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1985 Volvo 245 crank no start 200 1985

My son's 1984 245 started up yesterday morning, and while he was letting it warm up it died on him (I didn't think that has even happened since I changed the AMM last year even once) but he called me and said it would not start back up. When I got home I checked to make sure he had gas (college student notorious on running around on fumes) and he has a quarter tank, so I pulled the coil wire from the coil and found no spark while he was cranking. So I get the Bentley book out this morning and checked to make sure I was getting 12V to the coil and I was getting steady +12V even when cranking (should be pulsed as this makes the coil fire, verified it against my 1989). So I pulled the harness to the pickup in the distributor and verified +12 volts on pin A, and intermittently jumpered the other two pins and did not get spark but I could hear clicking up underneath the intake. I have a inline spark checker so I put it inline with spark plug (still installed in head) and hooked it directly to the coil to distributor wire so as to bypass the distributor cap and rotor. Because I had no spark but could hear clicking, I went to an injector and pulled the connector and found just ground on both wires while cranking, but it does pulse ground while cranking. I checked my 1989 and it pulses +12V. So I have no spark and no power to injectors. The Bentley book is good but info format is very different from the factory Mercedes and BMW info I work with, so does anyone have suggestions on a good logic trail to test. I have a Power Probe, test light, different multimeters, and even a SNapOn oscilloscope if I need it I just don't have a bunch of time to waste and need some suggestions on where to go from here.

Follow up - it looks like I need to first look at the no power to injector problem, and see if the main LH 2.2 relay isn't working.

Follow up 2. Found the main relay underneath the glove box. Backprobing the terminals and the relay connected, I have power at 87/1 when the engine is cranking but only getting a pulsing ground and not sending +12V.








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1985 Volvo 245 crank no start 200 1985

Fixed... I had a couple hours to run to Pull-a-part this afternoon and they had one lonely 1986 244 sitting there, so I bought the distributor and Chrysler ignition box. I set up the spark tester directly to the coil again, and plugged in the distributor without installing it and spun the distributor by hand and I heard the injectors fire but no spark. I plugged in the ignition module and suddenly had spark. Because I hadn't physically removed the distributor, I plugged it back up and the car started. So it was the Chrysler ignition module and I have a spare good distributor in hand for the future.








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1985 Volvo 245 crank no start 200 1985

try here-

http://www.volvowiringdiagrams.com/volvo/Trouble%20Shooting%20Guides/Volvo%20Problem%20Solver%20Advanced%20Edition-1.pdf

if you have any experience with the 92-96 mbs and their rotting harnesses, be aware volvo got the disease first. the 81-87 cars have issues with the engine harness.

good luck, chuck.








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1985 Volvo 245 crank no start 200 1985

Hi,

I like your ideas of tracing spark first and then the fuel.
You are also right to suspect a system relay failure.

Having 12volt on the coil is normal. The secondary side is fired when the primary 12V ground side is disconnected
So it looks like it’s is turning on and off only when the meter goes from across the voltage supply to the same side as a voltage supply.
You can see this when moving a lead from the end to end of a battery to putting both leads on one end. The affect is the same.
Now a voltmeter will tell you if the leads are on the same side and should read 0.000 volts but if you having current flow ongoing and “if there” is a high resistance in the line then you will see a low voltage reading telling you have a bad circuit. Anything higher than 0.02 is suspicious.
I use this method primarily on the major ground wiring due to their wire size.

Also for checking fuses on a live AC panel without having to pull the fuses individually.
On large fuses you cannot see the fuse element from the outside.
Good fuses show no voltage and bad ones show line voltage.

Like the idea of bypassing the distributor mechanism but make sure the coil wire is good too.
There was this article from years past that starts out like yours.
https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1580569/220/240/260/280/troubleshooting_chrysler_ignition_83_245.html

You said 1984 but went to 1985. They are very similar except 84 used two separate relays. In 85 they were combined into one.
I would open the white on on a 85 up and manual close it down tight with a rubber band.
This will be bypassing a safety feature but who cares in the driveway.
The pumps will run and the injectors are allow to work.

Here is some information on your ignition system fro Art’s web site.
http://cleanflametrap.com/manIgnition76.jpg

By the way your 1989 is a whole different ignition setup from the distributor out as you will notice no black box in the engine compartment but there is a small one behind the battery.
1989 started a whole new system LH 2.4 and then a small modification on LH3.1

Hope these things speed you along in your endeavors.

Phil







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