hey there good people of the brickboard.

i'm broken down in billings, montana, and need to get up and running to return to beautiful rainy portland, oregon.

i broke down 88 miles out of billings, the rotor jumped the distro shaft and chewed itself up inside the cap. i had a replacement cap, but no rotor (napa gave me the one for 9/16" shafts!)

after a harrowing 88 mile tow behind my father-in-law's 4x4 ford through the montana winter, i replaced the cap, rotor, and wires. no start. i went through the bentley troubleshooting guide for volvo/chrysler ignitions and found only .68V at terminal #2 on the icu (there's supposed to be battery voltage.) there's also only .68V at terminal #15 on the coil. i jumpered from the positive battery terminal to #15 on the coil and it started right up. when i disconnect the jumper, it dies immediately.

here are some issues that may or may not be related to this problem:
#1 the hall sender came unplugged on the trip (the clip was loose.) when i was replacing it, i broke the harness so it's just hanging off the distro.
#2 it has been very, very, very cold here in montana. i have some electrical gremlins that go away when it warms up (the radio won't come on, the upshift light stays on, no high beams, etc.)
#3 my ignition switch is wonky. i have to wiggle it to get the accessories to come on sometimes.

is this just a wiring problem? where do i find the wires that power the coil and icu? are they pigtailed together? are they fused? did i fry something when the hall sender came undone with voltage running through it?

i would assume that since it runs well with the coil jumpered that the hall sensor and icu are both working properly. she's purring like a little kitten with the jumper!

tomorrow at first light i'm gonna start tracing wires. thanks for your help everybody!

jonnyH

hey there guys. i fixed butter kitty (my wife named her.)
following the wiring diagrams y'all were so nice to send, i started at the fusebox and began to work my way backwards. i didn't get far, the blue/yellow from the ignition switch to fuse 12 showed 12 volts switched, but the fuse connectors had no juice. i pulled the connector to clean it, and it was brown and melted a bit. maybe when the rotor jumped it somehow fried it? anyways, i cleaned it and voila, she started right up. i had a nice test ride with my father in law through a sunny day in the beautiful snowy streets of billings.
thanks so much everyone for your help, and for going out of your way to email the wiring diagrams. they were so much easier to read than my bentley ones.
once again brickboard saves my bacon.
jonathan

If you don't have that voltage at #15 on the coil, you have a bad wire or connection between the ignition switch and the coil. You may have a bad ignition switch. I will email a PDF of the 86 wire diagram. Dan

Howdy,

Dan is getting a schematic to you so you probably don't need the link now. But here it is anyway:

http://www.volviki.org/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=1

The power for the coil comes from the battery (RED), to the junction block (RED), then through the key switch to the top of fuse 12 (BLU/YEL). Fuses 11 through 14 are powered by that wire. The ignition power is unfused, taken off the powered side of fuse 11 (BLU). 12V (key ON) is connected directly to the coil at 15.

Looking at the schematic and reading your symptoms, my guess is the key switch is the problem. Since you are doing this in bitter cold and, I assume, you need to get home, (I would) jumper the power side of F4 to the power side F12 and get on the road. Just remember to remove the jumper completely at each stop, don't let the jumper dangle; F4 is always hot.

Post back and let us know if a jumper between those fuses works to get you going.

--
Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- I've taken to using mister because my name misleads folks on the WWW. I am a 52 year old fat man. ;-)

Pin 15 of the coil is powered from the ignition switch.

http://www.volvo-forums.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=5129
--
1986 Volvo 245

jonnyH,

Sorry I don't know the answers, but I belive I was in the 700/900 FAQ section when I saw a link for wiring diagrams. If you can get to that, maybe the same site will have a diagram for the 200 as well.

Charley