Picked up a 1990 240 sedan with 152K miles. Has sat for a little over 2 years.

Why it sat story: Car was bought at an auction by a small local dealer. Dealer drove it for 6 months as his daily for errands and such. Ran great according to the dealer (and a couple friends of mine that can verify). He decided to put it on the lot for sale. 2 days later a guy test drove it and agreed to a price. Went to bank to get money....dealer tried to start the car to move it to wash it off and it would not crank.

Hasnt started up since. Over 2 years.

I picked up the car as its straight, 75% good paint, and the interior is mint.

The lot mechanic did some "diagnostic" work....swapped high pressure fuel pump, ran a power wire from the fuse strip to bypass the fuel pump relay to no avail.

What I have done...

Check for broken timing belt: Cam shaft is rotating.
Compression: Do not have a compression gauge...but I can getting exhaust crumbles blowing out the back as I crank....but plan to check compression with gauge.

Check for Fuel: Both fuel pumps run and there is fuel being moved to the fuel rail (tank was essentially empty and I put in 5 gallons). Currently jumping the power from the red wire to the red/yellow wire at the fuel pump relay to get power to the fuel pumps.

Check for Spark: No spark. Checked 25amp fuse...good...checked with meter...no pass through of voltage. Replaced 25 amp fuse/holder with a new inline fuse.
NOW have spark.

Have spark and fuel...will not crank.

Disconnected the MAF...no change in behavior.

Any further ideas? I do not have a Bentley...and I cannot find my old Chilton and Haynes books from my previous 240's...so I've been working from memory...and google searches.

Suggestions?



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Chris M. 1986 245GL. "Blueberry" '85 245 w/ 414,765+ miles. ***SOLD***

**Update**

Used a couple online manuals from the OZ site...and followed the troubleshooting path to determine, to the best of my ability, that the ECU was bad.

I traced several different routes to get to that decision. Ordered a replacement that should be here Monday (8/19/19).

In the end, the ECU was not supplying a ground to the relay as it should. Plus...the ECU was the infamous Pink Label variety...going to replace it with a 951 model.

Thanks for all the help folks.

Chris
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

glad it worked out.
Cheers
yr Librarian

Hi,

Oh boy, I need to ask are the plugs getting "wet" with fuel from all that cranking or I should say it, better, not starting up!

There is a difference you know? Rolling over or running.
Like there's the Metric and English measurements as both can get you to the same place.
I remember, in shop class, a cartoon illustration of a boy and girl staring down into their shorts!

Check the AMM's Orange wire for voltage that will help define it the system relay is working.
That relay is under the glove box and runs the pumps and the power to the injectors.
A common failure item or things related to it electrically.
Bad grounds in the wrong places raise havoc!

Another somewhat common item is the Crank Position Sensor, so inspect the wiring to it.

The whole timing belt thing can be check outside of pulling those covers off.
The top one will lean back enough to the cams Mark.

A little starting fluid injected through a vacuum line behind the throttle body will verify the lack of injector operation and clears the other two issues.

Sounds like you got a nice car and probably inexpensive as usual.
A gold mine for those with patience and a moderate range of mechanical talents.

Phil

Thanks for the reply. Here is more info related to your questions:

Oh boy, I need to ask are the plugs getting "wet" with fuel from all that cranking or I should say it, better, not starting up!

***Pulled the plugs this afternoon. Plugs were black with soot.
I have fuel at the fuel rail input and the return.


Check the AMM's Orange wire for voltage that will help define it the system relay is working.

**Found mention of that when googling today. Checked the orange wire and had 0 volts...nada. I swapped relays and still...0...nada.

**I can jump the relay and fire the pumps (red power wire jumped to the red/yellow leads to the pumps). Is there a way to jump power to the AMM?

Bad grounds in the wrong places raise havoc!

**I have checked all the grounds and have only found 1 loose wire and that was too the oil pressure sender. I checked the grounds for tightness and corrosion and they were good.

