Hi All,

I need your help and guidance once again. I was driving down the 2 lane highway and all of sudden the car lost the power and died.


1. 12 voltage; yes, I got juice. I will confirm again tonight.
2. Side mounted blade fuse is good.
3. with or without the air mass meter disconnected, no start.
4. Swapped fuel pump relay, no start.
5. jumped wire, both fuel pumps are running.
6. engine timing belt is good.
7. new plugs and wires. I will unplug and see if I am getting spark tonight.
8. Will test coil tonight.

Am I missing something else? Thank you as always.

My biggest challenge is that our apt community won't allow me to work on cars. They will issue a ticket if they ever catch anyone fixing cars.

Broooooooooooooooom!!!!!!

Thank you as always!!!!!!

So the timing belt slipped after hot summer.

Thank you and thank you!!!!!

Hi All,

OK Art. I think you are right.

My timing is way off. I am going to put new belt and let you know if it works.

I hope so. I miss my Volvo. I feel puny without it.

don't mean to interject Politics here BUT.
Refer to I-5's --- How I got a Seattle 1985 Volvo for $450...Ah Yes Seattle home of really good coffee, salmon at Pikes Market, Liberal Volvo Owners...????

https://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1659795/220/240/260/280/1985_244_run_yet.html

"His family now uses a couple of new Volvo's that are parked in his driveway and it seems the neighbors weren't big fans of the older car. Here in Seattle now the few old cars left often have homeless people sleeping in them, so I guess as the years passed an '85 Volvo parked there day in day out gradually became some kind of class thing. "

PS: the Wash DC City Council is looking to give Voting Rights to 16 year olds. No Joke.


VOTE Your Self Interest
Cheers

"don't mean to interject Politics here BUT.
Refer to I-5's --- How I got a Seattle 1985 Volvo for $450...Ah Yes Seattle home of really good coffee, salmon at Pikes Market, Liberal Volvo Owners...???? -- "His family now uses a couple of new Volvo's that are parked in his driveway and it seems the neighbors weren't big fans of the older car. Here in Seattle now the few old cars left often have homeless people sleeping in them, so I guess as the years passed an '85 Volvo parked there day in day out gradually became some kind of class thing."

CB, I've seen this city change a lot over the last 30 years. With a median income that has climbed to $154k, class-ism has become an ugly side effect. This recent Seattle Times article about local road rage mentions "income inequality" and infers that "20 year old Volvos" are one of the causes:

The goal is to get urban and suburban residents into self-driving and electric vehicle that rely on computer controls and software that must be updated wirelessly.
So one day you're driving around and your console flashes....YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO ENTER THIS AREA...if you try your "car" shuts down.
You "phone home" aka the vehicle manufacturer and are informed that your "social profile Credit standing" as of this morning Excluded you from entering this High-Social-Credit area.

+++in a way like the OrigPoster (SB--formerly of the Free State-Maryland),got his ability to fix his own car ShutDown, by popular vote of the community.+++

Think that's way too Tin-Foil-Hat?
Check out the social credit system in China....which you-know-what company has helped the nice rulers put in place.

PS I tried several times in the mid-late 80s to move to the PacNW. One job was faculty at Evergreen College in Olympia. lol

Hi All,

Sorry for my late respond. I begged my HOA to allow me to diagnose my car for three months and they are letting me do so.

Testing 1
With the main wire removed from the distributor cap, there is a spark.
Testing 2
No spark is coming from #1 plug wire. I didn't do the rest. I am afraid my neighbor might complain again. I am going to test one wire a day.
Testing 3
Swapped old distributor cap, no start. Cap and rotor have less than 3000 miles. How can I test my rotor? Do I check for continuity?

