Well, she still will not fire! The latest wisdom is to replace the engine wiring harness, part Number YZK-9128165-4. Anyone knowing of a source, we would be eternally grateful.

VolvoGeorge generously donated way too much consulting time over the phone. He spent a long evening, and most of the rest of the next two days on the phone, including Saturday, helping me trace things down. Thank you George for all of your help, but as you know she still will not fire.

The latest go-round was to replace the starter motor and both battery cables, thinking maybe the starter motor was weak (which it was), and maybe the cables were corroded, (which they were). Put some herkin marine duty cables in, and a recycled starter. Turns out the recylced starter was different than the one in the car, and the front mounting bracket was different. Suspect an 850 starter was in there. Results: spins over much faster, but still no spark.

In case you are new to this saga, we have a sparkless '95 960 Green Wagon: (Green Bitch: GB) that has not run in months. We also have a running '95 960 sedan (Wife's Car:WC), that we have been using as a test-bed of sorts. The local Volvo Sr Tech could not make it run after 40+ hours of labor. The Dealer told him to stop working on the car, but he is a personal friend, and has been consulting with me ever since, in hopes that we can make it run again. It's too nice a car to give up on, although I have already... more than once.

So whatever gremlin is keeping this thing from running it is not an obvious fix. The Sr Tech stated that after disconnecting every component that draws power, he was able to get an intermittent weak signal across the plugs, but it would come and go. He suspects a couple of wires somewhere that are shorting out on one another.

We have swapped every electrical component out of the GB, put it into the WC, and the WC starts and runs fine. (Parts swapped are Motronic, Trans computer, all coils, crank sensor, all relays, power stages, ABS computer, battery). The only components we have not swapped are the wiring harnesses, and I do not want to jeopardize my marriage to find out if that is the problem.

We are getting fuel, but no spark. OBD-I tells us 1-3-1, crank position sensor. We bypassed the harness, and ran 2 wires from the sensor directly into the Motronic, and got the same result. We have 3 crank position sensors, all work fine on the WC, but none generates spark on the GB. We have tested for continuity, every wire in the engine harness, through the common plug in the engine compartment, and all the way back to the Motronic, and find them all OK. The grounds all test fine including the power stages, and the 2 grounds on the head. We even ran a separate groung wire from the motor mount, back to the ground terminal on the firewall.

Is it possible that the alarm is somehow FU, and turning off the spark? I have locked, unlocked the doors from the outside of the car a dozen times, to see if that would clear the alarm. I have swapped out the alarm and power lock relays, and they work fine on the WC, but who knows...

After reading SurferDude's post, I am going to pull one of the sparkplugs out to see if it runs. That would be too weird.

So, if you have made it this far in the post, and have any more ideas, I would greatly appreciate hearing what they are. Or if you know of a source for a recycled engine harness, I'd also appreciate it if you pass along contact infomation.

Is it possible the rotating part of the RPM sensor is messed up? What is the history about when the car quit? Is this a replacement engine that won't start?

Is it possible that the "toothed" wheel by the torque converter that is part of the RPM sensor system is not on right. How about the mount for the RPM sensor? Could that be broken? If the code says RPM sensor it must be there somewhere.

Just some fresh ideas.... Hope this helps.

Keep posting!
--
'96 965, 16' wheels, rear 18mm bar & Koni + 204HP cams at 125K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

What is this business about a toothed wheel? We have a 92 964 with a 93 engine that, after engine replacement, will not start. Ok, it has started and run like butter but will then again refuse to start. It only starts when a "jump box" is attached the battery leads. How crazy is that? Could we have misaligned something when we mated the engine and trasnsmission? Getting this car fixed would be REALLY nice. Also see recent post about trouble removing the crank/RPM sensor.

JS

Thanks for the ideas.

The car became progressively harder and harder to start, and then one-day would not start, and has not started. The car does have a checkered past. A local INDY shop replaced the rear main seal 3 times before they got it right. (I can only imagine how much RTV they put on it). They also charged for a replacement flex plate because they said the old one was bent. The bellhousing has a 12" weld across the top, and the firewall has a deep scar where the head banged into it. I think it had front damage and was repaired. After all this, it did run for 9 months before presenting us with the current problem.

The RPM sensor mount was R&R'd with a new one. In speaking with my Volvo Sr Tech friend, he stated that he did have an oscilloscope on it, and there is a signal coming from the sensor. It apperasr to be getting lost soemewhere between the Motronic and the Power Stages, at least that is the current wisdom.

I also thought that maybe the INDY shop forgot to tighten the flex plate bolts, and maybe it has moved out of place. I did look down the hole when the crank position sendor was removed, and tried to wiggle the flex plate. It did not budge, but I could not get much torque on it. When cranking the motor with the starter, the slots just move by too fast to tell anything.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Do you know of a source for a new-recycled engine wiring harness?

I know you have swapped out all the different parts, I was just curious if you had a Volvo Green Motronic Manual? Where are you located? Had a similar problem with the 96 and the Manual made it easier. Also, do you get flashing lights on the transmission mode selector when cranking?

Hello:

Yes we have both the Motronic and Fault testing green manuals, and they have been very helpful. The Fault Testing manual has some tests that can be performed without the Scan tool, and we have completed all of them. We are to the point where we need the Scan Toll before we can proceed.

What was the resolution of your similar problem?

At one point, we did get the flashing lights on the transmission and OD indicator lights, but that went away. I did think the PNP switch might have been bad, but since the lights stopped flashing, we have yet to replace it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Do you know of a recyle source for the engine wiring harness?

Thanks...

The resolution of my problem came when I removcd both ignition control module grounds from the common point near the left motor mount. I cleaned off the terminal ends and ran a wire back to the battery negative terminal. It fired right up. The continuity through the attach point had been checked several times with good readings. This is the only ground on the schematic that Volvo identifies as a "power" ground. I haven't been able to find out exactly what that term means, so if anybody knows please enlighten me.
I have had good luck with finding parts through Strandberg's Auto in Centuria Wisconsin. I think they have a website. Good luck.

You would be able to get the wire harness from www.borton.com ( borton Volvo in MN , make sure to email them for a price quote, if you call, they'll highball you )

Not sure about the alarm messing anything up, does it have a disabler type alarm?
--
-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD for sale

Thanks Robert, I will try Borton.

The alarm is integrated, not after-market. I am not sure how to disarm it.

Thanks...

If the alarm is integrated, is the car a US model or European? There has been alot of discussion on the UK volvo club fourms about european model factory alarms with disablers giving all kinds of nightmares.
--
-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD for sale

Hey Robert:

I think its a US model, but do not know how to check. Would you be so kind as to send a link to the UK Volvo Club forums that you mentioned. You can send to me directly at DavidD_TWI@msn.com.

Thanks, Dave