So I'm restoring and trying to paint my 90 245. I put a newer engine in it after we painted the engine compartment and I am pretty sure I wired everything back up correctly.

Upon first start attempt it ran for 30 seconds with a weird raspy sound but amazingly it ran. I turned off the key and left them two days later it cranks but won't turn over. After going through various no start posts Here is what I know so far:

I have spark at all 4 new sparkplugs

I checked the cam movement under the oil fill cap and it's moving

I have fuel running out the return line after the fuel rail so I assume I have gas getting to the injectors (both fuel pumps are making noise according to stethoscope)

All 4 injectors are clicking according to same stethoscope.

I replaced the ignition power stage with a used one (that I had labeled as good years ago).

So I have fuel, spark, compression, I guess I could bypass the air from the air filter to make surey K&N filter isn't clogging air to the AMM?
When I unplugged the AMM it still didn't turnover so I'm pretty sure it's not that.

If I have spark does that indicate a good CPS?

Any help would be appreciated as I seem to be running out of ideas.

Thanks!
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi,

Yes your last statement is correct. It Goes over the tensioner last.

I assume you are cocking it back and using a nail or small drill shank in a hole that the spring covers up.
This will lock it backwards.

I put the cam on first and then around the big sprocket.
Go on around the crankshaft while keeping things rather tight in between as the camshaft as it will not move on you very easily.

Working all the slack out with both hands up and around the tensioner or one hand down by the lowest sprocket.
If the belt still has lines, you will notice that the crankshaft line will be higher and about three teeth away from going over to the tooth that the rib on the engine lines up to the rear belt guide notch.
You don’t need the belt lines they are just handy to watch for.

The main thing is that the crankshaft and the camshaft is really tight to turn so just concentrate on NO slack around the two and over the intermediate sprocket.
I use a mirror to look along the outside of the sprocket and down in between the plastic cover for a protruding plastic line. It’s on the inside. The mirror does away with parallax vision.

The belt will be very close to the tensioner if not on it lightly and that’s when you pull the pin.
Tighten the tensioner down Look at all the dots and the notch.
Rotate the engine around some until you might see some slack develop.
Stop there.
Loosening it again and retighten.
Roll the engine a few more time until it stays tight the whole trip around at least one but twice is better.

That’s all you can do until you put a few hundred miles on the belt.
I redo the belt tension after that as part of every future oil change.

Hope that helps.

Phil

Hi,

You have said that the engine is newer as in less mileage and so forth.
I think I understand that the engine you are trying to get running is not original to the car.

So, it fell from the heavens into your hands and it’s just magically better?
I would think not.
Did you go through the timing belt replacement procedure while it was easily obtainable out of the car?
Roll the engine around by hand to number one hits on the crankshaft mark and peel back or remove the top cover to see if the camshaft dot.
It is supposed to be at the top of the curve or aligned to a line on back cover plate.

Just because it turns dies not insure that it will stay in time or was even in time for very long if it was slack in the beginning.
You said it had a “raspy” sound.
I think the RASPY might be a clue.

I would not discount the CPS in its entirety either as they do fail in mysterious ways as so does the ignition coil relay behind the battery.
Those two items are the timing in a nut shell.
The 1990 was only the second year for the new system of electronics that turned out very nicely after a few modifications and one was the CPS. The next one was adding and pre start running of the fuel pumps.
Your may or may not have that. It was an ECU internal change.

If you think the timing belt is up to snuff you will have to flood the intake manifold with starting fluid vapors
to rule out a total shut down of the injector side of things.

You spray the fluid into the nipple connection where the Fuel Pressure Regulator vacuum line goes.
The FPR is another vote of contingency as if it fails open all the fuel gets returned to the fuel tank.

Using Starting Fluid bends the arrow of troubleshooting directions a bit.
It’s a good technique to use on any size combustion engine.

Give it a shot! 😵‍💫

Phil

Thanks Phil!

The engine has a long history that would probably be too boring to explain as it involves my son's 240 sedan being originally recreated 11 or so years ago and it's history involved removing its original running engine which I saved for this project.

