Hello,

I have been having a problem with my 83 245 running poorly lately. I recently blew a head gasket on the car and decided to have some work done to the cylinder head while it was off. I had the head resurfaced and had a "valve job" done. When I reinstalled everything, the car would hardly idle. So, I spent hours and days trying to tune the engine properly to no avail.

What I have tried and fixed: Camshaft/intermediate shaft timing, ignition timing, spark on all 4 cylinders (replaced wires, cap, rotor), fuel injectors (all 4 spray very nicely and evenly). I have also checked for leaks by spraying cleaner around the intake manifold, fuel injectors, throttle body, etc., checked the intake hose (from air cleaner) for leaks, vacuum leaks, etc., etc., etc. And, I checked the compression on all 4 cylinders with a compression gauge and all 4 cylinders showed an even 175 after cranking 4 or 5 revolutions (I cranked for 10 on each test, and the pressure never got above 175).

However, I have noticed that the engine seems to care the least (like, not at all) when I remove the plug wire for the #1 cylinder. When I remove the wires from any of the other 3, the engine stalls out.

So, I'm stumped. My suspicion was that something was done wrong in the valve job, but I also thought that this would show up in a compression check. This has been bothering me now for about two weeks and I just have no more ideas. If anyone out there can give me some other advice before I pull the cylinder head off again and waste all those gaskets, please let me know. Maybe there is something that I have overlooked.

Anyway, thanks to all, in advance, for any help you can provide, and good luck with your own Volvos.

--
Charles Moore
 '83 245DL 260k
 '87 245DL 425k