Where do I go from here? I am confident that my timing is right and didn't miss it. As always, thank you.

for the guy who basically rebuilt his Volvo in the driveway ---welding, replacing the windshield... plus another one too, a 90ish wagon (do I remember that correctly); living where you do now + under the RULES ++ U need to move man. Yeh, you can live here but No Touching That Car...or we'll break your fingers.:)))))))

As to yr problem. testing to rotor - they are so cheap get a new Bosch rotor and swap it and a new Bosch Dist Cap...it's not like you will never use the one you have now, if it proves to be OK, later.

No Spark out of the distrib to the plug wires??? even tho the coil wire sparks.
Check the cnxn from the ICU to the Hall sensor --the plug off the side of the distributor --- and the wires to that plug.

fwiw New Spk Plug wires don't necessarily mean they are without fault.

Long Story shortened: when I go my 87 wagon used at 103K I did the 60K TuneUp---timing belt, water pump, cap, rotor, plugs and wires--adj valves --- the whole 9 yards. My trusted Volvo mechanic (this was my 3rd 240 series) did the shocks, frnt contrl bushings...and generally gave it an inspection.

Shrtly there after while hauling a rack full of kayaks to Western MD the thing started missing like crazy. I cudn't make it up those hills. Then it wud run OK for a bit. then miss...
I got it back here and of course cudn't make it miss when I took it in for some advise. Since everything Ignitionwise was new, my guy sugested that it cud be the Hall Sensor. I got a new one and replaced it. Same intermittent missing---
arrrrg.

I took my woes here to the BB and Don Foster recommended that I do a MidNight viewing --- running engine hood UP----and low an behold I saw Blue traces coming off one of the plg wires arcing to the valve cover. So when the wires got "hot" running on the highway for hours that one wire basically shrted to the valve cover and I was runnig on 3 cylndrs.
These were a New set of Extra Expensive MagnaCore Plug wires I bought from IPD.-----defective.

I tell this because New parts don't always mean Good/Working Or Not Defective.
So maybe you shud go back to the replacement ignition parts for another look.

PS
If you haven't got it already. Download the Volvo Problem Solver Advanced Edition
From the Volvo Wiring Diagrams Website
http://www.volvowiringdiagrams.com/?dir=volvo/Trouble%20Shooting%20Guides

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

OR if that site is not workiing

Go to this Website --- for OZ(Australia)
https://ozvolvo.org/archive/

Go to the BOTTOM of the list...scroll UP until you see LINKS for several WORKBOOKS (all in caps)
The Link for the Volvo Problem Solver is just above them. as the Volvoxxxx Links start

Volvo_Problem_Solver_Repair_Manual_1962-1994_Models.pdf

https://ozvolvo.org/archive/?download=Vm9sdm9fUHJvYmxlbV9Tb2x2ZXJfUmVwYWlyX01hbnVhbF8xOTYyLTE5OTRfTW9kZWxzLnBkZg==


Section 11 - 501 Computer Controlled Ignition (Chrysler) Fault Tracing. 3 pages. TESTS

Further detail- Section 28 501 thru 531

This will Help --- alot.
The OZ site is a mess but there are many usefull links.

Hi Steve,

I saw that Art said you could OHM test it. His post about the or a ohms test, says, it has a 1000 ohms resistor under that black inlaid section between the center and the brass tip.
If it looks cracked or has some discoloration along its path, at all, chuck it!

The only other thing that might keep the spark from working would be a flaky coil wire. They can become frayed on the inside. High voltage can be particular about how it goes through a series of resistances and wires, especially, those wires made of carbon dust woven into nylon threads.

I agree that 3000 miles is very low for a failure for even a Bosch rotor but with the others, expect trouble at any time.
There maybe a height problem with it touching up to the distributors spring loaded contact made of carbon inside there. Maybe an inferior rotor button slipped farther down on the shaft after it was installed.
There are two different sizes of Bosch rotors for different size shafts on different year cars. One size does not fit all.
I have seen some very chincy makes of rotor bases out there, especially, when it comes to the metal tips not made of brass.
Bosch caps and rotors have nice terminals instead of aluminum.