We reconditioned the whole engine (except no piston work). So timing belt was changed after we replaced all the front and rear seals.

I had all the marks lined up on the timing belt before putting on covers and dropping engine into the bay.

How do you see that "number 1 hits the crankshaft mark" with the timing belt covers on? I will check the belt again to make sure nothing changed after putting the covers on and installing the fan and belts.

I'll also try the technique you've mentioned for getting starting fluid in there. The FPR is one thing I haven't confirmed yet.

I'll post back hopefully Friday if other things allow me the time to work on troubleshooting! Thanks again
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi,

To find the number one you align the crankshaft pulley TDC mark up to a line going vertically LINE that is located just to the right of the protrusion that holds degree marks for more BTDC.
It is a raised surface line just as black as the rest of the cover.
Many times it is overlooked as a timing light will never light up on that line but on the 12 degree spacing between 10-15.

The cam lobes will be sticking upwards but each to either side away from the other like a dogs ears when a dog cowards. You see that by looking in through the oil cap hole.

You will have to take the single screw out that hold the two top pieces together. The cover will flex back some but I find that taking the two lower bolts out gives in to more flexibility.
That intermediate sprockets, that drives the distributor, has a dot that cannot be seen.
You’ll have to check the under the distributor cap to check if it is directly underneath the number one terminal.
You may want to check the rotor button for any cracks in the top as there is a resistor under the epoxy with the brass terminal for good measure. You say you have spark but unless you lay all the plugs out to ground to completely verify.
You might have a loss in between.
Spark plug wires can fail but all four leads back to the above or the coil wire itself.

The rotor button can just quit. I have had two go bad across my six cars in about 50 years. So rare, yes, but I carry a spare anyways.

With all of these possibilities, the starting fluid is a big help to verify ignition spark or lack of fuel delivery to the cylinders.

Yes the FPR becomes a possibility as it is only a spring loaded rubber diaphragm with a check ball on the other side. They are designed to drop the pressure down to a preset and also leak fuel towards the intake upon cranking. Poor starting is a first symptom. Hot or cold.
Some people pinch the return line to artificially raise the pressure when they have a gauge or not.
It’s a quick and dirty troubleshooting techniques. But sometimes you do what you can to see what happens before whipping out a wallet.

That’s one of the beauties of these cars.
You don’t need a bunch of sophisticated tools to repair them. I have used a plastic bag to troubleshoot with.
It’s a matter of learning something about the sequence of what it’s takes to get its act together.
It’s physics of the first order involving the combustion triangle on ALL cars.
YOU NAMED THEM!

I’m sure there is some explanation “lurking around” to be found.

Good luck to you this weekend.

Phil

Ok - I got to confirm the timing belt position (after spraying in starting fluid to no avail).

The camshaft timing mark is off by a half tooth when I line up the crankshaft pulley mark with the protrusion on the lower timing belt cover.

BUT the rotor is off about 135 degrees. And one cam lobe points diagonally up while the next one points directly sideways.

So it seems I have something wrong (unless I need to turn the crankshaft one more time to see if it lines up on the next revolution??

I haven't retensioned the tensioner since I put the belt on originally... so maybe I should do that to see if the camshaft mark gets back in line by a half tooth.

Also the timing belt slipped forward (towards the radiator) by about a third of an inch causing it to over hang the sprockets .... so I pushed it back by hand. But I'm worried something is not right there and it may keep pushing forward and rub on the cover. If I can get it started and running.

What do you think?

If I can figure out how to post pictures I could send pics of the pulleys and timing marks and rotor.
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi,

Yes the cam lobes are off. The tops are to be laying more down equally to each side of the cams body.
That way nothing is depressing onto the valves bucket shims.

I don’t know how to get 135 degrees when it’s a four cylinder engine so you must be off by one-half, a 45 turn and one ninety degree quarter portion. I guess it depends from where you or how reference one from the other direction. It definitely sounds as if it in between so something jumped.

Since the belt is trying to walk off the sprockets, I would rip the front down and make sure the crankshaft sprocket is installed correctly.
It is easy to get the belt guide plates and the sprocket itself catawampus.
It is so possible to happen that the sprocket can get cracked.

