All,

So my son had another encounter last night with a Ford, this time an Explorer and not an F-150.

At first we could not get the car to start, but once it was towed home I was able to dig everything out of the driver side front fender and disconnect the connector to the power stage and noticed that one of the wires was dis-lodged from the connector. Once I put it back in to the connector, and attached the connector to one of my spare power stages, the car fired right up.

My question is this. How long can I drive the car with the Power Stage not physically connected to the side of the inside of the fender as I need to go and get estimates on what it will take to fix.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Matt, I left one of mine dangle from its wiring for 3 months of summer while driving around with a spare in the cubby. Mostly I wanted to see for myself how little heat they really generate in use, as I suspected, given all the hand-wringing over heat sink compound being done on this board.

It (on its original heat sink and compound) got warm, especially after a long drive, but never warm enough to be uncomfortable to hold in the hand tightly, meaning its dependence on the fender for heat dissipation is nil. And as already mentioned by Kitty, the ground is through the harness, not the heat sink.

No worries...
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

If you’re concerned about the lack of grounding between the PS and the chassis, can you just clip on a jumper wire from the base of the PS to something on the chassis?
--
Current rides: 2005 Volvo S80 2.5T, 2003 Volvo V70 2.4NA, 1973 Volvo 1800ES (getting ever closer to road worthiness)

The power stage does not connect to -VDC through the housing / heat sink.

See the black wire at the power stage pinout. That black wire is ground ending in a ring terminal secured to the body nearby.

Find wiring diagrams here:
http://www.v8volvo.se/mekartips/volvo/index.html

Hope that halps.

Canned Crushed Pineapple Boyeeeee

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Following along to learn something. No idea whatsoever what a "power stage" is....
--
82 242-6.2L; '17 Mazda3; '16 Crosstrek

The Power Stage is what is used to set off the coil and drive all of your spark plugs.

Matt

Your description and Kitty’s pic - got it. Mine’s been V8 powered for 23 years - so my “power stage” is the other 4 cylinders.
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82 242-6.2L; '17 Mazda3; '16 Crosstrek

The power stage, or ignition control module, is a signal amplifier between the the ignition ECU and the ignition coil.

Mounted on the 240 left side on the inner fender where access is somewhat obscured by the battery.



From:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-240-740-940-12/no-spark-92133/

Located here on Bosch LH-Jetronic injection / EZK ignition:


Image from:
https://forums.tbforums.com/showthread.php?t=318995

So long as secured to the heat sink, may be okay to operate as is, yet engine bay turbulence may cause the not physically installed ignition power stage or ignition control module to flop around a bit needlessly, exacerbating any connector issues.

Some will use DeoxIT-D dielectric grease to dissolve and prevent any corrosion at this and other engine control harness connectors and other electrically bonded contacts like grounds.

Some will separate the power stage from the aluminum alloy heat sink, clean the mating surfaces, sparingly swab on some heat sink compound use for the material and application (under hood conditions).

You may want to ensure the spade lug you find disconnected does not separate again. There is a barb at the back side of the spade lug at the end of the wire harness side that secures the spade lug in the connector that secures to the ignition power stage.

Should you need wiring diagrams, please see:
http://www.v8volvo.se/mekartips/volvo/index.html

The site operator continues to add PDF files of useful information replacing the defunct k-jet.org and the volvowiringdiagrams.com sites. China Geely-owned Volvo AB Cars is shutting down all sites with such information.

Questions?

Hope that helps.

Buttermilk Boyeeeeee
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