Went to our Volvo club chapter picnic Saturday in my '71 142E. The car has been running great since it was discovered the cold start valve has been leaking and the car running too rich for a long time. That was corrected, and it hasn't missed a beat. I also put on a Bosch 'blue' coil and new performance wires.

So going home from the picnic, a fast 20-minute freeway drive, I'm almost home and the car starts sputtering. At a red light, I know why - the 'sounds of silence' from my fuel pump. I call my bride to come rescue me 'cause I gotta go to my Granddaughter's birthday party. Some bystanders offer to push me across the intersection. I notice the starter isn't working. Wow. Complete failure, except the emergency flashers are working, and the radio (?). The wire has come lose from the starter before. I'm going to re-engineer that someday.

So back from the party, I turn on the key and the fuel pump is working. The starter isn't, but I check and sure enough it's come lose. I hook it up (by feel...5 minutes) and drive off.

The only thing I can think happened is, the starter wire, when it came lose, touched the ground strap, which is right below it, and shorted-out most of my system. Pushing the car must have moved it off of the ground strap. Does that sound reasonable? Can't imagine why else about 1/2 the electrics would stop working, all the fuses were good.

The only other reason I can come up with is, I bought a '71 145S the other day, and the 142E (Bo) could be jealous and just did this for meaness.
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142E, 145S