No Sparks... No Idea what to do... Topic is solved

[Dmck]

If you are alone place it on towel next to windshield ...

Try calling a local Volvo mechanic and see if the have a coil you can test with. Even if you should be testing with a new coil it wouldn't hurt to go to a junkyard and pull a coil if it's on the super cheap just to give it a try

My junkyard allows returns anyways

[shihabafi]

I didn't see any sparks when I tried cranking it in the picture.

Come to think of it, Pull-A-Part does have a 30 day warranty on everything, don't they? I'm thinking I'll go yank out another coil, one of those grey relays under the fan shroud, and a throttle position sensor when/if I go this weekend.

[Dmck]

The LKQ pick a part near me has 30 day warranty

[Dmck]

Dmck, if the OPs car doesn't fire up, would you be willing to test voltage of your coil while cranking. I think the 11V is too high. Even if rotor is on wrong, the voltage should have been correct. Of course, it might be my senility acting up again. I'd try it regardless out of curiosity, but my cars are too new... ie. 2000 No longer have central ignition coil.

Looks like your senility was not unwarranted

[abscate]

WE need a better ground on that plug to test it.

Wrap a piece of wire, metal part, around the spark plug threads, then wrap it around the negative battery post. Make sure you have the right one, and don't guess. Get help if you arent sure.

Ill bet you don't get spark at the plug.

Unfortunately, my wallet doesn't allow me to buy a new coil, and nobody around me has a Volvo... (just a side note, you guys do know that I'm 17, right?)

Yeah, we know. The quicker we get you to realize the solution to the mystery of the universe is to use the internet to connect to people who know more than you do, and then go do stuff for them, the better. I have shipped and received more free stuff here on MVS than I can remember, even with my PDP-11 processor

[Dmck]

Didn't even think about needing to ground the sparkplug.. but give it a shot

[dj_v70]

Dmck, if the OPs car doesn't fire up, would you be willing to test voltage of your coil while cranking. I think the 11V is too high. Even if rotor is on wrong, the voltage should have been correct. Of course, it might be my senility acting up again. I'd try it regardless out of curiosity, but my cars are too new... ie. 2000 No longer have central ignition coil.

Looks like your senility was not unwarranted

Jury is still out on that:) I am beginning to convince myself otherwise. I think 11V might be fine. If the negative terminal rests at 12V and is pulled down by transistor in ECM, 11V would make sense. If so, OPs spark "control" is at least minimal functional.

I don't like to replace things without testing them first. Here is how I would test the coil ...
a) take negative lead off of coil, this is so we don't damage ECM (or whatever computer controls spark on 850).
b) connect a test lead to the negative lead of coil instead.
c) take center wire off of distributor and put about 1/4" from ground. Use tape or whatever to hold in place.
d) take other side of test lead and alternate between battery plus and minus terminals. Each time the lead touches battery negative terminal, the high voltage lead will spark. If it, verify high voltage lead with ohm meter and 12V on positive lead of coil. If so, get another coil.

[shihabafi]

Just to clarify, when you say to take a test lead, do you mean like, with a multimeter? Or should I just grab any wire and use it as a bridge of some sort?

Also, just took the black ends of my jumper cables and hooked one end on to the end of a spark plug which was connected to a wire connected straight to the ignition coil (bypassing the distributor), and the other end to the negative of the battery, and I got no spark...

[Dmck]

Isn't it possible this is the starter not initiating spark to the coil? ... the starter is under the vacuum tree if I remember right.. maybe you pull a wire on that

[shihabafi]

It can't be the starter, the starter is barely 4 months old, and it's a quality one so I know it hasn't gone bad already... All the wiring is tight on it as well...