Hey,

I've been having intermittent starting problems with my 1990 740 GL with the Regina FI & Ignition (square coil). I'd turn it over and over and over, with spluttering, popping, etc etc until it would finally catch. Smell of gas from the exhaust, all that sort of thing. Heaven forbid I should goose it with the pedal, it would never start then until I went away for 20 minutes... anytime the temps have been below 15 degrees F it's been dicey as to whether my ride would start, although it's only let me down once. But I've gotten to the hairy edge of a depleted battery several times.

I have already replaced the ICV, wires, plugs, eliminated vacuum leaks, cleaned the throttle body and so on... each thing I've done has improved things but I've still had the cold start issue intermittently.

I found a reference to the fact that sometimes the coils on these cars fail in such a way that there's a no-spark condition when it's very cold. I thought: a-ha.

Of course, the coils on these cars are very expensive. I assume the ones you buy from the Volvo suppliers include the electronic power stage that the coil plugs into... anyways I didn't feel like spending 140 bucks.

I checked all the parts places online... and found a coil-only deal at Autozone for 50 bucks. Not the power stage, but just the coil itself. It's branded Duralast, which I've had good luck with in the past. I figured it was worth a try, if the cold-start issue is in the coil and not the associated electrics. It's easy to replace, 2 screws and the coil wire and it pops right out... I cleaned the contacts and the chassis mount points and put dielectric grease on all the contacts and the chassis of the coil.

Car starts better and idles smoother, although I haven't tried a cold start yet, it seems different/better already. Maybe my mileage will improve? In any event, I'll get a true test tomorrow AM, it's supposed to be 11 degrees F and that is plenty cold enough that the problem would manifest itself.

I'll report back tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Thaddeus