Ignition module seems to be failing. Car had Chrysler ignition distributor I replaced it with a Bosch distributor but I did not change the ignition module. From my reading it seems like the Bosch and Chrysler ignition modules are different. Am I correct in this? I did the distributor change several years ago and never had a problem until yesterday the car would not start for quite a while and my strobe light showed the time in Marc dancing all over the place. Any help is greatly appreciated.

went to junkyard anf got '87 245 bosch distributor. plug socket for plug was broken and reluctor bent. ended up using it for a core for rebuilt unit ....004. parts for the old 003 or even a rebuilt unit were not available anymore. Read somewhere that the 004 will not fit, yes it surely does. car fired up on first try but had to remove unit a few times to get where i could retard or advance without running out of room on the hold down part of the unit. SO shop was wrong and brain is good, hall effect broken at the shop appears to be the problem. So $400.00 for a rebuilt 004 has got the car running again. Will take a long ride tomorrow to check it out better than the short trip this evening.

Hi,

How is the timing belt?

You may have lost it to looseness and the teeth jump the sprockets!

Phil

Just got it out of the shop to days ago after having the timing belt replaced. It was running like a top and only got the belt replaced because it had 50,000 miles on it so I did it to be on the safe side. After getting it out of the shop is when all the starting and timing problems began. Took it back to the shop today He messed with it for a couple of hours and said the ignition module is going bad in his opinion. He cleaned all the pins and said it seems to be running fine now which it is. But I started researching modules to see if I can find a rebuilt one and in the process of reading about the modules it sounds like the Chrysler distributor takes a different module than the barge distributor that I put in probably eight or nine years ago.

hi henry- curious what was the clip on the timing belt job? mine ok in 92 245. was replaced by PO in 2011 30k ago. understand volvo calls for replacement every 60k? asked an indy here who wanted $600 and dealer who wanted $1000. figure those are shyster rates. probably will do it myself. btw those chrysler modules are pretty durable. had a number of slant six dodges in the 70s and 80s and none of them ever crapped. luckily the 240 4 cyl engine is non interference and has dished pistons so it wont blow to hell if the belt breaks or skips a few sprocket teeth, although it will run like hell. regards oldduke

$1200 and change for belt, tensioner, water pump. No charge for yesterdays time spent trying to figure out why it would not start and timing was all over the place, loss of power.

hi wagles- see what i mean by ripoffs, clip joints and shysters. so the mechanics did not correct the problem because its just a coincidence? regards oldduke

heading out to the car in a bit with my TP30432/4 green book to see what i can do. Friend recommended an independent shop that has high ratings in ventura but they are closed till jan 2 and i have to figure how to get the car there. got to get this car running for daughter to drive to school and work as dad does not have the money for a new one. Been running like a top till the new timing belt?????

I hope the "coincidence" was not a mangling of the delicate wiring at the distributor from the Hall-effect sensor during the belt replacement job.

This is the ignition system troubleshooting flowchart you find in the foldout in TP30432. If you have the printed manual, it is much better:


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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Clearly a case of teething tentacula.

Thank you Art. i do have the green book and spent from 9:00 till 3:00 taking out the whole ignition harness looking for problems after following the flow chart to the end step of checking the ground at the intake manifold. I moved the wire a little and the car started, drove it into the driveway to investigate the harness more, shut it off, pulled the distributor because the "delicate" plug socket was broken by the shop. Made some metal brackets to hold it in. put it all back together thinking for sure it would start. It did not and i am going to go out again and go over the flow chart again to see what i can find. Thinking of researching an aftermarket ignition system like MDS.

oldduke--book time for a 200 series timing belt is 1.5 hours. Use the shop's labor rate and you can figure out which shop is fair. Add a few tenths for each seal replaced.

Original poster -- As suggested -- a good place to look is the last place hands were in. Maybe the slack was on the wrong side when the tension was set - or the tensioner bolt not tightened, etc.

AS FOR the Bosch distributor -- #1. The coil winding inside can short--but that usually shows as -- motor quitting and then restarting when cooled down.
#2. The reluctor is held in place by a tiny steel pin - I've seen that pin disintegrate and allow the reluctor to shift position causing the timing to go haywire.

If your Chrysler amplifier is bad-- I have good ones made for the Bosch distributor. $20 plus postage. -- Dave

My reason for this original post was to find out if the chrysler module was ok to use with the bosch distributor i put in at least 8 years ago. I never had a problem till yesterday and the mechanic said the pins were filthy. In rsearching a new or rebuilt unit i read what seems to say that the chrysler and bosch modules are different. i have one of a 1984 245 parts car that i am told will not work but not sure why as it had a bosch distributor. any info is greatly appreciated as daughter drives at least 60 miles a day in "charlie" and i need to keep her running.

What bothers me about this thread is a perceived misunderstanding of terms.

In 1982 there were two ignition systems in production for US market 240 Volvos.

In the turbo model, a Bosch "Breakerless" ignition system made use of a distributor with a reluctor and coil with a two-wire circuit to a Bosch transistorized ignition amplifier. The connectors were reliable.

In the non-turbo model, a Volvo/Chrysler "Computerized" system used a distributor with a Hall-effect switch connected to the Chrysler-supplied ignition computer with a three-wire cable. The connectors initially had a compatibility problem between the pins on the harness and the computer unit.

Volvo came out with sleeves to correct the contact force on the three-wire circuit for the Hall-effect switch, which was especially sensitive to contact resistance. They also had grease in the computer connector to preclude moisture, which made the pins look ugly when a mechanic would look at them.

The most confusing issue seems to be the original 1982-83 dizzy was a white cap Chrysler-supplied unit, later retrofit and replaced by a red cap Bosch dizzy. The electrics are the same from one to the other, but the Bosch unit is the desirable distributor.

To add to this confusion is what Volvo did with its slightly later release in the 7-series cars, using a Bosch computer (mounted inside the car thank you) with that same Bosch Hall-effect dizzy. Some serious enthusiasts wanting to get rid of the Chrysler system have heavily modified their 240's to get this "EZK" ignition from a 7-series Volvo, because it includes some diagnostic capabilities.

I hope this helps you with identifying what you have and what you feel you should do about it.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. - Socrates

hi arty b- as per your last observation- while soc was very smart even though he shouldnt have taken that hemlock milkshake, his two categories ,good and bad are too broad and vague. actually there are 4 distinct categories- goldfish, barracuda, piranha and killer shrew. not sure what your experience has been so i wont comment further. regards oldduke

Thanks for the reply. The car started out with a Chrysler distributor which i got rid of several years ago in favor of the hall effect Bosch unit. in a last post i said that the car ran fantastic on the way home from the shop after the shop cleaned the pins on the connector to the module. As of a few minutes ago and after trying a junkyard module of the same Volvo number the car will not start. As stated before the car ran 60 miles a day to my daughters school and after the timing belt it is messed up. the shop double checked all their work yesterday and said it is all done properly and that my problem is "just one of those coincidences" that happen.

"the shop double checked all their work yesterday and said it is all done properly and that my problem is "just one of those coincidences" that happen"
Double check the timing belt. See if the cam sprocket markings line up at Top Dead Center with the marks on the engine. For the idler, you can confirm if the rotor points to the scribe mark on the rim of the distributor (instead of trying to see if the sprocket dot is lined up with the notch behind).
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb, M46 trans, 3:31 dif, in Brampton, Ont.