Hello and thanks for any tips/suggestions.

My 1983 242 with LH2 and manual tranny will not start normally. After sitting for a while I can crank it and it catches and runs for a few seconds before sputtering out.

I have tested at the fuse box and can hear both main and in-tank pumps run. This is good as both are pretty new. If I jump power to the main pump I can start the car and it runs as expected. But after disconnecting I go back to a few seconds running before dying. I immediately suspected relays.

I have removed both 5-pin relays which seem to be original equipment: black, Bosch, marked 0-332-204-172 and 20/30A 12V. I have tested them both following the procedure outline in this YouTube video www dot youtube dot com/watch?v=IpRWcNoLdwQ and I expected at least one would fail. But all of the tests shown seem to pass on both relays. Testing the connection between terminals 30 and 87 when the switch is engaged does light my test lamp (not very bright - but could be due to not a great connection, low battery voltage, or poor quality test lamp I guess).

So I am thinking that the easy relay fix may not do the trick. They are not expensive and I can get two and try them out. But that may only be throwing money away and wasting time while the true issue remains un-diagnosed.

But I am not quite sure where to go next. Any ideas? Thanks!

So I went ahead with the easiest stuff recommended first:

1. I checked the contacts on the relays and their plugs. Both looked just fine. No corrosion or signs of overheating. I did squirt dielectric grease on both sides for each. Then I just re-installed. Did not test at this point (stupidly).

2. I pulled the 25 amp fuse near the battery. It did not look pristine but not too awful either. I brushed both sides of the fuse blades. I used a small pick to clean away anything I could reach inside the fuse holder. Again, both sides got dielectric grease.

At this point I started and the car ran as normal. I took a short test ride (along with my alligator clip jumper wire just in case) and encountered no problems.

I have let it sit a while and will see if this sticks. I am not sanguine about such "solutions". I will be carrying the jumper wire for some time until I am more convinced that something else is not afoot.

Thanks to you all for your time and help!

When it happens again, just shake the wiring around that blade fuse on the fender first instead of getting out your five to seven jumper to get it going.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather-- in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car."
(Author Unknown)

Thanks Art. Always a big help to me in keeping my 240 going (and the wife's as well).

Hello to all and, as usual, thanks for the info and next step ideas.

With the relays in place and the fuse box jumpered to force the main pump to run the car starts and runs. I did smell gas though but am not sure from where or why but I was in the cockpit with the door open. I just thought it might be from so many failed attempts to start the car prior.

I have had a problem since the car was basically new where the engine would temporarily cut out and come back while driving - even on the highway at speed. Sometimes you had to pull over and let it rest a minute and it would be fine again for months. This creeped out the wife and she hates driving my car. With many trips to the dealer this was never solved and I figured I would finally learn the problem when it died and stayed dead. Perhaps this is the time? No idea if this is related.

Both pumps and the AMM have been replaced within a year or two. The AMM was a rebuild and proved the cause of a very rich running condition. The in tank pump just failed and would not run when jumpered. The main pump was replaced when I was following Art's instructions for replacing the fuel line. I figured while I was under there why not?

I will check into all of your suggestions today and try to get back. I also need to figure out which relay (white connector or black) is the system relay and which the pump relay.

Cheers

Hi,

This is some very good and interesting background information.

While you are under the dash take a look at the ECU on the right side kick panel.
Post back the Bosch numbers on the face of the silver box.
Someone might know some history on the system like Dave or Art!

You said you had a LH 2.0 system but the LH 1.0 started earlier and you might have an in between model system.
The dealer still could have upgrade so it could go either way depending on how long you dealt with them or they with you?
There was no 36,000 mi bumper to bumper warranty back then, I think? It was on my used 1986 wagon with 28,000 and was transferable. That was almost a joke with the dealers too!

I had my 1974 Ford pickup do the same thing going down the highway.
It had a 12,000 mi warranty.
The engine would just shut off and stay that way for a few seconds. By the time you realized the engine was coasting it would turn right back on.
At the time, I was assisting a friend in a business of repairing lead in cables. These cables laid over to the car from great big diagnostic equipment.
Invariably some of them would get burned or even caught up in the fan belts.
This friend told me to change out the ignition box and sold me a new one for $20 in 1976. I still have the truck with the same part in it at 180,000. The junky engine finally wore out my patience and threw its timing chain 14 years ago!
This was my very first four wheeled vehicle and the last Ford, forever! I have six Volvos.

Get the number off the top of the box out under the hood. It's on the passenger side and tell us what it says too!
Either of those two boxes could be a issue but the one outside should never be unplugged during its lifetime. Good ole' days of Chrysler thinking, snuck into that pin connector design fiasco!

You have owned this car since new! Wow how nice! I can only imagine how that must be!

Have you ever messed with that plug?

Phil

For people who want to get their fet wet in ECU evolution through the Volvo RWD years, a good starting point is Bill Garland's ECU application table, surprisingly still maintained here at http://www.nuceng.ca/bill/volvo/database/ecu.htm. Clicking on his Home page link at the top will take you to all kinds of other valuable Volvo info, not the least of which are his AMM and transmission application tables.

