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2-3-1 and 2-2-1 200

The -949 ECU in my B200F/M47 245 (entry level engine in some markets) is throwing a CEL combined with a 2-3-1 and 2-2-1 error codes.
A reset by interrupting the power supply momentarily erased these codes for quite a while before they came back.

I also have a -561 lying around and I swapped it in. After a while a 2-3-1 was stored, however without a CEL nor a 2-2-1. It does light the CEL every time the ignition is turned on so at least bulb and ECU-output for that light are OK.

The 2-2-1 seems to point to lean running. However, I am not experiencing any of the expected symptoms, like starting problems and the spark plugs have a nice colour (they're nearing the 12,000 mi change interval).

A couple of quiestions: why the difference between the -561 and -949 ECUs?
Might this be related to the high idle problem I am having?
If so, how does a lean mixture lead to a higher than normal idle?








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    Our Arty B. indicates in prior posts that the -5xx has and -9xx is without the cold start valve injector logic.

    You are in Netherlands?

    Have you verified the state of exhaust gases using a quality digital multimeter as the Volvo 700 / 900 Series FAQ, Bentley, or Haynes indicates? +VDC at the oxygen sensor electrode terminal disconnect from the wiring harness and the –VDC multimeter electrode secure at a good ground connection. Between 0.1 to 0.9 VDC and swings wildly between. There is a method using a Dwell meter you can search for here.

    Do not use the multimeter to touch the single wire oxygen sensor wire harness connect with heavy green wire in a usually round white plastic connector with terminal. Wrap that terminal so it does not touch ground so I have been told to do.

    If the digital electric multimeter shows a slow action or that trens not far away from .5 VDC, replace the oxygen sensor.

    Below .5 is lean. The 02 sensor may not be faulty. Running condition is the issue.

    Above 0.5 VDC is rich. The 02 sensor may not be faulty. Running condition is the issue.

    2-2-1 suggest lean at idle. Netherland marklet 240s use EGR with PulsAIR fitted? Pulsair can become faulty at the two vacuum control valves at the engine exhaust side at the engine front. The EGR vaccum valve can get stuck open and drive-ability is almost impossible and not good for the engine.

    I guess 9xx is newer, made by a different company, and maybe more robust (that I've read). Better performance and economy. No cold start. Has the immobilizer logic. Or some 9xx ECU's have the immobilizer logic? Unsure.

    If no EGR / PulsAIR, and indeed lean at idle and when you take up drive (load) you have an air induction intake leak.

    If you have the preheat silver accordion hose connected between the exhaust manifold heat shield and the bottom of the air intake filter box where the silver hose route is obscured by the radiator fan shroud, you must maintain the air filter box preheater thermostat (Wahler brand 70411). These all fail to all hot air all the time ruining an AMM and on the way to ruin the fuel to air ratio is lean until the AMM fails and the LH-Jet ECU goes into limp home mode.

    The fuel pressure regulator directly affect fuel pressure at the injector. With low air intake manifold vacuum, as you are coasting downhill, and so the FPR open allow fuel to return lowering the injector fuel pressure. When you floor it, the air intake manifold pressure become closer to ambient, the FPR closes, raising the fuel injector pressure to inject more fuel. The FPR third failure mode is gas leaking through the vacuum line whether the FPR is failing else wise or not.

    Remove the hose or replace the air filter box preheater flap valve with a new Wahler PN 70411.

    So exhaust leaks can lean the air to fuel ratio, and a weak or failed oxygen sensor, when encountering the lean and high oxygen exhaust, cannot signal extra exhaust oxygen and so engine control responds by richening the exhaust by injector duration.

    You can inspect the plastic and rubber hosts at the connections, whether the large accordion style hose, between the air intake downstream of the AMM / MAF and the throttle body, has holes. That hose can twist and distort, more so with bad mortor / transmission mounts, and contact the inner fender forming holes. Use strong light to find hole at the inside, degrease, use fine sandpaper, and a UV resist adhesive. I've used Eclectic products UV resist Goop to seal the holes.