This is because it is made from a sintered metal process of manufacturing and not billet stock.
The part entails both an internal and external keys let alone the grooves for belt teeth.
They just happen to still sell them separately from various vendors.
No wonder since the main crankshaft bolt gets such a high torque put on it.

As far as the belt tensioners setup, it has to be laying flat up against the engine as well.
All of the concern over the bearing can be well justified in this discussion as it does make a lot of rotations every time the whole belt makes one revolution.
Believe me that belt is flat out moving around in several feet per second!

In my past I have had one make a whining noise or shrill. It’s Then, you know it bad so don’t mess around with it.
These are technically “cam” bearings so they are tougher and wider on the outside than normal bearings and can go a distance.

I have put more lubricant inside one and ran it for some time.
It is not easy putting a hole into the side shields.
Considered it as a challenge. It’s not worth the efforts, as it did do all right.
Only once and I never again tend too.
That is, unless I was in a real pinch money or the part.
When you’re young, some things are just FUN!
Dumb can get found out later. 😳

Definitely not a daily-high miler car that seldom gets listened too or just driven hard and parked wet!
😬

Phil

New info after pulling lower timing cover off:

Intermediate shaft somehow is way off - tensioner is freewheeling so new one is on order now (I'd steal one off my son's old sedan but it's probably just as bad).

Belt is off Crankshaft and Camshaft marks were still lined up correctly except for half tooth off.

The crankshaft donut (correct term??) was on the crankshaft sprocket correctly but the timing belt was still walking forward.

Can I assume that the tensioner looseness was the cause of the walking forward belt?

And is it possible that the intermediate shaft sprocket was not tightened up enough causing the belt to slip out of proper alignment??

Thanks for the consideration - seems I'm still a novice at some of this stuff!

--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

My 1989 244 sat for eight years. My mechanic worked on it for three hours and could not get it going. Some folks on this site recommended changing the crankshaft position sensor. I understand it is at the aft end of the engine but I really don't know for sure on that. Regardless, once he changed it out the engine started up immediately and has ran well ever since. Just a thought.

My 1989 244 sat for eight years. My mechanic worked on it for three hours and could not get it going. Some folks on this site recommended changing the crankshaft position sensor. I understand it is at the aft end of the engine but I really don't know for sure on that. Regardless, once he changed it out the engine started up immediately and has ran well ever since. Just a thought.

Hi,

Glad to hear you found so much off in there. That helps explain the strange noise you heard when it did run that little bit.

As far as the belt walking sideways that was probably the tensioner more than the crankshaft sprocket since you didn’t break it when bolting it up. Make sure to inspect it for any cracking from the teeth in towards the bore.
Make sure you have it on there straight and flat with the one sheet metal guide is engaged on the surface key so it gets flat against the shoulder of the crankshaft.

Yes, the tensioner can cause the belt to walk and the need for the “driver” sprocket to have the guides as well.
I mentioned that its bracket needs to be flat against the engine. It is possible that the pivot point or locating pin did not get completely down into the engines hole.
Make sure the area is cleaned out and off of weeped oil.
As bad camshaft seal creates gunk that gets disturbed when changing belts.
It’s is a very short pin.
Take it off and get it right under there.

I cannot speak on the freewheeling aspect of good or bad bearing.
Used is used to some extent and that’s a judgement call.

It is possible but doubtful, that the bearing had creeped crooked on its bracket.
It’s only a press fitted affair into the back plate.
You can study what I’m taking about. It should be a flush and straight fit. New parts help with that provided new is a quality of replacement. That may have played a part.

If the bearing was having an issue in rotation then maybe it work on that fit.
I admit it should have been hard to do it as the hold down bolt goes through the middle of it?
So it’s back to the rolling elements inside.
A new bearing set should negate all of those possibilities.

The thing you are calling a donut, on the crankshaft is a harmonic balancer. It’s made more to protect the crankshaft itself from running stresses, especially on the turbo engines.
It’s the only thing that might, in my mind🙄, that can be referred to as a donut. Then it is rubber inner liner in under the pulley grooves section.