Another somewhat common item is the Crank Position Sensor, so inspect the wiring to it.

**I thought that was causing the No Spark issue...but it was a bad 25 amp fuse connector. Replaced it today and now have spark.

The whole timing belt thing can be check outside of pulling those covers off.
The top one will lean back enough to the cams Mark.

**I checked the timing belt...it looks good and is taunt. I lined the cam up with its mark and checked the distributor. I didnt have time to take the bottom cover off of the timing belt to check the intermediate shaft. Will try and do that first thing tomorrow.

A little starting fluid injected through a vacuum line behind the throttle body will verify the lack of injector operation and clears the other two issues.

**I can try that too. Just a couple squirts, right? Havent used starter fluid to fire anything up since the 80's and that was on my dad's drag car, a 1968 Barracuda with a 440 in it.

Sounds like you got a nice car and probably inexpensive as usual.
A gold mine for those with patience and a moderate range of mechanical talents.

**It will be really nice once running!! I have patience, but running out of time. This is to be my daily...and have to go back to work on the 26th...gotta get it running pretty quick!

Thanks for the help, Phil.
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

You can show a man a book, but you can't make him read.

my recommondation that you DownLoad the Volvo Problem Solver, I assume as ignored,as you continue to ask questions. Link in my post above.

In the Book:
Bosch EZK Ignitons - Quick Check. Fault Tracing...

Group 25 LH-Jetronic Injection
Group 28 Electronic Ignition Systems

Back in the Day when 240s were still being made, IPD offered this book for $60. No longer in print. When you bought it you also got updates as new models with different problems came out. It came in a large loose-leaf binder.

I'm here to prod you basically because I read Phil's mention your Steampunk site.
so..."wetplates".
Care to post a link?

Well, I did go to the site and downloaded the book...actually I batch downloaded all of the pdfs on the site so I could more easily access it in the garage.

I am not only having to back trace the issues of a traditional "no start" issue, but also try to figure out what the mechanic did to bypass things...



As for wetplates....I am a photographer specializing in wet-plate collodion images. I shoot tintypes as they did from the 1850's through the 1870's. I photograph reenactments, weddings, family portraits, steam punk events, vehicles, just about anything...on tintype.

my simple site is www.thesilverbath.com
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

Hi,

I agree with the book theory as being the same as, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.

From looking at his profile he is self employed or the business is a nice hobby that keeps him busy.
The link is in his profile line under a home url or something. It’s highlighted in blue so the board has it working for him there that requires a sign in to post.

I don’t know if he can do it the way he has it in his profile due to board rules about advertising or creating a spam link or public threads.
I could copy and paste it but it’s not my place to make that call.
Maybe someone can get this horse to drink?
I’m signed in with a profile that I’m comfortable with and not using a “claiming to be” person one.
Again in this area I will invoke a disclaimer as I truly don’t know what I’m talking about in the real scheme of computer things and their restrictions.

I think our kitty poster is into a photography hobby, he would like the site and know more that I about writing.

Have a nice day!

Phil

""""and not using a “claiming to be” person one.""""

not claiming to be, I am CB, here since 1998 at least. My log-in got lost somewhere along the line. It's happened to others here too. I think Art had to rereg as Art1 ... There's trichard AKA and others...I did CeeBee1...yeh I got a listed registered profile. But I just kept using CB, but it only worked if I "Claimed to be".

wetplate. when Phil wrote Steampunk... I thot you had picked "wetplate" as a takeoff on a early battery (wetplate) which I have seen in Steampunk themed. I did not think of tintype photography

thanks for the link.

Hi Chris,

I went out to your profile to get your first name and saw your website link.
That is a nice concise to the point setup you have there.
Never knew anything about Steampunks gatherings. Very Eclectic bunch of people you get to meet.
It’s no wonder you are fixing up another 240 Volvo. (:)

I want to tell you not to bother pulling that cover to see only the intermediate gear mark. It the distributor rotor is pointing to the number one wire terminal it will be close enough to make the cylinders pop or all of the them run.
The plugs not being soaked and you smelling gasoline someplace, says, you are not getting fuel to them.

