Volvo RWD 200 Forum

INDEX FOR 10/2025(CURRENT) INDEX FOR 2/2004 200 INDEX

[<<]  [>>]


THREADED THREADED EXPANDED FLAT PRINT ALL
MESSAGES IN THIS THREAD




  REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

From the title description, you might think I'm in the market to purchase a Volvo...but that's not the case. Please forgive me as this post is more of a vent than anything else.

My beloved 245(aka: Ol' Slate) has been down and in the shop for over 1 week now. Its suffering from a sporatic no spark/no start condition that neither myself or the shop owner has been able to pin-point the cause of(yet). My car has been down before in the past, but never for this long. Of coarse, the time down has been compounded by the Holiday Season since the shop is now closed for vacation until after the New Year. At least I can take a bit of comfort knowing that its parked inside, shielded from the elements.
In the mean time, I do have alternate transportation in the form of a 1982 GMC Suburban which was lent to me by my Grandfather. Yes, it does suck down LOTS of gas...but its still cheaper than a rental car. And, No...driving the beast does not quite give the satisfaction of cornering with IPD swaybars & poly bushings or hearing the subtle rumble of a Turbo exhaust.
And despite the recommendations from my immediate Family to "Get rid of her", I'm far from giving up hope that a permanant repair solution will be found. But I will admit that the entire situation has been quite discouraging. I suppose what I'm trying to say is...During this time of the year when we reflect and recognize what we're truly thankful for...and after you've taken time out to hug the spouse, kids, and/or parents & siblings...take some time to really appreciate what your brick does for you. `Cause you never fully appreciate those benefits until they're taken from you.








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

    Forgive me if I'm repeating something but sometimes its hard to keep track of all the posts sometimes. If you have a decent voltmeter I would carefully check the voltages on the right side or the all the fuses to check for any resistive connections with the key in the #2 position or running if possible. Have you read back both the ignition and fuel computers for fault codes?








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

    Sibce you said it was a "sporadic" no spark no start I would also check the fuel pump relay and the 25 amp fuse on the fender well near the battery - both are common causes of sporadic no start conditions that can easily be remedied with little or no expense!

    Good Luck!








    •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

      Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

      Thanx for your input, JimSig. Both items mentioned checked out OK. Here's my original post regarding the problem:

      http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1242730








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

    The crank position sensor and power stage / ignition amplifier should be considered.
    Post the symptoms and I'll bet you get the answer. Dan








    •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

      Brickless in Pa. :( 200 1993

      Hi, truly sorry to hear of your troubles.
      I'm brucepick on the other message boards where we bump into each other.

      I second Dan's (pageda) suggestion that with a bit of sleuthing assistance from Brickboard you can probably get your car going again. We've certainly seen all the usual failure modes here on this board, and a number of truly uncommon failure modes that a local shop might never have seen or considered. If it were me, if the Suburban is available for a while I'd use that opportunity to figure out the problem independently.

      If you'd rather have another shop do the work, a good friend of mine has been using a shop on the northwest side of Philadelphia. With good results.

      Falcone Auto
      161 Rock Hill Rd ,
      Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
      (610) 664-0944

      Worth a phone call if you do want to take the car to another shop.

      In my view, driving a brick can be very economical, but if a shop does a substantial portion of the maintenance work that changes. I wouldn't say that having a shop maintain a 240 is more expensive than having them maintain a Corolla or Civic or anything else - it just takes the cost of ownership out of the "dirt cheap" range.

      Possible trouble causes - - - -
      Problem stated - no spark/no start

      Definitely as pageda wrote, failure of crank sensor or the ignition power stage will cause spark failure. Lots of old brick repair folks don't know about the crank sensor since it was first used in '89 and is nearly invisible.

      Already proved fuel is flowing by cranking with fuel hose disconnected at fuel rail? If flowing OK there then pump(s) and filter should be considered OK. Possible that injectors have no signal or no ground but you can test for that; the test light is very inexpensive.

      Proved no spark? My favorite is to pull the coil wire at the dizzy cap and tuck it in at the drivers side hood hinge. You can see the spark there from the drivers seat when you crank it, working solo.

      Need to check that the cam shaft lobes rotate when cranking. Observe through oil fill cap opening. If not turning, timing belt is broken. Remotely possible that timing belt has slipped a tooth or two but I don't think that would cause an intermittent problem. Checking for jumped belt requires taking off at least one of the two timing cover front pieces. If you want to check for cam rotation working solo, pull the coil wire and with key out, use a 24 mm. socket to turn the crank (lowest belt pulley). Or just note cam position thru opening, bump engine with key, then check again. Cam should have moved.


      --
      Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, expanded air dam, forward belly pan reaches oem belly pan, airbox heater upgraded, E-fan, 205/65-15 at 50 psi, IPD sways, no a/c-p/s belt, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, aero front face, quad horns, tach, small clock.








      •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

        not the timing belt... 200 1993


        When some folks get back here from Christmas festivities, someone is sure to post here that a no-spark situation in a '93 will not be caused by timing belt issues. Which is correct since from '89 forward the spark is driven by the crank position sensor and not by the cam or intermediate shafts.

        I only brought it up as something to check if no-spark hasn't actually been proven.

        It's remotely possible to have a jumped belt such that the intermediate shaft which runs the distributor is out of timing causing the spark to be misrouted.

        Anyway, the items mentioned by pageda are far more likely causes of no-spark.
        --
        Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, expanded air dam, forward belly pan reaches oem belly pan, airbox heater upgraded, E-fan, 205/65-15 at 50 psi, IPD sways, no a/c-p/s belt, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, aero front face, quad horns, tach, small clock.







<< < > >>



©Jarrod Stenberg 1997-2022. All material except where indicated.


All participants agree to these terms.

Brickboard.com is not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc. or Ford Motor Company. Brickboard.com is a Volvo owner/enthusiast site, similar to a club, and does not intend to pose as an official Volvo site. The official Volvo site can be found here.