Volvo in MY general opinion got a little nuts with where they put in rubber to isolate vibrations.
I referring to the driven accessories. The alternator mount was not an exceptionally precision device and the rubber bushing just made things worse with age.
The arrangement down there goes back to older reciprocating piston compressors. Up and down motions.
Due to torque they had to be mounted solidly.
Even with all that it created pulsing in the drive line back onto everything else when in operation.
As I remember for Volvo was not into A/C in Sweden so to get into the American market in the seventies they bought into a hodgepodge with vendors.

Todays newer swash plate, six piston compressor that has been negated better. I sincere doubt rubber bushings should still be used as everything else is rotary in nature.
I am not one to go experimenting for the fun of it since the bushing are relatively cheap but that cheapness speaks to me. No one is going to pay me to correct that and I’m the only one that would probably appreciate losing the misalignments.


As far as being a novice aren’t we all!

It’s like learning how not to double click and creating a double post.
The Brickboard can be slow or faster you just never know.
By the time we are not such a novice at something changes.
In the early days of computers you had to double click because upload speeds were very slow.
In essence they still are but faster on one end or the other.

FCP EURO site still makes me double click to get it to go. Just the way it is set up.
Now take the Brickboard. Things come and go.
I have lost some trust that things will always post.
It is faster or slower but the term “wait for it” helps us all to realize our novice modes.
I try to copy to notes my work before posting in case it goes off into virtual land.

It just did it again.
The advertisements are more important.
Have you seen the big blank gaps in our posts?

I’m turning into a scroller to find stuff below the advertised things.
I’m developing eyes to blank out the junk from getting into my mind.
It will be called an “internet disorder” of the mind in the future.

😬
Phil

Hi,

Glad to hear you found so much off in there. That helps explain the strange noise you heard when it did run that little bit.

As far as the belt walking sideways that was probably the tensioner more than the crankshaft sprocket since you didn’t break it when bolting it up. Make sure to inspect it for any cracking from the teeth in towards the bore.
Make sure you have it on there straight and flat with the one sheet metal guide is engaged on the surface key so it gets flat against the shoulder of the crankshaft.

Yes, the tensioner can cause the belt to walk and the need for the “driver” sprocket to have the guides as well.
I mentioned that its bracket needs to be flat against the engine. It is possible that the pivot point or locating pin did not get completely down into the engines hole.
Make sure the area is cleaned out and off of weeped oil.
As bad camshaft seal creates gunk that gets disturbed when changing belts.
It’s is a very short pin.
Take it off and get it right under there.

I cannot speak on the freewheeling aspect of good or bad bearing.
Used is used to some extent and that’s a judgement call.

It is possible but doubtful, that the bearing had creeped crooked on its bracket.
It’s only a press fitted affair into the back plate.
You can study what I’m taking about. It should be a flush and straight fit. New parts help with that provided new is a quality of replacement. That may have played a part.

If the bearing was having an issue in rotation then maybe it work on that fit.
I admit it should have been hard to do it as the hold down bolt goes through the middle of it?
So it’s back to the rolling elements inside.
A new bearing set should negate all of those possibilities.

The thing you are calling a donut, on the crankshaft is a harmonic balancer. It’s made more to protect the crankshaft itself from running stresses, especially on the turbo engines.
It’s the only thing that might, in my mind🙄, that can be referred to as a donut. Then it is rubber inner liner in under the pulley grooves section.

Volvo in MY general opinion got a little nuts with where they put in rubber to isolate vibrations.
I referring to the driven accessories. The alternator mount was not an exceptionally precision device and the rubber bushing just made things worse with age.
The arrangement down there goes back to older reciprocating piston compressors. Up and down motions.
Due to torque they had to be mounted solidly.
Even with all that it created pulsing in the drive line back onto everything else when in operation.
As I remember for Volvo was not into A/C in Sweden so to get into the American market in the seventies they bought into a hodgepodge with vendors.

