S60 D3 not starting - please help!

[GrahamBrown1]

That is incredibly unlucky!! don't loose faith they are good cars!! I love mine, they are expensive and can be a headache at times but not very often at all but when there right there brilliant! I wouldn't have anything else

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Cozza

Hi folks,
My 2011 S60 D3, 33k on the clock and full history, decided to start playing up on Saturday by not starting. Other than taking 3 attempts to start on Friday (never done that before) it had been fine.
The AA guy had a look at it for about an hour, tried all of the fuses, plugged in diagnostics but found nothing. My car was then towed home.
I had a gut feeling that it might be related to fuel so changed the fuel filter. There was fuel sitting in the filter housing (now on the road - oops)! Unfortunately the car still won't start.
Last night I roped a couple of folk into helping me. We discovered that the fuel filter bowl was bone dry indicating that there's no fuel getting drawn from the tank. (The fuel gauge is showing about a quarter full).
So our thoughts are that the in-tank pump or control unit is goosed and we believe the tank has to be dropped to get at it - joy!
Does anybody have any experience of this or a wiring diagram for this area of the car?
All inputs/hints/tips/advice would be VERY gratefully received!

The tank fuel pump is fed by Fuse 13 in the CEM ( main computer with fuse box incorporated ) under the glovebox .. a yellow wire with orange stripe which goes all the way to the tank pump ... that might help ...

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

Does it start with Easy Start?

Using easy start is one of the worst things to do to a modern diesel. It can easily damage the head gasket and the valve guide oil seals.
If the engine does not instant start and the fuel filter is not sucking in air (Check the priming bulb is solid before starting), there should be an error code stored.
The Volvo Gods unfortunately have minds that can not be read with a non Volvo reader and software. There are a number of sensors that will cause a fail to start and it's going to take a long time to check if one of them is kaput.
MAF, fuel pressure, RPM, block temp, air intake temp, turbo boost control and e-throttle position, plus a few others are checked by the ECU before start, if one is well out of limits then nothing happens, if one is in error but not way off or can be compensated for, then the result is limp home mode.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by skyship007

Using easy start is one of the worst things to do to a modern diesel. It can easily damage the head gasket and the valve guide oil seals.
If the engine does not instant start and the fuel filter is not sucking in air (Check the priming bulb is solid before starting), there should be an error code stored.
The Volvo Gods unfortunately have minds that can not be read with a non Volvo reader and software. There are a number of sensors that will cause a fail to start and it's going to take a long time to check if one of them is kaput.
MAF, fuel pressure, RPM, block temp, air intake temp, turbo boost control and e-throttle position, plus a few others are checked by the ECU before start, if one is well out of limits then nothing happens, if one is in error but not way off or can be compensated for, then the result is limp home mode.

You're telling us that one squirt of Easy Start is going to cause long term damage? One squirt just to see if the car can start and then idle under it's own steam?
Also, you don't need Volvo only equipment to get data.
My Autel was invaluable with its live readings for MAF, MAP and FRP.

[KBB]

Easy start is used by technicians to help diagnose the problem. If a non starter attempts to start on starting fluid then you now focus your efforts on the fuel delivery side of the system.

Common rail is OBD2 diagnostic compliant and you do not need a dedicated Volvo dice unit. I own equipment which will read all Volvo codes and all sub systems with pass through programming capability.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

You're telling us that one squirt of Easy Start is going to cause long term damage? One squirt just to see if the car can start and then idle under it's own steam?
Also, you don't need Volvo only equipment to get data.
My Autel was invaluable with its live readings for MAF, MAP and FRP.

Yes, if you have an old high mileage diesel it can easily be the last straw for the HG or a valve guide oil seal. As far as I am aware it's not approved for use with any Volvo car, but might be listed for emergency cold starts. The other issue with starter fluids is that they vary a lot in contents terms between different brands.
If you really must resort to using starter fluid, the glow plugs must be disabled, otherwise you risk a badly time detonation that might damage the block in a more direct manner.

If you spray it through the MAF sensor and it turns out not to be the wrong type of pure alcohol (It's supposed to be Ether) or the spray is too concentrated it's not good news for the very sensitive elements.

Some code readers do work on older Volvo cars in particular, but most garages can't read the new ones, as it requires a much more expensive reader and a good laptop to run the software.

All you need do with these engines is read the instructions from Volvo.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

You're telling us that one squirt of Easy Start is going to cause long term damage? One squirt just to see if the car can start and then idle under it's own steam?

