We'll I'm wiser but soon-to-be poorer after attempting to replace the position sensor in my '90 244 project this weekend, so I thought I'd share my lessons with you Bricksters. Position sensor is the device on later 240 cars ('88 and up?) that allows the ECU to establish spark timing. It signals TDC of crank to ECU. Anyway, they fail sometimes and I wanted to insure dependability of this 12 year old car by installing a new one. They're hard to access (behind head on top of bell housing) but using a socket extension and flex joint, I was able to remove the retaining bolt easily enough. Trouble started when I couldn't get the old sensor to out of the hole it fits into over the flywheel. Where it's located makes it hard to get much of a grip on it and none of the mom's I talked to would let me borrow their toddlers. I tried rotating it in the hole to free it and then prying it up with a screwdriver. To make a long-story short, it's not mounted in the beefy Volvo bell housing like I thought, but in a flimsy, Fiat-like, aluminum casting that bolts into the back of the block. And, very easy to break I've discovered. And, designed so you need to separate the bell housing from the engine to R&R it!!! Moral of the story is go easy on a stuck sensor, unless you own a lift and a transmission jack - or were planning to pull the tranny anyway.

Only the dead have no troubles...