It's good to know that connector isn't as touchy as I'd heard.

This latest problem with son's '87 240 (timing belt jumped last week and retimed* Sunday) turned out to be a loose ground on the front fuel rail bracket. The ECT needs that ground terminal and was flooding it out, so it would only start with the throttle wide open.

I was coaching him by phone on last week's problem (spark & fuel but no combustion) and suggested those 3 grounds, and somehow he missed tightening #1. Luckily he made his commute from Yonkers to NJ and back OK on Monday, and at least got to work yesterday. Stalling out on the GW bridge during rush hour could have been a real possibility.

I think I must have neglected to retension the new timing belt a month ago, causing Failure #1, while he forgot to tighten the ECT ground. Guess he takes after the old gent.

* He'd never messed with the timing belt or crank pulley before, but used the rope trick as a counterhold for the pulley bolt, and got the belt on right the first time.


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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

hi bruce. i have changed out a couple of these with no adverse affects.
i did have a bad ignition box and the car ran better after a the swap.
my volvo friend says it is not as critical as bentleys states.
there is a tool to remove and install the little sleeves.
that all i know.
good luck

I unplugged to install a junkyard ICU to see if that would make any difference in the way the 83 ran. Ran fine before, ran the same after. Later I installed a new ignition harness to replace the rotted out original. Later still, I reinstalled the original ICU.

So - lots of plugging and unplugging, with no noticeable effect. Did not clean, did not lube. Perhaps that wasn't wise, but I seem to have gotten away with it. I inspected the pins in the connector each time and could see no damage.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F, dtr's 83-244DL B23F, 'my' 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)