As far as that pesky "no life" neighbor goes, with me, he would start having "A"random slow tire leak all around his car once a week or two apart from time to time.
A small pebble place inside the dust cap and tighten just enough. Make it small enough that it falls out when the cap is removed.
The Fun of getting back and is seeing how many times he calls AAA instead of the HOA!

If that doesn't work, wonders can be done with Limburger cheese! In Florida, oh yeah, driver side fenders or those hidden cowl vents!

Of course, I have never needed to be revengeful but one must be ready to improvise with forethought!

Phil

Hi again

Bruce S. has a good point about the rotor button if you are checking only the plug wires that you say are new.
You are crossing the stream, that starts a river, that’s way up river of a large bridge. You don’t know if the bridge was out after you got on the other side.

Check the wire from the coil to the distributor by pulling it from the distributors center post and placing it very close to a strut tower stud to see the spark is jumping to it. I put it up there so I can see it from the drivers seat. It should jump about 1/4 inch.

The coil wire can go bad and many wire sets do not provide new ones. Some sets have plug ends that don't match spark plug tips too. Not so much trouble with the caps deep wells as far as I know but Bosch caps and rotors are the better parts.

The next thing is those rotor buttons go bad internally. They have a resistor that cracks open in the very top out to the brass tip.
Always carry a spare good one with you. It can save you a walk, of two blocks, back to a sister-in- laws house to borrow here from a 1973 VW distributor. They can just quit right out of the blue or any choice of color you like! :-)

If you don’t have any spark after that try this link to trouble shoot for a bad hall sensor or other aliments.
Your ICU is under the hood and there could be bad wiring or connections.

http://cleanflametrap.com/manIgnition76.jpg

Good luck.

Phil

Check the end of the rotor for carbon build-up.
--
Bruce S. near D.C.

Hi SB,

Sorry, you probably had it towed home, and now it is either stealth or find a friendly garage.

It surely sounds like the TB slipped. I'm curious exactly what you did to know the "timing belt is good."

Also, you say the 25A fuse is good, but in all fairness, they are always "good" because the issue isn't the fuse being bad, but the current not getting where it is supposed to.

My usual suggestion to check for battery voltage at the orange wire on the AMM with key on could be modified for stealth. In other words, check that voltage at the orange wire (either of them) by backprobing the fuel injection relay socket -- same conditions; key on engine stalled. Without that working, you'll have no spark or fuel. You can do that from inside the car leaning over with a flashlight, so you don't even have to put the hood up.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

"I have you know I was not the slowest car on the road either!
I passed nine other newer cars and one truck on the grades.
It just so happens that the nine cars were on that truck!" -machine man

Hi All,


I have 12.66V reading on my battery.

No spark coming out from plug wire.

Measured resistance between posts of the ignition coil, the reading was inconsistence so bought new from Autozone. Still no start.

--

Hi Art,

I am getting 11V at the orange wire AMM.

Which wire to probe at the fuel injection relay? I see muted orange and brown wire together. Is that the one?


Thank you as always.

Hi SB,

To answer your question about the wires on the injection relay socket, either spot is the same, but having checked it at the AMM, you don't need to go back there. I was just trying to save you from needing to open the hood, a sure sign to all you're "working on your car."

The troubleshooting flow chart machine man has linked is what I'd use next. If it isn't the timing belt, my next strongest suspicion is the wiring inside the distributor to the Hall effect pickup. It deteriorates and shorts out.

The faulty rotor button has caused a no-start for me before (it has a 1000 ohm resistor molded into it) and I, too, had to walk 2 blocks like Phil to get a spare from home. But this is a no-start symptom because you need all the spark you can get to start the car initially, but a running car will jump the gap, so I seriously doubt it caused the shutdown during driving.

You sure the TB didn't slip?
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.

I hope you get this figured out but you reminded me that while I'm getting my home ready to sell to downsize for retirement I know that there will be no roof over my head that will require dealing with an HOA.