Todays newer swash plate, six piston compressor that has been negated better. I sincere doubt rubber bushings should still be used as everything else is rotary in nature.
I am not one to go experimenting for the fun of it since the bushing are relatively cheap but that cheapness speaks to me. No one is going to pay me to correct that and I’m the only one that would probably appreciate losing the misalignments.


As far as being a novice aren’t we all!

It’s like learning how not to double click and creating a double post.
The Brickboard can be slow or faster you just never know.
By the time we are not such a novice at something changes.
In the early days of computers you had to double click because upload speeds were very slow.
In essence they still are but faster on one end or the other.

FCP EURO site still makes me double click to get it to go. Just the way it is set up.
Now take the Brickboard. Things come and go.
It is faster or slower but the term “wait for it” helps us all to realize our novice modes.

😀
Phil

Ok looks like the crank pulley is coming off and I'll be trying to line it all up again... This time with the distributor in mind as well as all the timing belt and rear cover marks
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Ok looks like the crank pulley is coming off and I'll be trying to line it all up again... This time with the distributor in mind as well as all the timing belt and rear cover marks
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Ok looks like the crank pulley is coming off and I'll be trying to line it all up again... This time with the distributor in mind as well as all the timing belt and rear cover marks
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Don't sweat the half tooth, that's likely a matter of you not precisely lining up the timing marks or wrapping the belt the wrong way during installing so the belt is too loose on the right. You need to properly re-check the pulley alignments their timing marks to know which way you're out by half a tooth.

The belt starting to walk off may well be a worn tensioner idler puller. They should be periodically replaced, like every second timing belt. A new idler pulley will turn "smoothly" with a wee bit of resistance, while a used pulley will spin, but not freewheel, and a badly worn pulley may freewheel. There should be zero slop or chatter when turned or spun by hand. After replacing the belt, rotating the crank twice then re-tightening the tensioner, you should start and briefly run the engine to make sure the belt doesn't want to walk off.

More important for your no-start is the distributor alignment. It would seem you failed to align the intermediate shaft sprocket which drives the oil pump and distributor shaft. It has similar marks to the camshaft sprocket. In 700/900s with the rear distributor, alignment of the intermediate shaft sprocket is unimportant (although the marks are still there), but in 240s with the side mount distributor you need to align that sprocket. If the distributor is stall out after that then you have a distributor mounting problem that needs to be attended to.

For crankshaft alignment, although you can temporarily replace the timing cover and align the double scribe mark across the pulley to the timing cover zero degree mark, the proper way is using the notches in the guide plates and aligning them to the ridge behind them. To do that properly you should sight perpendicular to the plates using a mirror. Refer to the following writeup:

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/B230FTimingBeltAlignment.htm



--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Well Dave and maybe others - I have replaced the timing belt tensioner with a new one that had a much slower spin on its bearings (so the old one is probably too used to use)

Now I'm finding the advantage I had of having put the belt on originally while the engine was on a stand!

Are there any tricks to keeping all three sprockets at their individual marks while slipping a new belt over them?

For some reason I may have missed that in the write up you sent me a link to.

The new tensioner (even though it's spring is unloaded) still puts a good amount of tension on the belt and makes it hard to slip the belt over that last sprocket (in this case I tried the intermediate shaft sprocket).

After finally slipping the belt over that last sprocket the marks were off by about 1.5 - 2 teeth on the intermediate shaft and the crankshaft when I had the camshaft right on its mark.

Maybe I should slide the belt over the tensioner last???
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Yes, slide the t-belt over the tensioner pulley last. Start with the belt on the crank sprocket then work up the right keeping the belt fairly snug, over the intermediate shaft sprocket then up over cam sprocket, then slide the loose loop over the tensioner pulley. Getting it over the tensioner poulley may require Leaving the belt sticking out a bit from the upper cam sprocket, then push the belt back fully over the sprocket teeth.