    You can use dish detergent on a cold engine, soaking the exhaust unions from top to down, asking an assiatnt to start, and seeing an bubbles at unions. All unions down to the union at the header pipe output and catalytic convert input.

    Also, verify the exhaust hanger union that supports the end of the header pipe weight that secures to two bellhouing to engine bolts. The union fails at the weld of the plate with the threaded fastener. Volvo used weak hardware at the header pipe output to catalytic converter input union. I had the three forward-facing at the catalytic converter front pressed out and used quality hard of a larger gauge.

    I guess that does it. Questions?

    --
    Beh.



    Mark this post as an answer to my question<- Use this feature to mark quality replies to your post.





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      I'm going to reply to this the old-school way, i.e. by quoting the sections one by one.


      Our Arty B. indicates in prior posts that the -5xx has and -9xx is without the cold start valve injector logic.


      Correct, B200F and B230F of this vintage did away with the cold start valve.


      You are in Netherlands?


      Yes, I am.


      Have you verified the state of exhaust gases using a quality digital multimeter as the Volvo 700 / 900 Series FAQ, Bentley, or Haynes indicates? +VDC at the oxygen sensor electrode terminal disconnect from the wiring harness and the –VDC multimeter electrode secure at a good ground connection. Between 0.1 to 0.9 VDC and swings wildly between. There is a method using a Dwell meter you can search for here.


      As a matter of fact, I did that today. The voltage swings between 0 and 0.856 V. I guess that's close enough to 0.9 to be a correct value.


      Do not use the multimeter to touch the single wire oxygen sensor wire harness connect with heavy green wire in a usually round white plastic connector with terminal. Wrap that terminal so it does not touch ground so I have been told to do.


      Well, I did just measure on this terminal with respect to a blank piece of bodywork. I did not short it though, so no O2 sensors were harmed in the making of this thread. ;-)


      If the digital electric multimeter shows a slow action or that trens not far away from .5 VDC, replace the oxygen sensor.

      Below .5 is lean. The 02 sensor may not be faulty. Running condition is the issue.

      Above 0.5 VDC is rich. The 02 sensor may not be faulty. Running condition is the issue.


      The way I see it , the lean-rich swing is there on purpose to meet two conradictory demands. Lean running causes too much NOx while rich running causes too much CO and unburnt hydrocarbons.


      2-2-1 suggest lean at idle. Netherland marklet 240s use EGR with PulsAIR fitted? Pulsair can become faulty at the two vacuum control valves at the engine exhaust side at the engine front. The EGR vaccum valve can get stuck open and drive-ability is almost impossible and not good for the engine.


      No EGR and no PulsAir, in the EU 1992 was the year that the catalytic converter became mandatory on new gasoline engine cars.


      I guess 9xx is newer, made by a different company, and maybe more robust (that I've read). Better performance and economy. No cold start. Has the immobilizer logic. Or some 9xx ECU's have the immobilizer logic? Unsure.


      I bought it from someone who claimed it came from a 940. So yes, it was newer, but I have looked inside both the -561 and -949 I have and found that the datecodes on the components were very close. So they were both most likely made by the same company in the same year (possibly even the same quarter).


      If no EGR / PulsAIR, and indeed lean at idle and when you take up drive (load) you have an air induction intake leak.

      If you have the preheat silver accordion hose connected between the exhaust manifold heat shield and the bottom of the air intake filter box where the silver hose route is obscured by the radiator fan shroud, you must maintain the air filter box preheater thermostat (Wahler brand 70411). These all fail to all hot air all the time ruining an AMM and on the way to ruin the fuel to air ratio is lean until the AMM fails and the LH-Jet ECU goes into limp home mode.


      I am aware of this issue and I did replace the thermostat shortly after I bought the car. However, in March 2020 I had a specialist replace the head gasket and he removed the shield permanently because of a broken bolt and corrosion of the shield. The silver hose has been lying around in the engine bay ever since and I might as well remove it. I live in a temperate climate (we recently had -15 degrees C/ 5 degrees F, which is considered an extreme over here), so the preheat hose isn't really needed.


