Dear Fellow Brickboarders,

Hope you're well. No start. Two days ago, smooth starts.

Now, not even a click or a "groan" from the starter

All bottom-of-cluster lights glow brightly. Key turns as smoothly as usual to the start position.

I can only move the shift lever by pressing the release button. Even then, no start when in neutral.

Three possibilities: (a) ignition switch; (b) neutral safety switch; (c) starter motor.

The battery read 12.83 volts; after a minute-long 200-Amp boost, the digital V-O-M reading was 13.08 volts. I tried to start during the 200-Amp boost. No change. I conclude the battery is serviceable.

Should I conclude the starter has "retired"? I ask, in the hope someone has seen the exact same symptoms, so can enable me to leap-frog the step-by-step analysis set forth in the FAQs.

The car lived in central Florida (away from the coasts) for some seven years before heading north. Since then, it has been garaged and driven only in salt-free seasons. Thus, I doubt corrosion on electrical connections is an issue. Even so, I last cleaned the battery terminals and clamps about two years ago.

I have handy a rebuilt-but-new starter. As much as I don't want to have to tackle the top starter bolt, I think I prefer that to the neutral safety switch.

Thanks for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Dear Fellow Brickboarders,

Hope you're well. The culprit: the neutral safety switch (NSS; Volvo #9130295, no longer available).

Please note that 1994-95 940s require a different NSS than do 1993 and older 940s. This is due to a change in wiring harness and connector format, not any change in the NSS itself.

The wiring harness on a 1993 NSS is too short to reach the car's connector on a '94 or '95 model. That connector is behind the kick panel, on the console side of the passenger's footwell. It is not needful to remove the panel. Two screws - that secure the kick panel - must be removed, at the front end of the emergency brake console. Then, the carpet in the passenger's footwell needs to be pulled from under the bottom edge of the kick panel.

That exposes a small piece of cardboard, which protects the wiring against chafing. Remove this piece of cardboard. If it is too torn to replace, any lightweight solid (non-corrugated) cardboard will suffice. Removing the protective cardboard exposes an air duct (black plastic) and allows access to the NSS wiring connector, which is forward of the air duct.

To get clearance behind the air duct for removal and replacement of the NSS wiring harness, I used a carpenter's pry-bar to lever the duct towards the passenger door. The duct has about 1/2" of "give", which is all that's needed.

I used short length of coat hanger wire (with a loop at one end) to pull seine twine behind the air duct towards the shifter. I then looped the seine twine through the "ears" on the new NSS connector. The pull is about six inches, so there's little stress on the connector. Even so, go gently!

The '94-'95 NSS connector has three additional wires - unrelated to the NSS - which three wires have to be switched from the failed NSS' connector to the replacement NSS connector. I used a jeweler's screwdrive - flat blade, 1/16" - to free each of the three wires from the failed NSS connector housing.

All this said, if the only NSS you can find is for a '93 or earlier model, do not despiar. The harness from a failed '94 or '95 NSS can be transferred to the '93 NSS. The harness wires are soldered to contacts on the NSS, so it is a few minutes work to do this swap.

I will rehab the failed NSS, on the off-chance that I need it "down the road".

I truly appreciate all of the diagnostic help, especially Dave Steven's step-by-step guidance!!

I hope these comments are helpful and will be happy to answer any questions.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Thanks for posting this. I guess my question is, is this a random failure, or is this a wear item that should be replaced preventatively? In your case it appears to have failed with no warning.

Do others have experience with these failing at a certain point?

Thanks.

