No start conditions are typically caused by fuel, timing or electrical problems and fairly easy to diagnose. Follow this Real Fix to see how a problem with the cylinder head on this Volvo caused this condition.
Vehicle
2005 Volvo S40 2.4L
Title
Engine stalls and doesn’t restart, remachined cylinder head.
Complaint
The customer states the engine stalls and does not restart.
Cause
Confirmed the customer’s complaint the engine stalled and did not restart. Used an inline spark tester on cylinder 1 spark plug #1, cranked the engine and found spark was present. Connected a fuel pressure gauge to the fuel rail using the appropriate adapter and found the specified 3.0 to 4.0 BAR fuel pressure was present when the engine was cranked. Removed the spark plugs, performed a compression test and found cylinder 1 at 80 PSI, cylinder 2 at 70 PSI, cylinder 3 at 30 PSI, cylinder 4 at 15 PSI and cylinder 5 at 20 PSI. Removed the timing belt cover and checked the timing belt and found no faults. Rotated the engine to top dead center to check the engine timing marks and found the engine was timed correctly. Removed the engine cylinder head for inspection and found no valve faults. Inspected the engine cylinder head gasket and found no faults. Used a straight edge and feeler gauge on the cylinder head from cylinder 1 to cylinder 5 and found the gap between the cylinder head and the straight edge specified 0.50 mm was out of specifications. Used the straight edge and feeler gauge to measure the transverse gap between the cylinder head and the straight edge specified 0.2 mm and found the measured gap was within specifications for all cylinders. The results of these tests verified the engine cylinder head was warped.
Correction
Remachined the engine cylinder head and verified the vehicle operated properly. The customer’s concern did not return.