car quit-burning smell-turns over-fuses ok

cassius peak · Post by **cassius peak** » 10 Jan 2010, 18:27

245 volvo sta wag-1984-252,000 mi
My car quit abruptly going up a hill-fuses ok-can hear fuel pump hum-very cold here but car has been ok-I don't know where to start-right after car quit I smelled a slight burning smell-car turns over-won't start-
How do I follow the power to find the broken link??-possibly ignition wire has burnt up??am lost.
Thank You for your help,
-Cassius Peak

Post by **billofdurham** » 11 Jan 2010, 12:41

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

Which engine do you have and do you know the fuel system, Bosch LH Jetronic or Bosch Continuous Injection System?

Bill.

cassius peak · Post by **cassius peak** » 19 Jan 2010, 18:25

bill,
i have the 2.3L four cylinder.since my lastpost i have replaced the system relay and the fuel pump relay,the in tank fuel pump and filter,had the electonic controll checked, separated the wires on the firewall from the wiring harness where they had bad insulation by sleeving them in THHN 12AWG insulation and reconnecting them with wire nuts. In addition I separted the fuel line from the fuel rail to make sure I was getting good gas flow. with the ignition on I have voltage on both contacts on the injectors. The car starts right up when "quick start"
is sprayed in the air intake . I also tried starting the car with the air mass meter disconected -no dice. I am not getting fuel past the injectors but do not know where to look. The ignition switch is pretty old but every thing else seems to be working and I thought the injectors got their power from the same relay as the fuel pump. thank you--cassius

cassius peak · Post by **cassius peak** » 19 Jan 2010, 18:52

Bill,
I left out - I have the Bosch LH JETRONIC 2.0 system.
Thank you-----CASSIUS

diyer97 · Post by **diyer97** » 19 Jan 2010, 19:55

I remembered I bought a 1983 240DL with about 60K original miles on it. It drove fine though not very powerful, I assumed that was how 4 cylinders run. The car began giving me problem stuttering (or hiccup) like misfiring, wanting to stall after I did the tuneup (with new sparklugs, new cable, new rotor...)but still would run- picking speed then slowing down...then picking speed again. So I took it to a master mechanic who specialized in both domestics and foreign who misdiagnosed and told me to replace fuel filter then fuel pump. The car would start and run fine when I picked it up but soon the same problem coming back. Someone may say hey he's not a Volvo mechanic but its an old car I didn't want to take it to the dealer. Later the master mechanic blamed the old car electrical wiring f***d up when he spotted some wiring insulation broken and said troubleshooting the cause to fix it would cost too much.
I drove the car back and decided to look for the cause myself. It took me close to four days to nail the trouble maker. Since I knew little about car so with a hint from the mechanic...(blaming on electrical failure and it seemed so since the car so old ) I poked around, inspected every connections, fuses, traced and inspected every cables (every individual wires) looking for something looked wrong. Nothing came up. Later someone suggested a part (i forgot the name of it whose one end inserted into the engine block and the other end where the rotor sat on it) could be a cause. I did replace it with one from the junkyard since I was so desperate and thought that would be the last attempt. Again it didn't work. I gave up thinking about calling junkyard to sell it for parts.
Two day later I went back and looked at the distributor and removed it. I looked hard at it and noticed some scratches on its wall where the rotor metal would make contact and it enlightened me. It's just the after market rotor that I replaced making the dent. The car ran fine ever since I replaced with a Volvo rotor. Lesson learned: sometime the obvious is overlooked.
Thanks for reading my long ordeal story.

Post by **billofdurham** » 20 Jan 2010, 12:21

You seem to have covered most things but still no start. If you can start with Easy Start the ignition circuits must be OK.

You say the fuses are OK. Does this include the blade fuse in the engine compartment?

Your fuel pressure test was very basic. Have you access to a fuel pressure tester to ensure the pressure is correct? The pressure should be 35.5 psi.

Have you checked the hose between the Air Mass Meter (AMM) and the engine? Any air leak here will give a too lean mixture. Also check all the hoses to the intake manifold and the joints between the intake manifold and the engine. The last one is rather hard to do without the engine running but it may pay to try nipping up the bolts.

The test you did on the injectors only tested for voltage but one or more of the injectors could be faulty. To test the injector circuits you need an ohmmeter or a multimeter, which I assume you have. You also need to get into the ECU terminal 13. On any ECU test never probe from the front as you can damage the terminals in the ECU.

With the ignition off connect the ohmmeter between pump relay terminal 87 and ECU terminal 13. Resistance should be about 4 ohms.
If resistance is about 5.3 ohms one injector or one injector wire is defective. If resistance is about 8 ohms 2 injectors or wires are defective. If resistance is about 16 ohms 3 injectors or wires are defective.

You can also test the resistance of individual injectors. Remove the injector connector to do this test. Resistance should be 16 ohms.

Bill.