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IAC Mysterious Behavior 200

I'm still trying to troublshoot the IAC system in my son's 1986 240 with 2.2 LH & B230F. As mentioned in previous post, the car is a recent purchase and came with the IAC hose blanked off. We corrected the hose routing while cleaning the throttle-body for 1st time and noticed that on starting the car it revs to a high RPM and blipping the throttle off-idle temporarily drops it back down, but it immeadiatly climbs back to what it was. I have the IAC positioned with the "arrow" pointing at the intake manifold and I pulled the throttle-body off and used a meter to verify that the TPS is working. I have checked the resistance accross the IAC terminals and get 20, 21.5 and 41.5 ohms which is close to what manual says is normal. I temporarily swapped in a junk yard IAC and still see the same behaviour. When I pull the IAC plug and check voltage on running car I see 12 and 13.5 volts between outer and central socket and these readings seem to be constant and not fluctuating. Oh..and at some point the IAC and TPS connectors were switched but I'm not sure if this was from previous owner or by myself (now corrected). Does this type of behavior ring any bells? I am deeply suspicious of the cheesy wiring which I need to replace, but are there any checks to determine if the ECU is at fault?

Our other significant problem is a hesitation (almost a stall) under load. We noticed today that this gets worse as the car warms up, starting out mild and getting worse as car is driven all day. Not sure if these two things could be related. I wanted to check the O2 sensor outputs tonight but did not get this done.

Long post...sorry.

Cliff








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    IAC Mysterious Behavior 200

    I too had a problem similar to what you are describing. I really should have entered my solution into the brickboard after I did the repair last year, but you have now prompted me to get it done.

    My car 1984 245DL B23F engine with LH2.0 M46 Transmission, 235,000 miles
    ECU Bosch part 0 280 000 510

    I only know it worked with my vehicle. I have no other Volvo's to experiment with.

    Cause

    In 1999 I replaced my engine wiring harness because of crumbling insulation. I was sloppy and swapped the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve with the TPS (Throttle Position Switch) for short time. That I believe was the cause of the problem.


    False leads

    I replaced the IAC motor both a junk yard and new unit but each time the engine would rev up to about 2500 RPM. The only way I could keep the car drivable was to stuff a rag in the inlet hose to the IAC. That reduced the amount of air bypassing the throttle. But it made cold starts quite troublesome.


    The Real Problem

    The problem was with the ECU (Engine Control Unit) in the circuit that controls the IAC. I had fried a power transistor when I hooked it up incorrectly.

    The IAC has two winding; one to open the valve and another to close it. Each of the two windings are connected as the collector resistors in two common emitter amplifiers. The NPN power transistors that drive the IAC are located in the ECU. When I swapped the connectors for the IAC and TPS, I shorted collector resistor on the "close" transistor. This transistor fried allowing the ECU to open the IAC, but not close it.

    When I opened up the ECU I immediately found a transistor that was so burnt it crumbled into pieces. Fortunately the "open" transistor was available. It is listed as "PH ON-895." I tried a few weeks of web surfing, a visit to the library and a few electronic stores but I could not find anyone who could get me 1) an exact replacement, 2) a data sheet, or 3) a equivalent transistor. I was able to find a couple of companies that would sell me a replacement transistor, but the catch was they had at best a $100 minimum order. My only other option was to have the ECU repaired for a about $300. And all they would need to do was replace a $1-2 part.

    This is one of the problems with Automotive Electronics. The Auto companies, Volvo included, buy so many parts that they can demand their own custom labels on generic components. This transistor is just one example. The other gripe I have with Automotive Electronics is that they are poorly documented for the end user.


    Finding A Replacement Transistor

    Since I could not get any help with the transistor specifications, I decided to measure them myself. The device was verified as an NPN bipolar transistor
    on a curve tracer (a rare and fancy oscilloscope that is used to test transistors) The specs I measured and inferred are as follows:

    Hfe (or Beta) 85 (at 800 mAmps)
    Case TO-220
    Ic (max) < 1 Amp (12V/20 Ohm IAC resistance)
    Vceo (max) 15 Volts (deduced from max alt volts)
    Power (max) 2 Watts (TO-220 case w/o heatsink)

    I purchased from Digikey (www.digikey.com) a transistor
    that had better specs:

    Manufacturer Panasonic
    Part Number 2SD1474
    Hfe (or Beta) 300-2000 (at 1 Amp)
    Ic (max) 6 Amps
    Vceo (max) 60 V
    Power (max) 2 Watts w/o heatsink
    Vce(sat) 0.5 V

    I considered the last spec, the collector-emitter voltage at saturation rather critical when picking a replacement I wanted this value as low as possible since it is related to the total power dissipated by the transistor, and I
    did not wish to burn up the new transistor.