      The fuel pressure regulator directly affect fuel pressure at the injector. With low air intake manifold vacuum, as you are coasting downhill, and so the FPR open allow fuel to return lowering the injector fuel pressure. When you floor it, the air intake manifold pressure become closer to ambient, the FPR closes, raising the fuel injector pressure to inject more fuel. The FPR third failure mode is gas leaking through the vacuum line whether the FPR is failing else wise or not.


      My country is mostly flat, and so is the region I live in. It doesn't seem fuel pressure related as the FPR is only 5 years old.


      Remove the hose or replace the air filter box preheater flap valve with a new Wahler PN 70411.


      See above, it has been done but it's no longer relevant.


      So exhaust leaks can lean the air to fuel ratio, and a weak or failed oxygen sensor, when encountering the lean and high oxygen exhaust, cannot signal extra exhaust oxygen and so engine control responds by richening the exhaust by injector duration.

      You can inspect the plastic and rubber hosts at the connections, whether the large accordion style hose, between the air intake downstream of the AMM / MAF and the throttle body, has holes. That hose can twist and distort, more so with bad mortor / transmission mounts, and contact the inner fender forming holes. Use strong light to find hole at the inside, degrease, use fine sandpaper, and a UV resist adhesive. I've used Eclectic products UV resist Goop to seal the holes.


      That accordion hose is fine, but I am suspecting a problem with the PCV.
      After my last post I put a hose clamp on the larger hose on the flametrap and found that it alleviates the high idle issue considerably.
      I also found some oil leakage in beneath the oil separator box, so my focus will be on that area.


      You can use dish detergent on a cold engine, soaking the exhaust unions from top to down, asking an assiatnt to start, and seeing an bubbles at unions. All unions down to the union at the header pipe output and catalytic convert input.

      Also, verify the exhaust hanger union that supports the end of the header pipe weight that secures to two bellhouing to engine bolts. The union fails at the weld of the plate with the threaded fastener. Volvo used weak hardware at the header pipe output to catalytic converter input union. I had the three forward-facing at the catalytic converter front pressed out and used quality hard of a larger gauge.

      I guess that does it. Questions?


      Yeah... I am about to tick the odometer over to 280,000 km (~174k mi) which is not that much for these vehicles. What does that relatively low mileage hold for the future?



      --
      Beh.



      Mark this post as an answer to my question<- Use this feature to mark quality replies to your post.





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        Yeah... I am about to tick the odometer over to 280,000 km (~174k mi) which is not that much for these vehicles. What does that relatively low mileage hold for the future?

        Good care and careful driving means the you'll ever find the end of the road, yet not quite get there?

        If leaking under the PCV breather box, I'd worry the box and the green o-ring under may need replacement. I've not had to replace the breather box oil trap, yet the vapor vacuum hoses and clamps

        iPd sells a 'relocation kit' using poor quality after market for the PCV. Best to use Volvo blue box OEM. I've read how after market PCV oil breather boxes split apart at the molding seam.
        --
        Beh.



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    A bad vacuum leak can cause both a lean condition AND a high idle if the leak is bad enough. Check over all the intake plumbing and associated hoses including the PCV hoses, oil trap box, and flame trap, etc. for cracked/disconnected hoses. Might also be wise to remove the throttle body for a good cleaning and maybe a fresh gasket where it mounts to the intake manifold.



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      Thanks for your response. That may explain a thing or two.
      If there is a vacuum leak, then it's not bad enough to cause the idle to hunt.

      Today I pulled the tiny hose from the flametrap off the throttle body while the engine was idling high, i.e. 950 rpm. It dropped to 750 until I put the hose back again.
      The strange thing was that just before I did that, the engine had been idling at 750 until I dabbed the throttle. The idle then went to 950 until I pulled that hose.

      Is there some sort of valve in the PCV that is responding to inlet manifold pressure?




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        I don’t know of any “valve” other than the idle control valve. When you say it idles fine until you jab the throttle and it causes the idle to stick in the 900’s then it starts to sound like the throttle plate isn’t returning home or maybe even the idle control valve is sticking. If it hasn’t been done recently then it might be a good idea to do a major cleaning of the throttle body, idle valve, PCV system, test and adjust the throttle position switch, and so on....
        THEN see where you stand.



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