For a 25+ year old 940, I would hazard a guess the odds of the original neutral safety switch failing within the next 12 months is in the order of one in 20+ cars, so like less than 5%. Although it is a wear item, on that basis I would not proactively replace. There is also the risk of creating more problems in the process such as breaking a plastic mounting pin, breaking one of the tabs holding the shifter surround bezel, breaking a wire that will require fussy re-soldering or breaking an end off the plastic shift indicator blind. At the first hint of intermittent problems likely attributable to the NSS, whether you can properly diagnose it or not at that stage, it might be prudent to proactively remove and open it up for inspection and cleaning as a defense against Murphy's Law as that is often all that is required to extend the life of a failing switch. At that stage, a lot would depend on whether or not I could live without the car for a few days in the event of an unexpected failure while I deal with the problem. I also prefer to keep Murphy busy trying to annoy me with little things like the NSS rather than having everything in perfect order so he won't have to resort to something like a blown head gasket to really piss me off.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Glad you nailed it, Jay. Also glad you posted the correct part number and noted it's currently unavailable. The part numbers I posted were taken from a genuine Volvo parts site that incorrectly overlapped the fitments. See if I can properly re-summarize them here for the sake of future reference, subject of course to someone coming along with further information:

Neutral Safety Switch (a.k.a. Start Inhibitor Switch, Shift Selector Position Switch, Park-Neutral-Reverse Switch, PNP Switch)
for 1985-on 700/900 with AW70/71/72 or ZF22 auto trans shifter assemblies

p/n 9130295 for 1994-on 940/960, 1997-on S90/V90
-no longer available (except as old stock)
-same as 3544164, but with longer wires and different connector, use original connector (easy solder job)

p/n 3544164 for 1991-1993 740/780/940/940SE/960

p/n 1363580 for 1985-1990 740, 1988-1990 760/780
-has a very similar switch body and connector to 3544164, but slightly different mounting

KAE (Kaehler) appears to be the OE supplier and uses the same part numbers in the aftermarket.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Dear Dave,

Hope you're well. I'd change only one section: "-3544164 ... (easy solder job)."

This might read, -same as 3544164, but with longer wires and a different connector, so re-use the factory-original harness and connector from your car. This is an easy solder job: use a soldering iron to detach the brand new - but too short - "harness" from the new switch and install the wiring harness from your car. This is best done one wire at a time. Or, take a photo of the failed switch, before you detach any wires from it and use that photo to make sure that the longer harness is property soldered to the new switch.

Again, thanks for your help with the diagnostics!!!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

The site malfunctions. When I try to cut-and-past plain text into a post, I get an error message.

Dear Fellow Brickboarders,

Hope you're well. When I try to cut-and-paste plain text into this box, I get the following error message:

403 ERROR
The request could not be satisfied.
Request blocked. We can't connect to the server for this app or website at this time. There might be too much traffic or a configuration error. Try again later, or contact the app or website owner.
If you provide content to customers through CloudFront, you can find steps to troubleshoot and help prevent this error by reviewing the CloudFront documentation.

Generated by cloudfront (CloudFront)
Request ID: naIP5JQEXLZbY5NrORZ76CQWd4rp-ri-1YehhhTevv2DiPndHzowsQ==

Can anyone trouble-shoot this?

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Haven't had any problems and I've been doing it a fair bit in the past few days while editing my long posts. The following is a simple copy and paste

"Hope you're well. When I try to cut-and-paste plain text into this box, I get the following error message:"

So seems to work for me. Hopefully just a temporary error while Jarrod is playing around with the new server setup and appropriate data limits. Working great so far and broken features are promptly getting fixed. Can't wait to see what new features he has in store for us. Jarrod now getting back into the world of brick ownership is obviously a motivating factor -laugh.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Hi Spooky Jay. Been down the starter problem road for one reason or another a number of times in the past year with my '95 940s. I'm finding it interesting that you didn't mention having some kind of intermittent starter problems, as is so often the case. Has wiggling the shifter ever made a difference? -if so, of course suspect the neutral safety switch. Has turning the key back and forth a number of times ever made a difference? -if so and the starter solenoid has been heard clicking then it’s possibly a dead spot on the starter motor, if the starter solenoid has not been heard clicking then it could be a bad ignition switch or a sticky solenoid. Has turning the key extra hard sometimes been needed? -if so, then a worn ignition switch.