[Thanks for the kind words Phil, but I am honestly no more qualified than the likes of you to comment on such matters, just perhaps been around a wider selection of models with idiosynchratic problems that now easily blur together with the passage of time. On a good day I should have remembered to explicitly include that troublesome 25 amp fuse holder in my top ten list, fortunately no longer an issue in the fancy new fangled 740s and 940s I've been into these past three decades.]
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

"I also need to figure out which relay (white connector or black) is the system relay and which the pump relay."

The color of the plastic is not conclusive identification, but the color of the wires is. The system relay (9) has the orange wire, and the pump relay (15) has the yellow with red tracer wire.

When you jumper fuse 5 to 7, you bypass the fuse (13) under the hood, which is most likely the vicinity of the problem, not at the relays.

Your 83's LH2.0 wiring looks like this:




--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Question: What do engineers use for birth control?
Answer: Their personality.

Thanks as always, Art. Your diagram is sure easier to read than the one in my Bently book. For me, simple is GOOD.

At one time, I replaced the big fuse by the battery and its holder when trying to "fix" the intermittent hesitation issue I described. I bought the stuff from IPD. At some point, some hard-headed mechanic removed and replaced that will stock bits. Later on, some other guy did the same with the flame trap relocation kit I installed from IPD to make servicing easier. Grrr.

I have more to check out today and will post back. Thanks to all!

Hi David,

Ouch, that sounds like stolen parts from your car to be sold to another customer.
I looked up where you are hailing from and there's are a lot of Volvos up in that area of the country.
There are some shrewd shysters out there with a business license and some probably have credentials among an association of independents of thieves!

IPD is well known as a company that's into doing modifications. When they stuff works decently they do put their prices a little on the rich side for what seems to be inexpensive materials to do the job to begin with. But then, they did the work to bring it to market and that has to be weighed in!
The prices not only entices those who are the worse of cheapskates to workout of the junkyards but pocket the little stock stuff.
Seeing a better replacement, well it's all about the smirks in their minds with them!

My sister-in-law had an affinity for finding them to work on her vintage 73 Volkswagen Beetle.
She has more love and money for that car than she should have had. She's learning though!
Her engine had quite a few mile on it for an air cooled so she had rebuilt, with all kinds of chrome accessories.
The kid/mechanic, she somehow found, bought a rebuilt replacement for her original engine and installed it with some splash.
It was about 1-1/2 years later with about 3k miles on it developed a weak cylinder of compression and is giving her blowby issues. Now, he cannot be found in the whole area. No one knows where he is working! The rebuilder is of course out of the loop of any paperwork warranty.

To shorten the story, I was showing her how to put a maintenance charger on the alternator's B+ connection instead of on the terminals of the battery that's under the rear seat in the car!
I happen to notice her "clear-see through" distributor cap was gone!
I asked, Did you get a tuneup since the new engine was put in? She looked at what I was pointing to and Boy, she got pissed!
She still had the same wires bright colored wires. So, I looked at the caps terminals inside and they were slightly green already! Definitely ... Used!

This time she thought she had done better because she used a recommendation by a friend who work at a landscaping business, that she patronizes a lot!
He is in a local VW club.

She went to that guy who sold her a crankcase breather. It is a $150 aluminum "fancy" catch can that has a foam filter inside. It still has to be dumped and cleaned.
He installed it with two long hoses.
It didn't work to well either because he left a kink in the bottom one hose underneath the engine!
I was able to take it out to make it breathe better when I relocated the box up higher above the engine according to "you tube" information.
The engine still is a mess with oil film around and all the way up to the windshield. She has found this out if she uses heat.

She eventually threatened the mechanic/owner of that shop with small claims court and a Better Business Burea claim.
He did refund her all her money to stop her only after more and more threats! Pushing her patience.

The friend said he was still going to "black list the dude, within the club, after he saw the receipt for the extra for timing reset and carburetor adjustment for just over $400!
She really thinks that helped the crook to come around!

With this background in our family, I feel your anxiety!


Phil

Try this:





Check for full battery voltage at the orange wire going into your AMM. Use your test light or a meter with the key in KP-II, ignition on but not yet cranked.

What you are doing is looking at the voltage after it has passed through the red wire from the battery, through the blade fuse under the hood, and through the contacts of the system relay, with the load of the fuel system components connected.

The fuel pump and system relays in your 83 are very reliable, but they suffer from the reputation made by the plastic circuit board relays doing this same job in the 85 and later cars.

Far more likely to fail is the 25A blade fuse holder and its connections near the battery. Not the fuse itself, but a bit of invisible oxidation at its connections.

In any event, testing or replacing individual pieces until the problem goes away can be a hit-or-miss approach to electrical problems. Tracing the voltage from the source to the load, to see where it drops, will give you the correct answer.

--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

The Art Collector's Wife:

A New York attorney representing a wealthy art collector called and asked to speak to his client. "Saul, I have some good news and, I have some bad news."

The art collector replied, "I've had an awful day; let's hear the good news first."

