V40 Not Starting

Hi

I have a 1998 V40. Went to start it today and as I turned the ignition key
all the dash lights came on as normal but when I turned to position 3 all
the lights on the dash went out and nothing happened. I have checked the
battery and all fuses and all are ok. All electrics that operate without
ignition (lighter, courtesy lights, clock etc.) work fine but there is
absolutely nothing happening when I try to start the car. Any help please?

Andy
Middlesbrough
UK

 

Sounds like a bad starter motor.

 

Manual or auto transmission? Sometimes on auto transmission if gearshift is
not fully in "P" then a switch may not allow car to start, but electrical
will go to dash.

 

Auto or manual? You in park?

Cheers
Hammo

 

It's manual

When I turn the key, nothing happens, no lights on dash or anything, as if
the key has not been turned. Could it be the ignition switch?

Andy

 

It could be the ignition switch, but it could be the battery (or battery
connections) as well. Often a dying battery (or failing connections)
will have enough juice to run everything but the starter motor -
energizing the starter will suck so much juice out of the battery that
there's nothing left for anything else.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Battery seems ok as do connections. The main thing concerning me is the fact
that nothing appears on the dash even when the key is only turned to the
first position, before ignition takes place

 

Andy B

Tend to agree with MF about possibility of a dying battery. If battery is
original to car it would be approx 6 years old now and nearing end of life.
One cell could be suspect which is enough to drop the voltage below that
required to activate the starter motor. Sometimes you may hear a clicking
noise from the starter solinoid when you turn the ignition key. Do you have
a second car you could borrow an alternative fully charged battery from?

Andy C.