OK went out for a shakedown cruise this afternoon and the newly rebuilt engine was running flawlessly as it has ever since we got it going Monday evening. So thought it was time to get some of the crud off the outside of the car and took it through a touchless car wash .... let the car idle all the time it was in the wash ... pulled out through the air blaster then when I pulled back on the road I only got about a couple of hundred yard when she started cutting out. I coasted into a shopping center parking lot and tried to restart ... NADA .... let it sit for a while and tried again and it started right up ..... pulled back out on the street ... and it died again .... coasted into the other end of the same parking lot ... checked fuel ... not flooded ... took off fuel line and cranked it over ... fuel spurting from end of fuel line .. she has fuel .... pulled the coil wire and noted a weak spark .... car is fitted with CRANE XR 700 optical trigger .... VERY weak spark from plug wire ... but still a spark .... checked distributer .. rotor is fine ... but there is some play in the shutter wheel so centered it reassembled it ... and cranked .... still not a kick .... by this time Iain had arrived with his 78 242 so we had supper in the restaurant then hooked on with a chain and towed her to our local Volvo Guru's shop ... about 20 t0 30 miles away .... It will be interesting to find out what gave up ... the motor only has about 250 miles on it ... just installed it Monday fresh from total rebuild ..But the coil is the original 1965 one .... maybe it finally bit the big one.... anyone got any other ideas ??

Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Can the car wash have blown water into the fuel tank?

Regards

Pete

Nope Pete .... it was definately the 39 year old coil that gave up the ghost ... guess that the car wash was just coincidental .... too bad it hadn't given me some warning that it wasn't happy ... but 2 hours labour later and I'm back on the road ... and besides now when I get the urge and the money I can install a High Performance coil as it now accepts a normal coil configuration .... It's an ill wind that blows no good .... ;-)

Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

It possibly could have been moisture soaking the top bakelite portion of the original coil, creating a pathway for a short to the metal casing. The second car I owned was a '62 122, and the original coil would get flaky like that in the rain or even on very humid days. At night you could open the hood and sprtiz a little water on it with it running, and see where the spark was 'leaking'. Tiny cracks, usually. If the car wash hadn't set it off it probably would have flaked out in the rain.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

I wonder if you got water in some other connection... Maybe the trigger contacts or something.
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George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US

My idea is that it's the coil. Before I changed to a Blue Coil from the stock I was getting a pitiful, ineffective little spark that barely started the car. I added the Blue when I upgraded to electronic ignition and now I get a big fat watch-out-or-I'll-bite-you spark. I also made up some 8 mm plug wires to help carry the spark. No problems now!

A BLUE coil ??? Who makes it ?

I'll let you know the verdict after I find out tomorrow sometime ... probably something simple .... just darned frustrating on a newly rebuilt engine ...

Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Bosch blue coil. That would be a good start I would think, but you gotta cut the armored wire housing under the dash. Sucks to lose the originality, but evenually, you gotta do it unless you get really lucky in finding a NOS coil/ignition switch unit.

Electronic ignition is great, and always worked well in the cars I've had that were converted. But I NEVER left the house without a spare points distributor on hand, with points all adjusted and good to drop in. If that electronic unit fails, you're dead in the water as far a roadside fix goes.

Good luck with it!
-Matt
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-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

Just got off the phone to the Shop .... it WAS the coil ... hey after 39 years and 1,542,000 miles .. do you think VOLVO will replace it on warranty ???? Will be picking the car up this afternoon ... the sanctity of the armored ignition system has been breached .....

Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Put some firepower in there to replace the weak original one. My PV's engine felt weak and wavering at full power and high rpms with the original coil. It never outright failed but ignition isn't quite a pass/fail thing.

I now have a Mallory Voltmaster on it (with a Crane ignition) that works great. With no other changes the engine immediately felt stronger from mid ranges on up.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Thanks John .... coil already replaced ... but now at least when I am ready, it should be a breeze to get an aftermarket hot coil in there ...

Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Hi. Suggest to upgrade to a red Bosch coil plus a 0.8 ohms resistor. It work well with electronic ignition (too much for points). Also, with the red coil, I has the opportunity of open my sparks a bit more (the next size 0.032), with less emissions (secondary) and a more smooth engine (main concern).

Of course, if you don´t want to mess with the resistor, the blue bosch coil is a good alternative if is not made on Mexico (on my country -Peru- one of every two bosch blue mexicans has defects from origin - the red ones are made on Brazil - coils are no more made on Germany - no personal feelings agains Mexico).

Also you can fish a blue one from a junk car (Mercedes Benz usually have it).

Btw, you can use this opportunity for change the key system for a more friendly one (volvo-bosch key systems has a tendency to broke keys)- Valley Forge made a cromed ones very similar to original.

Joaquin
Rojo 121 Amazon
Lima Peru