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Wouldn't crank yesterday morning. Lights, indicators, accessories OK. No solenoid *click*, just switchoff of everything in KPIII like it's supposed to.
"Gr! Dead battery!", I think. Slipping alternator belts lately = poor charging = shoulda got those belts. Put the charger on it. VROOM. Starts right up after charging for an hour. Charger indicator showed low charge at hookup, so... OK.
Drove off. 15 minutes, no worries. Parked for an hour. Started right up. Drove 20 minutes. Parked for 10 minutes. NO CRANK, NO CLICK. Same as this morning. Got a jump - did *nothing else* - and it started right up. VROOM.
Drove to the place I got the battery. They tested it: Capacity 675CCA on a rated capacity of 550CCA. Seems odd, but they insist the battery's good.
They blame the starter solenoid. Grrrr.
OK, so I drive off. Now it's dusk. Ten minutes into operation, panel/head lights dim waaaaaay down and the radio cuts out intermittently. Seems to idle poorly. Babied her home....
In the driveway. Radio still cutting out. Turn signal dims the lights now and even slows engine idle.
Cleaned battery ground. No more dimming issue or radio cutout. Turn signal does not affect lights or idle.
H'ray!
Until........ I turn it off and try to restart. NO CRANK, NO CLICK. Just like the morning.
Connected the charger and touched *nothing else*. VROOM.
Intermittent internal battery short? I could blame the alternator for poor charging, but not for the no click issue. I mean, not even a hint of a click.
No wiggle in the ignition switch. I know that doesn't mean it's good...
No battery indicator on panel.
Just that allegedly good battery not being able to even drive the starter solenoid, then another power source cranking the car right up.
Ideas?
--
~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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UPDATE:
I have the cables but have not R&R. Time issues.
Ran the car today; ran great. Started in the "cold" (hey, it's FL. Some of you would laugh at what I think is Arctic) a bit slowly, but did.
But at night...
Started off with bright panel lights.
Ten minutes, though, with lights on in normal city operation and the panel started to dim. Inverter beeped indicating low voltage. Radio cutting out. Hmmmm. Dimmer and dimmer got the lights. Turned for home. Running rough when I hit the drive. Zero difference in light brightness with engine RPM. But no battery light on the panel.
Barely idling. Put the charger on and all lights came back to normal (of course). Took the charger off immediately and.... no difference! Weird. I would expect it to go right back to crappy.
So I'm thinking alternator. Of course, I'm going to clean all contacts and replace the cables, but it seems the battery just isn't getting charged at all. Would I not see the cluster battery light, though?
I wish this were my old Bus. Then I'd just unhook the battery and see if it kept running. Furshlugginer technology improvements.......
Hey, someone validate my alternator diag or tell me I'm full of it. :-)
--
~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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UPDATE:
Got the new ground cable installed. The one I got from my local partshaus was too short, so they got me a 48" cable which did the trick. Problem: the wire running to ground inside the fender was way too short and way too small gauge. So I got a 24" switch-to-starter cable and used that instead.
ALSO found that the positive cable's bolt was stripped! Must've happened with the last battery swap. The terminal was not tight on the post. Fixed that issue, too. Ran all day, some at night and no symptoms of poor charging.
This was deceptive. Corrosion hiding inside one terminal; the other looking good but being crappy...
So it's Art FTW again. Cables. Thanks!
Now it's off to the rough morning idle, which seems to be the IAC I replaced earlier this year with a used one.
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~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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Now it's off to the rough morning idle, which seems to be the IAC I replaced earlier this year with a used one.
Take heart in the notion your fuel computer's adaptive trim is wiped out (defaults restored) every time you lose battery, so the rough idle in the morning may smooth out some by afternoon and the next morning you don't have battery issues. Cross your finners.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake (Napoleon Bonaparte)
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Finners crossed and she seems to run much smoother this AM. Perhaps the power's been flaky for some time; all my lights are brighter, cranking is fast, and I don't think I'm imagining things, but performance seems better. Well now....
--
~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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"Barely idling. Put the charger on and all lights came back to normal (of course). Took the charger off immediately and.... no difference! Weird. I would expect it to go right back to crappy". graymatta
That episode points directly to the voltage regulator not supplying excitation voltage to the alternator field.
You said that the charge light goes out when the engine starts, so we know that the excitation voltage is there at the voltage regulator, but it apparently isn't getting to where it needs to be.
I still can't explain why there is no click or anything when you try to start the engine during one of your "no start" episodes.
steve
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Well, the alternator's original. 300K. Got a new one coming Monday, as I'm sure it will turn out to be worn similar to the blower motor I swapped over the summer.
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~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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Beware of the rebuilts. I would trust your original, fixed by you, or rebuilt at a local automotive electric shop, long before one resprayed unit from a chain auto parts store.
Yes, if your belts were loose, replacing the alternator WILL fix that. Who would install an alternator and leave the belts loose? However, nothing you've said in this thread points at the alternator, so in my own mind, doing this will just add another dimension to the unknown in your charging system. What happened to the plan to fix the battery cables? How are you doing using the dome light for diagnostics?
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
My wife really likes to make pottery, but to me it's just kiln time.
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Sounds like the voltage regulator is on the blink.
When you turn the ignition switch on, does the charge light illuminate?
If yes, does it go out immediately after the engine starts?
steve
PS...Does the temperature gage move up and down randomly?
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Yes.
Yes.
No.
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~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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Is anything disconnected recently behind your instrument cluster? When I put in a new stereo a few weeks ago, I left the speedometer cluster out for a day and was running the car to test the system. Discovered battery wouldn't charge and was being drained. Thought it was the alternator voltage regulator on the fritz. Evidently, the charge light / circuit in the instrument cluster has to be intact for the alternator charge circuit to work. I put the instrument cluster back in and buttoned everything back up and all returned to normal. It was a real surprise to me.
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I'd pull and clean all of the battery leads: the 2 on the battery; the starter, and both grounds. (I was tempted to preface this "to start," which would have been really funny, to me).
I have lots of electrical problems (multiple cars of my own, and friends; and cars that sit in my barns) and the cables (internal breaks) and contact ends are often a problem.
Also go through your fuse panel. If there's visible corrosion at the fuse ends, pull them all, clean, and rebend the spring clip.
--
240s: 2 drivers and some parts cars
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Connected the charger and touched *nothing else*. VROOM.
Your battery charger can't crank the car. It is your wiggling that is getting it going. If a battery post is loose in its case, the battery itself might be intermittent open, but that is usually caused by owner abuse, and the folks who check your 675CCA should have jumped right on that one.
Look inside your battery cable terminals, where the thick wire goes in. Corrosion? That's where troubles like this normally occur on 19-year-old automobiles.
Tip: When starting, keep the door open and observe the dome light. It makes a good system "voltmeter" which is active through all phases of the key switch.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
"It's deja vu all over again."
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Corrosion present, yes. Must be worse inside the terminal. Ordered both cables because it's time. Will advise - sick today with a mother of a bug.
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~graymatta '93 240, '92 940, (departed) '85 740 and a world of air-cooled VWs in my past
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IF you have the motherbug, Where is the father???
Goatman
Good luck with the Volvo
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