The lawyer said, "Well, I met with your wife today, and she informed me that she invested $5,000 in two pictures that she thinks will bring a minimum of $15-20million. I think she could be right."

Saul replied enthusiastically, "Well done! My wife is a brilliant businesswoman! You've just made my day. Now I know I can handle the bad news. What is it?"

The lawyer replied, "The pictures are of you with your secretary.”

Hi,

Relays don't usually fail but these maybe old enough. They can go out intermittently just before they quit all together. This is only if they get too hot but not when first starting up so I'm not willing to say the relays, are bad, yet!

Let me see if I can some more light on what is or is not happening, in order to coax out some more results back, in conversation, from your symptoms.

You said it runs as expected when you bypass the relays in the fuse panel or by applying power straight to the pump circuit near the main pump?
Does this mean, if you shut the engine off, during the bypass, it will restart immediately every time?

Can you also let it set a little bit, with the pumps running and then restart the car. Does it act like a normal car that you had before the rough idle started.
It doesn't flood out or run rough after the last or prior other procedures I'm asking about?

Running rich or losing starting rest pressure on the fuel rail can be caused by a bad FPR.
Look for leakage from one side of the diaphragm or from the return line going to the gas tank.

The two relays each control the injector system and then the pumps separately as they are separate circuits turn on by the ECU.
There could be bad ground or connector on one of the relays only! Inspect both connectors and each wire terminal in both connectors, for tightness and lack of corrosion.

I have some other ideas, but we need more things to get done, in a certain order, to create a path to the malfunction.

Phil

Hate to contradict, but fuel pump relays have always been a major weak point in all the Jetronic systems, both K-Jet and LH-Jet,most especially in those applications where an in-tank pre-pump is used (basically everything except some of the later 940s). As fuel pumps age and wear, they draw more and more current, often closer to 14-15 or more amps for older main pumps rather than the initial approx 9 amps for a new pump). Failed in-tank pre-pumps place added demands on the main pumps, increasing wear. Constantly running at low fuel tank levels increases pump load and exposes in-tank pumps to reduced cooling. The solder connections in the original Volvo relays and most of the cheap aftermarket relays are seemingly simply not up to the long term task of all the added current and repeated heat stress cycles of aging fuel pumps, which is why re-flowing the main solder joints with added solder to increase the heatsink often provides at least temporary, if not permanent relief. The KAE (Kaeler) white relays have a higher amperage design rating (20 amps as I recall) compared to the Volvo (Stribel OEM) spec (of 15 amps as I recall) and are far better suited to the task of our aging fuel pumps, well worth a few extra bucks. BTDT enough to know better. For one of the 940s I have without a pre-pump, the jury is still out on whether the Hella green? aftermarkets are the same or better than the original Volvo blue? relays -neither fails near as often as the old white relays.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Hi Dave,

You are not contradicting anything because, as usual, you are very right in all your posts!

I was only pointing out that on cars prior to 1984, the main system relay task was accomplished using two square metal can relays.
What you described is now all one white plastic relay box and one connector, even though, that system relay can act just as his can separately.
I agree with the pumps getting hotter, as I have found places on the fuses panel, where it melted the plastic cover panel in front of the fuse.

His relay setup may have been looked at, by Volvo, as it being too costly labor wise, but we all know that it was at some cost of headaches to the consumer, in the end.

Your list of, other issue areas, is actually very comprehensive and expected to be the best advice he can get.
We need to help him narrow things down into a trail, that leads him to a minimum of areas to throw money into if needed.
That is why he needs to tricks, like those of the pumps to run in different fashions, than the normal setup, to get those changes, to talk to him!
I have reversed the two relays around, because they are identical, to find out that the pumps would run on the injection relay but the car would not start. I closed the relay manually, with a shoe string tied around the contacts, after opening it up. It got me back home from town.
Knowing about the Systems Operational structure helps and is necessary, if not mandatory.

So, I welcome all the help, as since I'm not anywhere near a know it all!

Phil

Your suspicions of it being the fuel pump relay are likely well founded. Such problems are often not easy to isolate either visually on the circuit board or diagnostically on the test bench. If you don't have a known good relay you can borrow to swap in and want to confirm your diagnosis before replacing the relay, there is a quick and dirty bypass (previously well known to many tow truck operators) you can do at the fuse panel where, as I recall, you remove the two fuses and use jumper wires (tow truck operators often used paper clips) to completely bypass both sides of the compound fuel pump relay. I don't have the specifics at hand and don't have time to look it up for you, but a search of this site and/or a general google search should quickly turn up the details. Just realize that the bypass keeps both fuel pumps (in tank pre-pump and main pump) energized whether or not the ignition is on and the engine actually running. Apart from inadvertently draining your battery, this can make for a definite safety hazard in the event of a rollover or collision so only do this for testing purposes. Beyond the relay, other common fuel delivery problems include a half-seized pre-pump, badly worn main pump, clogged fuel filter, sticky fuel pump check valve, failing control pressure regulator, bad fuel pickup line or whatever. Post back with your relay bypass results and others will surely help you from there.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now