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Baseline idle settings

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on all Volvo's "mid era" rear wheel drive Volvos.

1975 - 1993 240
1983 - 1992 740
1982 - 1991 760
1986 - 1991 780
1990 - 1998 940
1990 - 1998 960
1997 - 1998 V90/S90

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Krampus
Posts: 26
Joined: 4 September 2012
Year and Model: 1988 240 DL
Location: Oregon

Baseline idle settings

Post by Krampus »

I finally had time to work on my '88 240 wagon this weekend. I had changed the timing belt months ago, but discovered that it was only happy with the timing advanced to about 20 degrees. Popular opinion was that I had slipped a tooth when putting it on. Everyone who guessed that was absolutely correct. :lol: I aligned the three pulleys, using a mirror to make sure that everything was perfect, and buttoned it back up. Success! Sort of... I can now set the timing to 12 degrees and have it sound good, provided I am giving it just a little bit of gas. My idling, however, is completely knackered and the engine stalls and surges when left to its own devices.

I'm pretty sure that my attempts to get the engine to idle with the slipped tooth are to blame. I may also have a bad TPS (but I pulled a couple from the local junkyard, so I'll replace that as part of this endeavor). Is there a good guide someone can point me to on "re-baselining" my idle settings? Is it as simple as disabling the IAC by grounding the test point and adjusting the air bypass? Where does the idle CO mixture come into play (replacement MAF from junker, no idea what the adjustment screw was set to but it's almost certainly incorrect). Do I need to worry about the throttle stop plate and TPS here? Also, the Bentley manual says that if attach a test light to one of the harness headers, I should get a light when the CO mixture is correct, but I don't ever seem to be able to get it to kick on. Suggestions?

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