To add to the advice you've already been given, I'd begin my diagnosis at the open remote starter switch connector (pink wire) located at the driver's side fender. The NSS lives in circuit between it and the starter solenoid terminal (blue-green wire) on the starter. The ignition switch lives between it and battery +12V. This makes it a good diagnostic point as well as a useful remote start location, plus you don't have to start by getting your hands dirty or taking things apart.

I'm sure you already know a lot of this, but in my usual style I'll go into detail for the sake of others later finding this thread and to perhaps offer a few extra tips for you along the way based on my experience.

1) Momentarily apply 12 volts to the remote starter connector -it's not high current, so don't worry about needing extra heavy gauge wire to connect to the battery.

If the starter now kicks into action (or at least now clicks and didn't before) then the problem is almost certainly the ignition switch. You can confirm that by holding the key in the crank position (KP-III) and see if you get +12V at that remote starter connector, if not then that confirms a bad switch. Worn ignition switches usually start misbehaving with intermittent problems, such as having to wiggle the key, turn it extra hard to operate the starter or having the lights blink or the engine cough/die while running when you wiggle the key. I had one go like that recently and had to replace it -premature wear possibly due to often heavier multi-key chains. Rather than working blind from below, best done from above removing the instrument cluster for easy access to that otherwise miserably buried top screw -have a light and mirror handy to more easily see what you're doing. The aftermarket switch I got looks exactly like the genuine Volvo except for the markings.

Now if nothing happens when you apply 12 volts at the remote start connector then it's now likely either the NSS or the starter motor/solenoid.

2) Fastest way to diagnose the starter is to do as is normally suggested, just short the red +12V battery terminal on the starter to the starter solenoid terminal next to it using a screwdriver, jumper wire or whatever. This requires bending over and getting my hands dirty, possibly putting a pit mark in a screwdriver making it look like I slipped again in an electrical breaker panel, so that's why I often prefer to delay this simple test. If still nothing happens then don't forget to verify that 12V is indeed getting to the starter before declaring it a bad starter. Starter problems often begin intermittently with either a sticky solenoid or a dead spot on the starter windings. Solidly tapping a few times on the starter solenoid and/or motor casing with a stout rod, solid stick or hammer will often jar things enough to allow cranking, further confirming where the problem is. I often start packing a length of 2x2 as well as making sure my jumper cables are handy at the first hint of failing to crank properly. The top starter nut is a bit of a bear to get at and loosen, needing good access for leverage from below and above, so best done on a hoist. This is one occasion when I was more than happy to let a mechanic do it and put in a used one from their yard. Volvo starters are pretty reliable, so I have no problem going with a decent looking used one rather than having mine rebuilt at a local starter/alternator shop or ordering in a reman starter.

3) To better diagnose the NSS, connect an ohmmeter between the remote starter connection (pink wire) and the starter solenoid terminal (blue-green wire) with the meter visible from inside the car. Move the shift selector in and out of the Park position to see if you're getting continuity. Wiggle the shifter in the park position to see if it's intermittent. Remove and replace or open/clean the NSS as needed. The NSS is indeed a bit of a nuisance job, but at least there's minimal time required on your back under the car in bad weather. As you may well know, the NSS is mounted using star-lock push clip washers on two long and mildly breakable plastic studs. By working carefully, I've always been able to get the clips off without breaking the studs. I start by notably bending up two or three of the little tabs in the middle using a sharp pointed awl. It's then easy to lift up one edge and carefully keep working around under the clip with a tiny screwdriver or pointy tool to twist it up and off the plastic stud. I don't care if I break the little tabs in the middle of the clip when I bend them up as I'm not going to re-use them. I prefer to use a common acorn nut (bulk fastener bins at many hardware stores), 5/32" or 3/16", I can't remember. I just let it self tap onto the plastic stud using a nut driver to hold it square, gently snugging it up enough to solidly hold the switch so as not to strip the plastic. Next time, and there will be a next time, it won't be so fiddly.

