Scrap my Volvo? dilemma..what would you do?

[Waderider]

Short story - went to start my petrol 1.6 V40 today, turned over for a second, then starter stopped, loud ticking from the starter area, sounds like arcing. Each 'tick' extinguishes all dash bulbs etc. Waited until dark and tried again with a helper in the hope of seeing shorting. .Whilst trying this the symptoms have increased. Even with the key turned to the position it sits at for 'just driving along', there is ticking and all the dash lights flicking on and of. Any ideas how to proceed? 

 

Extra info - as above, plus - car has been up on axle stands for the last week awaiting arrival of shock and springs, £300 worth. I tried starting it just to give it a turn over as it is normally in daily use. Had the car eight years as my daily, well maintained, but currently needs cambelt and hence also aux belt and waterpump. 120,000 miles 53 plate. Exchange starter is another £100 quid. Car worth what, £600? Dilemma is that I am now unsure that it is just a starter problem so my parts costs are exceeding cars value.

 

Would you soldier on or move on? I think I could return the suspension bits for a refund once they arrive.

[Felly Magic]

Is the battery goosed?

[R9UKE]

At the risk of patronising - have you tried charging or changing the battery?

[twosmoke300]

Deffo sounds like a flat battery or bad earth to me

[DVee8]

Have you tried jump starting the car?

[Barry Cade]

all of the above.

[artdjones]

And who is charging £300 for a shock and spring?

[Waderider]

Battery 2 years old okay on multimeter.

 

£300 is for shocks springs and strut bearings both sides. Volvo original strut top bearing plates as last time I fitted pattern parts and one has failed after two years.

 

Can't jump start car up on axle stands. Was trying to turn it over as it has been on stands for a while - a week since I ordered suspension components, downside of living in the highlands. This last fact means I don't have scrapyards to utilise either.

[Stanky]

Secondhand starter should be cheap on ebay, I once got one for less than the cost of postage for a Mk2 Scirocco, so something common like this should show up plenty of results.

 

Charge or swap in a known-good battery then try it again, if it still just clicks move to shite-con 3 and try whacking the starter with a hammer a couple of times and see what it does - if it bursts into life (potentially after charging the battery) then the bendix is on its way out and is sticking, confirming the knackered starter synopsis. A secondhand one should be cheap and can;t be worse than than the Mk3 mondeo diesel starter I once changed for a mate in exchange for a cup of tea. That was a poor choice on my part.

 

cambelt and whatnot should run to about £200? Cheaper than the cost of going out and buying anything else as practical...

[Bren]

Sounds like the starter has had enough.

[Asimo]

What would I do? Charge the battery.

Multimeter won't tell you anything about battery condition unless you measure battery voltage whilst drawing a heavy current from the battery.

[billyboy406v6]

Scrap it and by a Mercedes Benz ( other makes of motor car are not suitable )

[dieselassist]

have you had the starter out, n bench tested it, via a battery or plugged in battery charger?? theres vids on you'tube about 'how to' do this...

 

...new parts from Volvo, seem well expensive given the age/resale value of these cars; €180 for a single headlamp, when my sister had one - needed for test...

 

GSF/Euro parts probably do the timing belt bits for small enough money... if you fall out of love with it completely, you could always just drive well beyond the next 'timing belt' interval in the hope it doesn't snap, with a lucky rabbits foot in the glovebox or something...

[HH-R]

Sounds like battery to me too, especially if it has been standing (even if just for a week!).

 

They seem to die in a working one day, broken the next way nowadays rather than giving lots of warning, though it might just need a charge.

[Waderider]

Battery it is, what a numpty!

 

Thinking about it, last and perhaps only time I had a flat battery was a Mini 1000 with a carb and points. Never really considered how a 'modern' car would act with a flat battery. Thanks for the responses

[Bear]

Sounds like an arcing live cable near the starter, plus a bad earth somewhere.

 

Also, ignition switch contacts.

[sierraman]

It's all well and good spending money on a starter but if it's wanting a load spending in near future belts etc I'd be tempted to bodge it up and move it on on gumtree.

[fordperv]

Export it to Scotland?

[AnthonyG]

I think it's already there.