o'clock angle so the bottom was resting on the ground ready to unload. He worked the chain release lever, but the 2,100kg (4,800lb) bulk won't move. Then he rocked the bed a couple quick up n downs and I noticed that the car slid down some inches, but the rear tire did not move (just slide). Then he reached up and opened the drivers door. As I was telling WAIT WAIT, he said he knew what was holding it, and while holding that heavy door with his left hand, he reached in there and pulled the parking break release. OMG! It turns out that was the only thing holding that car up on the inclinded bed!!! It all happened in about 2 seconds. That monster came running off that bed with the driver running with it to keep the door from taking him out. Luckily, there were these 4ft tall concrete guard posts in place and spaced out every 5ft or so. The car went boom on one of them and bounced forward. Driver fell to one side but unharmed. Front bumper tore off on passenger side and rear bumper took it very well, but needs replacing now due to a crack and paint scrape and bulge on rear fender. Driver was visible shaken as I was, and we were glad tno one lost their life so far. If it wasn't for the guard posts, this car would have knocked down the rear wall of the next building and gone inside completely. Driver said he thought the chain was holding the car and that he had only forgotten to release the parking break. Thinking that my 3 young boys were outside playing around when we picked up this car, I was resisting thinking what would have happened if I had to yell at a 2 and 4 year old to get out of the way of a silent killer in motion. I asked him how much I owe him (for the volvo jump and benz quick offload/eject), and 2 other tows he did for me in the past. I paid him in a hurry and said "I didn't know you smoke". He said times like this, he does. I won't sue him. He has towed cars for me often. I buy cars often from the auction and he moves them for me. This day was just one you hope never comes back. Almost rolled back and hit right headlight as he was leaving. He had to do a few back and forth due to tight space. I was watching the back and always stopped him about a foot from my car. This time he rolled back some more. Then some more, and was an inch from the glass headlight before his clutch engaged and jerked forward. Phew! I need a smoke too!!

[Andy Northface]

an off day?? he's lucky no-one was hurt!

[StewartM]

Originally Posted by Crazy LEDs

Booster packs are a thing of the devil and can fry ecu at the drop of a hat

Can you elaborate on this comment please and tell me why booster packs can do damage IF you follow the jump start procedures in your Owners Manual ?

I've heard stories of ECUs being fried when jump starting from another car, because procedures weren't followed.

Stewart.