Note that almost all t-belts will have white alignment marks to help make sure you install it correctly. Flip the belt so that the longest gap between two white lines is on the left and the double white line is at the bottom of the loop. With all sprockets lined up to their dots on the timing cover and block (as in that diagram) then start with the double white line wrapped half over the crank sprocket so it aligns with the guide plate notch. Then holding that belt in place underneath the pulley you can let it unwrap a bit from the notch, now hold it tight going up the right side and the next white line should align with the dot on the intermediate shaft sprocket and then the next white line should align with the dot on the cam sprocket. Once you've got the slack part of the belt over the tensioner pulley then you can do a quick double check of all sprocket alignment marks before releasing the tensioner. Rotate the crankshaft two revolutions, release and re-tighten the tensioner, then recheck that all sprocket marks align to their timing cover and block marks. Don't worry about the white lines no longer lining up. They won't line up again for a few thousand more revolutions. There was a post here recently where someone, I think it was Art, figured the actual number of revolutions based on the sprocket and belt teeth counts. Before finishing and replacing the upper timing cover, run the engine for a moment to make sure the belt doesn't want to walk off the pulleys. You actually don't need any of the drive belts installed to start and run the engine for a brief moment.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

THANK YOU DAVE

THE CAR IS RUNNING!!
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

THANK YOU DAVE

THE CAR IA RUNNING!!
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Ok Dave... I followed your instructions exactly and it worked like a charm! Timing belt lined up on all three marks.

When I rotated the crankshaft two revolutions everything stayed lined up!... Unfortunately after two revolutions of the crank the belt was again walked out towards the radiator about 1/4 inch on the cam pulley and 1/8 in. off the idler. The belt stayed completely on the crank pulley and intermediate shaft pulley.

I released the idler, pushed belt back on the tensioner and retensioned it

All alignment marks stayed lined up

So should I run it a short bit and see how bad it gets? Or could there be another cause for it walking?
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Nevermind - ID 10 T error

I didn't have the tensioner bolt tightened down. Tried it again after tightening that bolt and everything stayed on straight

After two revolutions the marks are still lined up on Cam and crank pulleys and intermediate shaft is just a half tooth off.

--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

If you've had problems with the belt wanting to creep over the edge of the cam sprocket or tensioner pulley then I'd want to make sure that's no longer happening. The crank sprocket guide plates will keep it from walking off the intermediate shaft sprocket. With the upper timing cover off, start and run the engine for a minute or two. If it continues to creep then shut down immediately. If it's a faulty belt (which may mean it's taken on a bad set from being folded or twisted in the package) then you could try flipping the belt over (the white lines would no longer be useful). You could also put on the old belt to see if it also walks. You of course have the tensioner bolt tightened with the washer holding the pulley tight to the block. The spring is just for initial adjustment. In the DOHC B234F the tensioner is hydraulic and floats. Also, double check that the belt has the correct square or round shouldered teeth. The later B230F engines switched over to using a longer life, quieter round toothed belt, but I believe your 1990 should still be using the square toothed belt. Mixups can happen.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

Thanks Dave - unfortunately I won't be able to try this until I get back from a trip with the grandkids - but I'll report back in early June
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Ok - thanks - I always wondered why those black plastic protrusion marks were on that cover ...

Looking forward to some new things to check!
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi,

Glad I could help a wee bit. Getting more enthusiasm from anywhere helps, especially, if you are churning butter. 😊

When the initial tension is placed on a belt IT DOES NOT tension the whole belt in one fell swoop.
It because the teeth are engaged into the sprockets so in essence
In those areas behind a few teeth around the sprockets just do not get same “affect”-ion.” 🤔
You have to roll around the engine by hand a few revolutions to let it settle evenly after first putting on.
They may look aligned from tooth mark to tooth mark on a brand new belt so the count will be correct but the overall rotation cycle can still change.

I didn’t pick up when you changed the belt and seals but if the belt is fresh you to reset the tensioner a few times after rolling the engine around by hand to get all the slack out.
Since you ran the engine you got that done for sure.

This is like when a couple gets engaged to be married they may have had gotten some stretching workouts or adjustments but the true test is after a little run-in period of like making wedding arrangements. 🥴

The marks can actually move a whole notch or tooth in distance. After a few hundred miles it is stressed in the manuals to loosen the tensioner nut up and then just tighten it back down through the rubber access plug in the front of the cover. Just in case you have noticed.