As far as the starting fluid spray it takes a good healthy spray to fill four cylinders as this is not a lawnmower engine. I’m not sure that you can spray too much unless it goes to place beyond the intake manifold. Technically, what you are doing is what a carburetor does, because a carburetor is nothing more the a tapered pail or bucket with calibrated holes in it!

Powering up the orange wire was a novel idea and sort of says the problem is more on the grounding side.
The orange wire gets it power from one half of that system relay.
I personally would have worried about back feeding power to places unknown but once it’s powered, it’s powered, either by you or the relay.
I go with working the way it’s design to work and not bypass any unknown safety systems.
I usually pull the cover off the relay and wrap it with a rubber band to close both of the contacts down.
When you turn the key on the pumps should run and the orange wire gets the 12 volts.
The relay needs it’s on ground point for its coil, as well. So there is a separate wire, to ground, out of the socket you might check let alone all the other terminals in it for issues.
The main pump draws a lot of current and heating things up can occur.

This engine uses the EZK fuel management system.
The CPS tells the ICU to tell the ECU to fire the injectors.
The ECU does this by closing the grounds of the injectors in pairs. If you are “not” getting any gasoline to any you may have a bad ground on the ECU or power to it.
If it’s a “not” answer, the middleman of a working the system relay will not pull in and then nothing works.

If the car has had a windshield leak or the grommet from the wiper motor has leaked water in there. Seems this could be issues in that area down there and with mostly grounds a cheap fix, luckily?
Having spark rules out the ICU and the CPS for now.

I sure hope all the information on the board, helps spin you up, (:) into the right direction by your deadline.

Phil

What year did Volvo incorporate that Wonderfull prone to failure item known as the CPS or crank position sensor? And doesn't it cause no start conditions when it fails?

Update 8/13/19 8:30am

Swapped the CPS with no change.

Bypassed the relay to run the pumps and to send 12V to the AMM...still no start.

Chris
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

Update:

Checked timing belt. It looks good and has correct tension.

I lined up the cam mark and checked the rotor and it was pointed to the 1 position. Seems to be OK.

Is there another way to verify?

Thanks again.
--
Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

First thing is you get the engine set to TDC of the compression stroke. So set #1 cylinder to the top of it's stroke, then look at the rocker arms to make sure both valve are closed.

Then you can look at the cam and intermediate shaft pulleys to see if the marks on the pulleys line up with the dimples on the backplate of the timing belt cover. If they do then look at the rotor to see if it also points to the number 1 plug wire.

You may need a small mirror to see the mark on the intermediate shaft pulley.

Dan

dnload

Volvo_Problem_Solver_Repair_Manual_1962-1994_Models.pdf

from this source --- scroll dn it's listed after Volvo GreenBooks listings and just before WORBOOK in this rather messy list page.

https://ozvolvo.org/archive/

If you have fuel and spark at the spark plugs then you probably have a timing problem. The timing belt may have skipped a tooth or two, I would verify that all the belt timing marks are lined up correctly.
Dan

To clarify....

is there an easy way to check the timing belt other than stripping the front off of the engine? (fan/shroud/belts/etc)?

Will getting the top pulley to align at the mark and checking the distributor to make sure the rotor is pointing to the 1 position verify? I seem to remember something along those lines being talked about in the past.

Thanks.
Chris
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

Is there an easy way to do that other than removing the fan/shroud/belts, etc?

I have the top timing belt cover off...
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)

Thanks! Will do.
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Chris M. 1984 245 "Big Lucy''-SOLD 1986 245GL. 'Blueberry' '85 245 -SOLD 1992 240 Sedan 'SnowBall' - SOLD 1990 240 Sedan (current)