Yesturday i got in a very minor front bumper to the other cars back bumper accident. I only got a very minor dent on the front of my bumper about the size of a dime. My car continued to run immediatly after the bump. I pulled over and exchanged information with the other driver. While exchanging information my girlfriend turned off my car. When i got back in to start up and drive off i turned the key to the starting position all the dash lights came on fine but when i try and turn the engine over all i got was a little click. I made sure all of the wires were connected to the starter and the battery. Still when i try to turn it over nothing happens. Later that evening i had my friend come over and look at it. After checking the connections he used a screwdriver on my starter to spark a connection and with my key turned to the on position it started. Again this is with just having the key turned to the on position and using a screwdriver to spark a connection. As far as i know and have checked all the fuses are still good and everything works except for turning the key doesn't turn the engine over. At this point i dont really know what to look at. I think it has something to do with the ignition signaling the starter but i dont konw where to start and i currently dont have any money to take it into a shop. Any sort of imput would be nice. Thanks Brittany.

The click you here is probably the solenoid trying to engage the starter motor. When that happens, it is supposed to close a connection to provide juice to the starter, but in your case, that apparently isn't happening. I had a similar problem on our '83, and found that when I tightened down the post on the solenoid where the battery cable connects, the starter wouldn't work, but if I tightened the cable without first tightening the post, it would work. So you might just want to fiddle a bit with that connection, but DO disconnect the battery first!
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'81 GLT 245 W/245K; '83 DL 175K

What your friend did was bypass the "start" position of the ignition switch by connecting battery power directly to the starter solenoid. The "solenoid" is just an electrical switch. Normally your ignition switch would send a bit of current along a Yellow/Blue (or is it Yellow/Red?) wire to that solenoid, and it then activates, connecting the large blue battery cable to the starter itself. That cranks the engine. Your friend's screwdriver just substituted for the ignition switch and Y/B wire.

If he knew how to do that, he may be able to troubleshoot further. The Y/B wire comes from the ignition switch through the firewall into the engine compartment. It's very unlikely there's anything wrong up to here. In the engine compartment it immediately goes into (and continues out of) a large Gray plastic connector, high up on the firewall above where your feet would be, with about 4 other wires. From there on, the wires of your year of 240 are infamous for crumbling insulation.

Check that wire. Unfortunately, if it's in poor shape, so probably are others and future electrical problems are possible. I was able to buy a good condition, used wiring harness for our 83. But fixing the Y/B should get you going for now.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F, dtr's 83-244DL B23F, 'my' 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, hobbycar 77 MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

The "start" wire that comes out of the ignition switch is solid Blue. According to my diagrams, it goes into the engine compartment, enters the Gray connector block and exits the other side as a Blue/Yellow which goes down to the starter solenoid.

If you have an automatic, there is a switch that prevents the starter from operating unless the trans is in Park or Neutral. Could be that switch is bad.

Up on the firewall near the Gray connector is a Blue wire which ends in a plastic female spade connector. (It may have a short red sleeve at the end, but inside is the Blue wire). This is a remote starter point...if you connect a wire from the battery's + post to this wire, the engine should crank. It will do this with the ignition off. Make sure you are in Park or Neutral. If it cranks, there's nothing wrong with the starter or solenoid or the B/Y wire. If it doesn't, suspect starter solenoid problems or poor connection of the Blue/Yellow wire to the solenoid, or broken B/Y wire, or the trans switch.

Wish it was less complicated, but unless you get lucky, it will probably need a bit of auto electric knowhow, and a little test meter to trace around the starting circuit and see where the break in the path has occurred.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F, dtr's 83-244DL B23F, 'my' 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, hobbycar 77 MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

Check to see if your battery connections are super clean, I had a very similar problem (although I wasn't in an accident though) where I would turn the key and the lights would come on and everything would seem fine until I turned the key to start it and the car would go dead, I thought I had some major problem (like you're thinking) and it turned out to be a simple matter of cleaning the battery connections to the point where they are shiny. I used an exacto blade and actually scraped them clean, since then no problems. I am wondering if in the accident you perhaps jogged the battery connections to a point where they don't have a good connection.
Let me know if that helped.

Hello,

It would be handy to know exaclty how he was able to 'spark' a connection. From which wire to another? I think your minor prang may have only been co-incidental to the starter not working.

My suggestion would be to make sure the battery to starter wire has a good connection at the starter. Make sure you disconnect the battery before you start fudging with that.
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Happy Bricking!!! - Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Volvo's are alive and well in Brampton!!!