One has to remember that the belts are a rubber and stranded cording mixture and vulcanized.
Exactly like in car tire carcasses. Around 60,000 miles both are pretty much done for revolutions and that’s on better tires, so it’s the same for belts. Volvo started out on red blocks with recommending 30,000 miles to do replacements.

As a tire gets it mileage put on it’s the carcass that lets the outer tread do more squirming.
Tires will become more noisy but we get use to hearing them.
I know this as I had my first 1978 Volvo came with Pirelli's technology. So much for them, I heard!😵‍💫

A Husband and Wife do the same thing.🥴
You can try an upgrade but if it’s like timing belts you might find out that what you had was doing a good job.
I have stayed with Continental since I learned the Volvo and them are upper class belts.
I liked Michelins for holding air over time and mileage.
I now I see Michelin has dumped the 185 or 195/60-14 from their menu.
I think they sold their tooling to COKER tire that went to three times the price. I’m not that stuck on Michelin.
Toyo maybe next in line for my business if the 70 aspect ratio works.

These tires do the same job, load wise but with a more comfortable secure ride than the “rubber band tires” of today. They show off rim styles for an extra $75-100 a tire each.
The volume between me and the road is so much less that tire stores want to require you to have TPMS kit installed.
They come with non replaceable batteries, inside the tires. Good for, maybe seven years.🤞
Tire shops are also pushing a rumor that tires should be replaced every seven years.
I say only if outside, full time, in Texas or the southwestern USA. That climate can dry out anything.

I priced the sensors @ $245 a set @ Costco no less!
It looks like if you don’t buy sensors they charge $3.00ea to change the “O rings” on them.
The new rubber stems use to come with the tire mounting.

Yes, hang on to your 245 wagon, because if you own a honking BIG pickup, you might have to have commercial license plates to haul anything but groceries in the rear.

Keep us posted on what you find.

Phil

THANK YOU PHIL!

THE CAR IS RUNNING!!!!
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2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi Jack,

No spark without CPS.

How old is the gas? I was wondering if the injectors are plugged up with varnish.
After failure to start are the plugs wet or dry?

Will it run on starter fluid?

Do you have some squirrel or rodent nest in the air duct.

Bill

I'll check the plugs again... If they are wet does that indicate the injectors are working?
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2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi Jack,

If your injectors are working and the car doesn't start you should expect to see
soaked plugs. Find out if you have fuel in the cylinders.

Then you wonder about timing
You can use the starter fluid to check that.
Phil told you how to do that.

Checking the plugs and seeing what happens with starter fluid helps to
find the problem, just do it and post back.

A blockage in the exhaust might cause your issue too, someone recently
found a CAT converter completely plugged that killed his engine.

Bill

Hey Bill - thank you!

The reason I had new spark plugs was because the plugs I had in there were pretty soaked after several tries of cranking it.

I took the plugs out for a few days and hoped the cylinders would dry out - then I put in new plugs and tried again at cranking.

New plugs still seemed dry after a couple tries of cranking the engibe. But I should check them again since I've had several more start attempts

But I'm thinking the problem is the rotor doesn't line up with the #1 notch in the distributor housing when the crankshaft is at TDC and simultaneously the camshaft sprocket mark lines up with the mark in the rear timing belt cover
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2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Hi Jack,

Wet plugs moves you on to timing. (You said you had spark.)

Do this:
Turn the crank until the rotor is pointed at #1 cylinder plug wire.
Remove the #1 plug and put a plastic straw and find TDC.
You'll see it go to maximum, That's TDC for #1
Then check all your timing marks.

Inspect the T-belt tensioner as Dave says.

Report back with what happens.

Bill

THANK YOU BILL!!!

