I'm new to my 1975 164E but not new to Volvo's. Have had some difficulty getting it started. Fuel injection seems fine, but no spark...am going to try a different coil. My question is; that funky looking star shaped thing under the distributor cap...it must be for firing the injectors...is there anything else under that like points? The guy I bought it from said there are two sets of points but I can't find any listing for parts and it seems to me it's fired by an impulse sender. how about that capacitor and ballast resistor on the firewall should I be replacing both those? Volvo lists a new improved ballast for about $19 but nobody lists a capacitor.

Help

Oops. Sorry. THe pair of trigger contacts live in the distributor, underneath the advance/retard stuff.

Thanks Justin, its great to know there are resources out there who have been down the road before me. You were right on. I discovered the coil was an aftermarket beast so I put in an old one from my small stock of left over parts. I got some fire so I went on to do the plugs, cap, rotor and wires and now she starts right up. I would like to clean those triggering contacts but that back side screw has me hesitating...I'll no doubt get it out and then spend a week trying to get it back in!

For now I think I'll give the car a try on the road and putter away at that pesky vacuum leak I can hear.

Thanks again

the distributor in the 4 cl 140 coems out so easily that I loosen up the timing adjustment and lift it right out. It's keyed so that it can only go back in one way. Then I can see really close up if the points are dirty or misadjusted, pop out the FI trig contacts spray them out and check the workings of the vac advance and point advance plate. If it working good you should be able to make the point s advance by sucking hard on the vacum inlet to the diaphram. Yeah it tasts bad but that's what beer is for.

Pop it back in adjust timing and it done.

Scott

To avoid losing the screw, catch it with a magnet as it falls out. When putting it back in, put a teeny dab of gum, snot, Kool-Aid or something else sticky in the screw slot and stick it to the screwdriver blade. A stubby screwdriver is a must, too.

Glad things worked out!

Sounds like the star-shaped thing you talk about is the chopper wheel that triggers the ignition brain.

There are 2 other "points" underneath that trigger the FI brain. They live in a little tray you can pull out. While we're on the topic, remove the 2 tiny screws that hold it in and slide the tray out. Clean the contacts with heavy paper like a business card. If there's oil in there, clean it up and start thinking where it's coming from. If the distributor seal is shot, you will have to clean those points preiodically. But in any event, they make the injectors fire, which does not sound like your symptom.

Anyway, do you know what ignition system you have? Common to Volvos are Crane, Pertronix, and Allison. Some models have an internal ballast resistor, and some coils do, too. What color is your coil? I think it's the Bosch blue coil that has an internal resistor. Are you getting any spark at all? Could be that the coil's bad, or the lead from the coil to the distributor cap is bad.

Anyway, hope some of that drivel helps.