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Any ideas? 200

Anyone have any ideas re: starting running problems?

1990 240 sedan, auto, 170K.

It was very wet with moderate temperatures (45F) today following 2 weeks of typical NE temperatures (20-30F). Today, the car had a lot of trouble starting. it would cough and try to catch but it would not fully start. After several tries while keeping the starter engaged, it finally caught. After about 1/2 mile it quit and was even more difficult to start. The car finally ran but lacked power. I put the car in the garage for about 3 hrs. then it started and ran fine. The plug wires, dist. cap, and plugs are about 7K old. The inside of the dist. cap looks fine. What should I try next to avoid this besides moving south?

TIA.








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    I was using one daughter's '91 Christmas eve after having it the weekend before for a tank pump replacement. We were overnight at another daughter's. I noticed it didn't start quickly in the icy mist Christmas morning, but once going got us home with no further indications of trouble.

    Once home, I decided to check the log book to see when I last put wires or plugs in. Turned out never. Log book spans 154K to 251K. I pulled out the wires (Volvo) and cap and ran them through the dishwasher cycle a la Don Foster, while replacing Volvo brand (not mine!) plugs with NGK copper. The gaps were kinda embarrassing. I couldn't see any tracks on the cap.

    Finished the cheap-out "tune-up" just as the rain started to get heavy. Once it got dark, I looked under the hood for any hints of St. Kettering's fire (arcing over the secondary ignition wiring) without seeing any.

    Next morning, still raining, it started first crank, so I'll continue my habit of stretching the life of parts until a symptom returns.

    If yours fails to act up until the weather turns, try watching under the hood in the dark. Also affected by weather, but not so obviously, is any corrosion around that 25A blade fuse wiring your 1990 has.
    --
    Art Benstein near Baltimore

    The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.



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    Are the wires quality ie bougicord or bosch? I had this problem once and it turned out to be cheap wires. Never surfaced again after I switched to these brands. You pay a premium but it's worth it.



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      I checked all of the ignition wires carefully and found evidence of arcing (white areas). I've ordered a set of bougicord wires.

      Thanks.



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        Have a look at the shielded cable to the crank position sensor (cps). Sensor is located on back of block in a flimsy bracket, up high near head gasket edge. It reads the flywheel rim. Cable goes to the upper firewall area where it meets a connector.

        Failure of the cps causes intermittent hard starting/no-start, followed by permanent no-start.

        Look it up in the 700-900 FAQ under engine sensors. The information there is pretty good. http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/EngineSensors.htm

        The easiest thing to check is the color of the label on the wire where it runs along the firewall upper edge. The original labels were yellow, the replacements seem to all have white ones. If yours is the original yellow label I'd replace it regardless of symptoms, tests, or condition of the shielded cable. Most of the yellow label ones have by now gone the way of all flesh and I'd expect any remaining ones to fizz out pretty soon.
        --
        Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, expanded air dam, forward belly pan reaches oem belly pan, airbox heater upgraded, E-fan, 205/65-15 at 50 psi, IPD sways, no a/c-p/s belt, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, aero front face, quad horns, tach, small clock.



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    try to put the car into an area (garage) free of moisture and if you can apply some heat like a propane construction heater to really dryout the moisture in the engine. this will confirm easily if this is a moisture issue or not. it sounds like it is.

    it is entirely possible the relevant engines parts developed enough condensation inside them from the abrupt change of freezing temps to 40's with moisture to cause droplets inside starting spark connections like cap, wires and connectors.

    a can of wd40 liberally sprayed into the these areas and onto th3ese areas might help as well.



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    Appears to be very lean mixture.

    Look for air leaking into the intake side behind the AMM. Check the plastic pipe i.e. loose clamps or a hole in the folds of the pipe.


    Check all your hoses for cracks and looseness. Especially on the under side of the hoses at the connection, they like to hide there too.

    Phil



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