Starting problems

[Ianandrew]

My V90 is just over a year old and recently I have had problems starting with my foot on the brake. Remote starting using the app is not a problem.
The battery has been fully charged after a long run and yet I kept turning the knob and stamping on the brake. I got out of the car and locked and unlocked it and tried again without success. Eventually it started!

Can anyone help?

[met24]

It's always fun trying to remember things after the fact, and if it's working now it's probably impossible to try to make it do it again! But can you remember if there were any odd messages on the dash? Did the dash appear to power up okay?

If I've left mine (2018 V90 T5) with the ignition on but the engine not running mode (hold the starter for 5 seconds or so without your foot on the brake) for a long period of time it goes into battery save mode and won't then do anything until you start the engine

[Philip Fisher]

This rings a bell. Someone else definitely had this problem and I am sure had a solution. Best to try a search of the forum...

[MikeGMT]

Originally Posted by Ianandrew

My V90 is just over a year old and recently I have had problems starting with my foot on the brake. Remote starting using the app is not a problem.
The battery has been fully charged after a long run and yet I kept turning the knob and stamping on the brake. I got out of the car and locked and unlocked it and tried again without success. Eventually it started!

Can anyone help?

What a coincidence. I had exactly the same fault 2 days ago. I did the same, locked car, unlocked car and nothing, then tried putting the key in the cup holder reader and still nothing. The effect was the same as if you gave a long twist on the knob to put the car into ignition position 2 to bring all the systems on line, all the dash came to life but not a murmour from the starter. Eventually the car started and was alright the rest of the day. At anytime no warnings were displayed. Next day it started without problem, went to do a click and collect, returned to car and the fault re-appeared, after a couple of tries it started. Today there has been no sign of the gremlin.

One thing I did notice is when it played up the brake pedal would be rock hard, where usually there is a bit of give as you press it to start.

Another coincidence, I had just downloaded the troublesome new map update, so wether that had anything to do with it or not I don't know, but until then there had been no problem.

[volvo s60 2001]

This is definitely down to the brake pedal (brake switch). The car thinks, that the brake pedal is not pressed and this is why it goes in position 2 ignition.

[met24]

I know on my V90 there is a little bit of pedal travel before the brake lights illuminate, so if it's the same microswitch and the pedal is firm, so it's not being pressed far enough, that would certainly explain it. Will have to give that a try next time I go out.

This reminds me of my Golf 3 auto with an intermittent microswitch on the brake pedal. You didn't need your foot on the brake to start, but you did to release the lock on the gear lever button to take it out of Park.

No problem, I thought. I'll push the gear lever button in before I start the car. No such luck, VW had thought of that, and pressing the button in isolated the starter motor. Sometimes you can overthink safety features!

Once I'd realised it was the microswitch that was iffy, I then wondered whether I'd been driving around with no/intermittent brake lights for a while. Cue a quick shuffle of bulbs in the back -- the near-side fog light socket was wired up but had no bulb in it, so I just transferred one brake light bulb, removed the other one, drove with headlights on and put my rear fogs on when braking.

[met24]

Originally Posted by MikeGMT

One thing I did notice is when it played up the brake pedal would be rock hard, where usually there is a bit of give as you press it to start.

Picking up on that point a bit more, is the pedal often hard to press when you start? Maybe if the car's been left a while since it was previously driven?

If you pump the pedal a few times with the engine off you'll release the vacuum that's built up by the power assist, which is why the pedal will be harder to press, but I can't say I've noticed the vacuum bleed off by itself on my car even if I've not driven it for a few days. (It's been a while since it's spent a week in an airport car park, but even after that length of time I don't think I've noticed the pedal being unusually firm.)

But on the assumption you're not doing that, if the vacuum is bleeding off by itself I wonder if there's a leak somewhere.

[Kenp8257]

Originally Posted by volvo s60 2001

This is definitely down to the brake pedal (brake switch). The car thinks, that the brake pedal is not pressed and this is why it goes in position 2 ignition.

I have a MY17 S90, and about a year back I had this very issue - brake pedal was almost solid!!!

Eventually it started, but it was happening quite often, then not.... then happening....

Trip to the dealer, he said no faults showing, but agrred the pedal was stiff - he 'adjusted' the pedal......

Been fine ever since......

[Kingston1]

I don't know if this helps but my V90 does this on occasion - the brake pedal is rock hard and the car won't start.

I read on another post that to overcome it you need to really press hard on the brake pedal to sort out the vacuum. Once the engine starts and the car is moving, the brake pedal is normal again (something to do with the vacuum but I'm not that technical!).

If it happens to me now, this is what I do and it always works - apparently it's not just Volvos this can affect!

I hope it sorts it out for you.

[MikeGMT]

Originally Posted by MikeGMT

One thing I did notice is when it played up the brake pedal would be rock hard, where usually there is a bit of give as you press it to start.

Originally Posted by met24

Picking up on that point a bit more, is the pedal often hard to press when you start? Maybe if the car's been left a while since it was previously driven?

If you pump the pedal a few times with the engine off you'll release the vacuum that's built up by the power assist, which is why the pedal will be harder to press, but I can't say I've noticed the vacuum bleed off by itself on my car even if I've not driven it for a few days. (It's been a while since it's spent a week in an airport car park, but even after that length of time I don't think I've noticed the pedal being unusually firm.)

But on the assumption you're not doing that, if the vacuum is bleeding off by itself I wonder if there's a leak somewhere.

Originally Posted by Kingston1

I don't know if this helps but my V90 does this on occasion - the brake pedal is rock hard and the car won't start.

I read on another post that to overcome it you need to really press hard on the brake pedal to sort out the vacuum. Once the engine starts and the car is moving, the brake pedal is normal again (something to do with the vacuum but I'm not that technical!).

If it happens to me now, this is what I do and it always works - apparently it's not just Volvos this can affect!

I hope it sorts it out for you.

Apart from those 2 days were the fault showed up intermittently everything seems to have returned to normal.

Out of curiosity I started the car today without any problem, then tried again but this time pumped the brake pedal to exhaust the vacuum, and as already mentioned it takes a really hard press to get the engine to start.

I think it will be a case of 'monitoring the situation,' and if it re-occurs a dealer visit will be on the cards after the holidays.