You may recall posts from over a year ago about my trials and tribulations with a friend's green '95 960 wagon which simply stopped running due to no spark. We had the local Dealer look at the car. They tried every component replacement they could think of including a new ecu, crank sensor, cam sensor, and coolant temperature sender. We were into it so deep, that we retrieved the car and started diagnosing on our own (a scarey thought indeed). They spent many more hours on the car than we were charged, which we are thankful for but the bill was still pretty steep. And it still did not run. When a certified Volvo Master Tech can't figure it out, how much chance does a shade tree mechanic have?

We purchased new crank and cam position sensors. We sourced a replacement engine wiring harness. Actually, there are 3 harnesses under the hood, and one that goes back into the cabin. We replaced all 4 of them including all fuse boxes and connections, which entailed r&r the intake manifold at least three times. Continuity tested all connections from the component all the way to the ECU. Removed the ECU clamshell connector to run wires directly from the crank sensor to the ECU. Had the full dash completely removed. Replaced battery cables. We replaced the bracket that holds the crank position sender (read separate the transmission from the block, and slide it back a couple inches in order to get it to fit).

My wife also owns a 95 960 sedan, so we swapped out every component we could think of, except the cam sensor which was brand new anyway. All components worked on my wife;s car, but still no spark on the Green Bitch. I think all told we spent over 8 weekends, with sometimes four of us tearing into this beast at any given time. Very frustrating.

During this time we contacted Volvo George from the Bay Area, who responded to one of the Brickboard posts. He works for a Volvo indy shop. George commisserated in the evenings with us, and suggested many things which we tried to no avail. He even took a head-set to work so that he could help me during the day, while he was working on other Volvos. Still no luck.

In short things were looking glum. We were starting to think about parting it out. Throughout this time, the local Volvo Tech, Dave Motteler of Topping Volvo of Olympia continued to suggest things we could try, and basically held our hands, for which we are eternally grateful.

During this time Topping Volvo hired a new Service Manager, Lonnie Lundberg. Since my friends (Green Bitch owners) were basically broke and still making payments on a car that had not run in over a year, I asked Lonnie and Dave (on bended knee) if they would please take another look at the car. No pressure, no time limit, work on it if you have a spare few minutes, and we have no money. Dave had acquired a new diagnostic machine and was willing to check things out again. Lonnie graciously agreed to look at it for a few hours in their spare time. I told them if they could get it running again, we could put it back together. By now it looked like your typical wrecking yard parts car with the rear area holding all sorts of things like spare wiring harnesses, dashboards, trim, etc. AAA was called and she went back to Topping.

No word for the first week. By the second week, my curiosity was getting the best of me, and I popped-by Topping. The Green Bitch was in Dave's bay and I inquired if they were getting tired of pushing it in and out to work on it. Dave smiled and said, "Nope, we have been driving it in and out".

You could have knocked me over with a feather. The Green Bitch ran again! Turns out the new cam sensor which we had purchased was defective, plus the engine harness was defective. Dave had tried 3 different cam sensors when he had it the first time, but since the harness was bad, it made no difference. I replaced the engine harness, and assumed that the cam sensor was OK. Bad assumption!

The icing on the cake is that Dave had reassembled the whole car, had it washed and it was ready to drive home.

If any of you in the NW have need of a great Dealer and Super Tech, go to Topping in Olympia. Special thanks also to Volvo George in the Bay Area for his assistance. And thanks to all brickboarders who offered ideas along the way.