Originally Posted by skyship007

Yes, if you have an old high mileage diesel it can easily be the last straw for the HG or a valve guide oil seal.
If you really must result to using starter fluid, the glow plugs must be disabled, otherwise you risk a badly time detonation that might damage the block in a more direct manner.

@ skyship007

What are your views on removing the plugs on a petrol car and filling the holes with redex and also filling the carb?

I used to do that when I was a kid having just passed my test as I thought it was cool to create smoke screens.....

Never did any damage to the engine....!!!!!! ( although probably a lot to the atmosphere...lol..!!)

Regards

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

@ skyship007

What are your views on removing the plugs on a petrol car and filling the holes with redex and also filling the carb?

I used to do that when I was a kid having just passed my test as I thought it was cool to create smoke screens.....

Never did any damage to the engine....!!!!!! ( although probably a lot to the atmosphere...lol..!!)

Regards

Starter fluid causes less damage when used with a petrol engine, as it goes bang when it's supposed to. Not sure about priming a carb with anything special, as it sounds like a fire risk to me.
If you use too much starter spray into the intake and it backfires, the air filter unit can explode.

[Backhill1]

Modern Easy start is full of lubricant etc. however can create excessive cylinder temperatures and detonation if over used resulting in all sorts of damage, yet professionally and controlled use is a standard option in low ambient countries with no detrimental effects.

In an automotive application I would never use it other than as a quick confirmation of compression, If it has fuel and air and the symptoms point to cylinder wear and if you can get her to fire happy days then it’s an overhaul ASAP.

To endorse it as a drive way solution to a hard starting without checking it has fuel would not be a recommended course of action, this is when the most damage is done where unexperienced users spray so much in they actually have the engine running on either and no fuel resulting in probably between 50- 60K (mileage) worth of wear on the cylinder components in one go, repeat over a few days and the engine will be a pup.

For this age of vehicle and mileage where compression is not a likely cause Either is not the way to go. Also im sure warranty or good will form Volvo is an option.

Im not sure how far Volvo go with investigation of failed engines but Either use is easily identifiable in failure analysis on close inspection of piston rings and burning patterns of the crowns / under crowns. Not to mention it sticks out like a sore thumb on lube oil analysis (approx. £15 cost to dealer).

As stated already for your application follow a proper investigation on fuel and air or go to the dealer, but on this occasion DO NOT USE EASY START!
It will prove nothing without a proper diagnosis.

I like this forum and most advise has been good and appreciated but recommendations like this could cost members thousands of pounds and result in permanent engine damage.

In the old indirect injection diesels with glow plugs this solution had more merit and I appreciate that a lot of members have cut their teeth on experience but modern direct injection common rail engines are a different beast resulting in ECM’s preventing fuel delivery because of for example CLAN says a Fuse.

[skyship007]

If you have to use a modern diesel Volvo in a very cold country, like Canada or Siberia, cold starting is a non issue if you have the correct engine oil, fuel and a good battery.
Liqui Moly Synthoil 5/40 has a pour point of minus 45c and I think Castrol Edge 0/30 is similar. Pour points and viscosity are similar, but the true group 4 German standard full synthetics are slightly better.

Starting a modern diesel within 10c of the PP is perfectly OK in engine wear terms, if you start below that temp the oil pressure relief valve built into the oil filter stays open for a long time and the oil will have real trouble flowing around the block. The combination of those two factors will increase the cold start factor factors.

The issue in cold start terms becomes the temperature at which the diesel gells if you foget to use a good fuel additive. In the EU that varies between minus 15c for cheap diesel in the UK to minus 24c in northern EU countries. I'm not sure what the gel point of Canadian winter diesel is, although most Volvo owners there have a pre heat system and some also have a heated fuel filter unit (The fuel filter collects the wax, so you can get away with starting slightly below the gell point if it is a heated unit).
Artic diesel available from Skandi countries has a PP of minus 32c and the worst diesel is normal Bio, which might only be good for minus 5c, although it's often sold as a 50/50 mix.

I started my V40 a few years ago in minus 25c when it still had a 10 year old OEM battery. It started first go after a slightly longer pre heat period and it was hard to tell the difference to a normal cold start.

If you do have to head North in winter, it's worth checking the glow plugs are all good (The resistance should be only one or two ohms, so it's easy to find a duff one, as it will be several K ohms).