THE CAR IS RUNNING!!
--
2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Jack you are getting great help and guidance from bill so I dont want to interfere with that good stuff.. here are a few notes from my 240 no start experiences in case any of it helps , otherwise you guys continue on..



if you turn the motor wiht plugs out until you feel it "breathe out" of #1 and continue to TDC your distributor should point to #1 plug.
when you crank the engine , look if you have tach bounce, or speedo bounce, if so it's probably a sign its getting the signal from the TDC sensor.

if you take a small fairly low watt test lamp with an incandescent bulb , put that across the two coil connections. when cranking you should see the lamp flicker, if no flicker then you may have no spark. you can use a timing light with the button taped down if you prefer to check for a spark. ( if alone)

I had an issue where everything was ok except that the little nuts on the coil terminals were rusted and needed cleaning..

you can check the engine fuse, probably near to the air mass meter, couple of thick red wires,, might be corroded. bad TDC sensor will cause no spark.

if the test lamp on the coil does flicker f\during cranking , that means you have a TDC pulse and if the coil is getting a pulse on its primary coil then its likely sparking ok.. If you do not see a flicker, then Id suspect the TDC sensor..

I hooked battery cables up bass-ackwards once! that caused a no start because it blew the ECU - dont do that..

i was running my 740 around, ( same engine) it idled bad and then I found I had an injector stuck open.. so was running on 3 cylinders.

what I do now is take the car outside, get a proper fire extinguisher rated for a fuel fire handy.. be careful atomized fuel just takes a spark to explode never mind burn your house down..

pull the fuel rail ( order new o rings first)
hook up the grounds near or under the fuel rail bolts
put rags under the injectors, crank it , just a moment and run and see. you should see the fuel spray from injectors and wet your rags, all 4 pretty evenly.. if an injector fails to spray or if it fails to shut off completely that's a problem. be careful not to bump the end of the injectors you may damage the needles. .. if you like you can order new pintles and washers and there is a filter into them too, I believe.. that stuff is cheap..

I made a jig to backflush mine with fluids and to check them under a bit of pressure..never changed the filters mine were not plugged, there is a little tool basically a sheet metal screw used to yank the little screen filters out of them. I left mine alone.

Ive seen them stuck closed ( no fuel in one cylinder) or stuck open, (car barfs out white smoke for it's first block upon startup after sitting..)

if they stick open it will dump a bunch of fuel from the rail into a cylinder.

if you have a problem with dead fuel pump, bad pump relay, etc you won't get fuel from the injectors. if you have fuel spray, then the fuel pump is running.
when you turn the key to on after car has sat you can normally hear the pump (under floor, under drivers seat) run a couple seconds..

I once had had someone crank the car and it started then gave it full throttle without releasing key, blew up starter motor gear, wiped out TDC sensor , bent flexplate ( with holes that TDC sensor reads) to straighten bent and twisted flexplate without engine or trans removal I put a 1" hole through the bottom of the bellhousing ( with those brackets removed) so I could see and access.. it worked..

I rebuilt an engine once and got the flex plate on the wrong bolt hole, then it ran at about 700 RPM no higher.. I was so frustrated I had a shop pull the trans to turn it to correct spot.. (he was so good he diagnosed that over the phone)

using quick start is a fast way to tell if it wont run because of no fuel , if it starts with quick start you do have compression and spark.

I butchered an old fuel pump relay, and jumped it , with a fuse in there. its just to prove fuel pump runs or quickly rule out a problem if the relay dies.

if you open the line at the fuel rail and put it in a jar and crank engine , it will fill the jar very fast. that proves you do not have a plugged up fuel filter.
but again.. pumping fuel like this can cause a huge fire so please think about the risks and if you do that do it with all the precautions necessary.. If you do spray any fuel , make sure you are completely aware and ready for any consequences, this is why some of this is never recommended in a manual.

I once couldn't figure out why my car wouldn't start , then realized I had this great idea that I could prevent a possible (junky) car theft by removing the rotor ;-)

Oh and all intake hoses are new and clean... I've just wondered if the K&N filter may not have been maintained correctly before installation
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2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!

Great so that eliminates the CPS!

The gas was old but I drained most (not all) of it out before 1st start.

How do I get starting fluid in there? Spray straight into throttle body after disconnecting AMM and accordion intake hose? Having helper crank the ignition?
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2 1990 Volvo 240s - 1 is my son's sedan the other my 245 in restoration, 1 1999 S70 is my current daily driver until I can get back into the 245!