Hey guys,

Last night my car broke down. Right now it's parked at the local grocery store waiting for me to try to get it back on the road again. I'm not sure what is wrong with it so I'm hopeing you guys might think of some things I should look for when I take a work on it tonight.

First off, the car was running ok up until I turned it off and went into the store. When I came back, I tuned to key over to ACC( I think, the spot that all the red lights come on, but not turn over) and a cloud of smoke suddenly emerged from under the hood. I popped the hood and I couldn't see anything wrong, but it was dark out. I tried starting the car and it turns over just fine, but it won't start. It almost seems like it's not getting any fuel. After letting it sit for a few minutes it would try to start, but it wouldn't run for more that ~ 1 sec. All the fuses in cab are fine, and all the electronic stuff seems to work(stereo, lights, etc).

Does anyone have any ideas, or have any suggestions on things I should check tonight? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,


Nathan

78 242dl

So I just got back, I drove the car home. Man I wish I had a little more light last night. I popped the hood and couldn't see anything burnt up, so I looked for a loose vacuum line. That led me to the curved s-shaped hose that connects to the idle air valve.... it was conpletely off the IAV. I put it back on, and it fired right up. I think some excess fuel or something must have sprayed out or somthing when it came off, and just looked like smoke. I will look in to it a little more this weekend, but so far so good. Thanks for the helpfull suggestions!

Nathan

Nathan,

This sounds suspiciously like an electrical short maybe caused by a deteriorating wiring harness. A short would cause a puff of smoke and then nothing. You might want to check your engine wiring harness to see if anything got "smoked." Since your fuses all seem okay I could be wrong, but it's something to consider.

I wish you luck.



Mike

Yeah I was thinking it might be some sort of short. That would fry the insulation real quick. Hopefully I will be able to figure out what's going on tonight. Do you have any ideas what could shut off the fuel supply but still let most of the electronics work? I swear it acts like when I removed the fuel pump fuse to de-pressurize the system for fuel filter change.

Nathan

No real help here except that if you turned the key till "all the lights" came on, then that was the "Run" position. That means power to everything but the starter (and fuses 15 & 16).

Offhand I can't think of anything under the hood that would be suddenly activated at "Key ON".

However, the smaller red wire from Battery + to the little black junction box on the inner fender would suddenly be called on to power any and all "in-car" demands (stereo on, etc.). If that wire had only a few strands left, they might have sacrificed themselves in a puff of smoke, much like a fuse.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Fuses are fine, thou sayest:

Did you "spin" each one in its holders? My experience is that those rascals can look fine, but they lie. Spinning them will remove any oxide built up on their ends, and also reveal a fuse that looks OK but isn't (they fall apart under your fingertip).

Check every vacuum line, especially the ones connected to the intake manifold and the distributor.

check to see if you are getting spark.

Get a helper to turn the engine over while you feel up inside from the left rear wheel to see if the fuel pump is running.

There are other things that folks more familiar with your year brick will come in with.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)