Hello Volvoites,
I tightened up may alternator belts last night and this morning the 245 missed all the way to work on I295. Noticed that in first gear, the missing was not apparent but as I accelerated through second gear, it began to miss and in third it missed all the time. Got to work, parked the car and lifted the hood. It did not miss at the standing idle. I saw a sheathed wire from the ignition electronic box on the passenger fender to the driver side of the engine compartment (going to the coil?) that was resting on top of the alternator casing. Moved the wire and the missing began. Moved the wire some more and she stalled. Noticed a shiny spot on the alternator casing where the wire was rubbing. Cut away the sheath and found what appeared to be a shielded (with copper strands) coax-type cable which surprised me. I thought I would find regular stranded wire with degraded insulation. My question is: is it really a shielded cable? I did not want to cut any deeper right now to explore since I have to go to my second job tonight and don't want to take the train. She seems to be running ok right now.

Thanks for the confirmation. It was running scarey-rough (big-time, hard missing) on the way home - kept looking for a "pull-over" site. True to form, she got me home OK. Around midnight, I took a known good coax and rerouted it and it connected the ignition module to the coil (12) connector. I cut the old cable and it seemed to work about 95%. I am still getting an occasional "slight miss" that is a bit of a worry. Could the ignition module be flakey?

Also, another coax (smaller diameter) is tied to the larger coax at the coil (12) connector. I could trace the smaller coax to "under the intake manifold." The Volvo wiring diagram shows no wire like this. Does it go to the Fuel Module?

Also, can I use any coax wire to replace this. And does the shield have to be grounded at one end or does it float?

I am surprised Volvo ran a shielded wire in the same bundle as the alternator feed - that is a big No-No in the instrumentation business.

I had this exact problem on my 84 244. Yes it is a coax cable. It is actually the wire whiich runs from the coil to the ignition control box right there next to the alternator behind the rt, headlamps. It carries the rpm information to the ignition controller. Unless the inner wire is actually broken, just tape it up and try to hang it so it doesn't touch the alternator.
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744-16v,745-16v,242Turbo.245DLT