Also, while you've got the NSS out, it's a great opportunity to replace any dead bulb or replace that all too often broken black plastic shift indicator blind (p/n 3549927, available from FCPEuro and others, don't loose the little square white insert!!). If you break a plastic stud, drill a small pilot hole in the plastic shifter housing and use a long sheet metal screw, grinding the tip down a bit if needed.

BTW, speaking about the NSS and shifter assemblies, for the later 940 shifter assemblies with the sometimes trouble prone shift lock solenoid and microswitch where you can't get the lever out of Park, the microswitch on the other side of the shifter assembly is similarly mounted on even thinner plastic studs with a (single) star-lock clip. One of mine actually worked its way loose on its own and started giving trouble, to the point the switch got bent up -fortunately I was able to successfully straighten it. I likewise use acorn nuts on those plastic studs -1/8" as I recall. On another occasion I found a broken plastic pin for the microswitch, replacing it with a long, thin screw and another occasion I lost or broke the clip and, not having an acorn nut handy I just melted the ends of the pins to hold the switch in place. [I'm currently fighting for the third time with a troublesome shift lock solenoid in one of our 940s, just about ready to bypass it completely -grrr.]

--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Dear Dave,

Hope you're well. I omitted a symptom: mea culpa. When I turn the key to KPII (Cluster warning lights glow brightly) and fully-depress the brake pedal, I cannot move the shift lever out of "Park". While I can depress the "unlock" button and move the shifter to neutral, there's still "no start".

These symptoms suggest the Neutral Start Switch (NSS) definitely has failed. Do you agree? If so, I'll confirm via the test: check continuity between under-hood pink wire terminal (blue connector housing) and the blue-green wire on the starter solenoid.

Thanks again for your excellent analysis!!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hey Spooky Jay,

Seems you've got two separate issues going on there, possibly in the same area, but not necessarily.

o The first is the starter circuit going from the ignition switch through the Park/Neutral circuit of the neutral safety (gear selector position) switch and to the starter solenoid. If you've never had to touch the NSS before then it may well be the problem after all these years. The grease gets dry and cakes up with dirt to the point good contact may be lost, but it could also be worn internal contacts or broken connector wires. Of course it could still be a worn ignition switch or bad starter solenoid/motor, so further diagnosis is warranted to narrow it down before getting too worried about having to open up the tunnel area and lift the shifter assembly for needed access (definite PITA job). If it is the NSS switch (p/n 3544164), I and others have had good success just prying them open, cleaning up the contact area and lightly re-lubing with silicone dielectric grease. If the internal plastic slide is badly worn or somehow broken then it may not be able to stay in proper orientation as you run through the shifter positions. You said you have a replacement NSS, but I'll mention for the sake of others there is a similar one used in some 740s (p/n 1363580) that has what appears to be the very same switch body, just a different wiring connector -I think I saw a post somewhere saying you can simply solder on your existing connector if needed.