    Power = Vce(sat) * Current through IAC
    0.5 W = 0.5 V * 1 Amp

    The Solution was to just replace the burnt out transistor with a new one. Just as a precaution, I purchased two transistors and replaced both the opening and closing circuits. I wanted to make sure the electronics were balanced.

    Total cost

    Parts 2 transistors at $1.29/each $2.58
    Labor 30 minutes to extract ECU, resolder, reinstall


    Hopefully my experience can help, Check your ECU, open it up and look for burnt traces, or transistors.








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      Inop transistor in Bosch 0 261 201 012 ignition ECU 700 1985

      Don,
      Great post!
      I've got a 1985 740 turbo which uses a Bosch ignition ECU p/n 0 261 201 012. After leaving me stranded several times only to start up again the car finally died completely and I had it towed home. I'm finally in a position to troubleshoot this problem. This ECU is the second one I've had; it was last replaced in December 2013. Opening it up I found no obviously fried components but on a hunch removed the largest transistor, the only one that was attached to a heat sink. It is an NPN transistor with a p/ n of ON 946. There is an open circuit, regardless of the polarity, between the base and the emitter(?) (the right leg). I emailed ON Semiconductor assuming this to be manufactured by them but they responded, "Sorry, the marking on the provided photo does not correspond to any of our products. I recommend that you ask Bosch for support." I seriously doubt I will get any assistance in response to my help request to Bosch.

      I'd appreciate any suggestions on finding a suitable replacement transistor.

      Gary









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        Inop transistor in Bosch 0 261 201 012 ignition ECU 700 1985

        Hi Gary

        JFYInformation this post is over a decade old and it's a 200 posting.

        I suggest you paste the number off the ECU and start a new post and you will get better responses.
        Things are crossed up at the moment.

        As far as dying, check out the fuel pump/ system relay. They have failure rates due to bad solder traces. A reheat/reflow job can help fix it.

        It is a big problem on 240's

        Phil








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      IAC Mysterious Behavior 200

      Very excellent and detailed post. I can see how that would cause the problem. I'll have to look into that. One question is instead of replacing the transistor, wouldn't it be easier to just replace the ECU with one from a boneyard?
      --
      Greg P. 1988 240 DL 'Olga' 170,000 miles








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        IAC Mysterious Behavior 200

        A junkyard ECU would have worked, but I have a LH2.0 injection system. Volvo only put this in the 1983-84 models, it is therefore rare. I was lucky enough to see quite visually that the transistor was bad. If that was not the case, then I probably could not have fixed the ECU without a schematic, and Volvo does not seem to make those available.

        Also note cost I paid less than $3.00. Could you beat that at a junk yard?

        1984 245DL B23F engine, M46 Transmission, 235000 miles








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    IAC Mysterious Behavior 200

    The ECT (Engine Coolant Temp) sensor might be telling the ECU it's way below zero, causing extra fuel at idle (?), temporarly "accomodated" by blipping the throttle off idle?

    The resistance at 68° F when measured between ECU pins 2 and 5 (ground) should be in the 2300 ohm range. Bentley has a chart. Don't know about Haynes.

    Bentley 390-5, fig. 10 shows two FI ground points to check and clean too (I think the ECU pin 5 ground comes back to one of these points).
    --
    Bruce Young
    '93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.








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    I have the same problem 200

    Hmmm... I have the exact same symptoms om my 88 240.

    It seems like the ECU thinks that the idle is too low and keeps trying to raise it. But I'm not yet sure why. I was thinking maybe the tach input isnt getting to the ECU but I haven't checked that yet. Or the ECU could be bad itself I guess, but somehow I don't think so.

    If you figure anything out let me know. I'll do the same for you.
    --
    Greg P. 1988 240 DL 'Olga' 170,000 miles








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      I have the same problem 200

      My experience with the IAC is that either:

      The IAC valve is bad and won't modulate or shut off when the engine is hot.
      The coolant temperature sensor is not telling the ECU the engine is warm.
      The O2 sensor is bad.








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        I have the same problem 200

        Hmm, if it was the temp sensor, wouldn't my temp gauge read all wrong? Or is that a different sensor?

        I wonder about an O2 sensor, but I'm trying to figure out why that would affect my idle. I'l look into that.

        Thanks
        --
        Greg P. 1988 240 DL 'Olga' 170,000 miles







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