o Second is the shift lever Park release solenoid mechanism not working. That involves the ignition switch (in KP-II) feeding through the brake pedal switch (a double pole switch, other side is brake lights) and to the park release solenoid (buried down deep on front right side of shifter assembly). The solenoid has to be able to retract about 1/4" in order to let the shifter come out of the Park position. To make life a little more interesting for later 940/960 owners, they added a little microswitch on the right side of the shifter assembly just above the solenoid so the solenoid is only energized when in the Park position rather than every time you touch the brake pedal (as was apparently the case in earlier models?, couldn't find a factory manual to verify this, hmmm?). There have been many reports of problems with these microswitches, beginning with an early recall around 1996, so that could well be it (only problem I've experienced is the switch working its way loose on the mounting pins). However, if you're lucky (as I was in one case recently) it's the brake pedal switch which is much simpler and cheaper to deal with than the microswitch. You can verify a bad brake switch by jumpering pins 3&4 (brown and brown-white wires) at the brake switch connector (you can try poking in a jumper from the back side, but better to open up the connector and jumper between connector pins) to see if the Park solenoid will now release (ignition in KP-II). If it is the brake switch (which in the later 940s is a black plastic box snap-in housing different from the barrel shaped one used in earlier 940s and 740s), please post back for additional info on dealing with that stubborn push clip mounting (another unnecessarily PITA area) and proper adjustment. If it's not the brake switch (and you can verify power there, check fuse #9) then you'll need to move your attention to the shifter assembly. It could be a loose/broken/worn/bent/grungy microswitch (p/n 9466030). You may or may not be able to resurrect it. Rather than spending $30 or so for a new one from Volvo, I'm sure with a bit of effort you could find a suitable generic microswitch from an electronics supply house for a few dollars, although you may have to epoxy it in place. If you're desparate, you could simply bypass the microswitch altogether at the risk of making the little solenoid operate a lot more. It could also be a failed or grungy Park solenoid. I imagine there could be a stuck coin or whatever down there blocking the mechanism, but given you can still use the release lever then I wouldn't bet on it. So far I have not had a bad solenoid nor have I found a lot of buried grunge that might block its operation, but I may well be faced with one at this very moment as I'm having, yet again, an intermittent Park release problem first thing on cold mornings -I am not in any hurry to take apart that shifter assembly yet again.

Wishing you good luck. Post back to let us know how you make out.

--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Dear Dave,

Hope you're well. Thank you for the step-by-step diagnostics! On this car, I've had no ignition process issues - e.g., intermittancy - so no need to wiggle the key or shifter handle, apply extra pressure to the key, etc.

By contrast, on a '93 940, ignition switch failure caused total loss of power: not even the emergency blinkers worked. The Neutral Safety Switch (NSS) failure required me to use the release button, to bypass it. I replaced the NSS with a new one, not wanting to re-assemble, only to find that a cleaning had not worked.

Thanks for the idea to use acorn nuts to replace the star washers that secure the NSS and micro-switch. I bought replacement star washers from Volvo.

I'll follow your diagnostic road-map and report. I have handy replacement NSS, ignition switch, and a starter (rebuilt but new).

Thanks again!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

I have the same non turbo wagon,,take the shifter apart & clean the NSS,,THAT s the problem,

Check the small wire to the starter solenoid for 12 volt while someone turns the key. You might just need to clean it's connector.

Dear Spook,

I suspect its the starter. It could be "tired" after all these years (not retired...hehe). This happens occasionally to me. The usual symptoms are no start with strong battery irrespective of Park or Neutral.

With ignition at KP 0 (off) go to the engine and wake up the starter by shorting its batt and solenoid terminals I usually use a short screwdriver. Once the starter "wakes up" you could go back into the car and start as usual.

Amarin.

Dear Amarin,

Hope you're well. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll try it so soon as the weather improves a bit. If the starter "revives", I'll replace it. After 25 years, the factory-original owes me not even a penny!

I hope the starter spins when I connect the two terminals. That will instruct me that I need to replace the starter, rather than having to swap-out the shifter because the neutral safelty switch has failed.

Thanks again for the pointer!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

I would say you are being a bit hasty in condemning the starter without at least putting a test light on the solenoid terminal which actuates the starter. No signal? problem somewhere else. -- Dave

Dear Volvo from Heck,

Hope you're well. Thanks for your comment. You're right!! But : as adverse weather nears, I hope someone - who has seen the exact same symptoms - can spare me the step-by-step analysis set forth in the FAQs.

I've handy a spare starter: rebuilt, but-new. Even with the hard-to-access top bolt, I'd prefer to tackle that, than to replace the neutral safety switch. Been there, done that ...

Thanks again!

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Dear Spook,

Just for the heck of it, give that sumbitch a few whacks, then try to start it.

Marty in Chicago