1998 Volvo V70 will not start after plugs, cap, rotor Topic is solved

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 08:44

Need a little help. I changed the plugs, cap and rotor on my ’98 V70 (base model, non turbo) and now the thing won’t start.

Car has 223k miles on it, but has been running well. I was having an issue with wet weather starting and running so I decided to do the work (it was difficult to start when wet out and sometimes stalled when coming to a stop) . The week prior to me doing this work was dry and cold. Car was starting and running fine.

I haven’t done a lot of wrenching, but this didn’t look like a difficult job. Did my research and I thought that I did everything by the book. Disconnected the battery, took pictures as I went. Double checked spark plug wire numbering, etc. Installed all OEM parts (Bosch cap and rotor, Bougicord wires, Volvo plugs)

When finished I buttoned everything up and turned the key…. The car turns over but seems to kind of hiccup every couple of seconds. It never catches, tho. After a few attempts I tried starting pressing on gas. Still nothing.

Battery is good. Fuses are good. No codes as they are reset when pulling battery terminal. Checked spark on one plug… it was there but was a white spark (as opposed to blue, which from my reading seems to be what it should be.) Pulled all plugs to check them. Plugs 1 and 5 had a lot of what looked like black soot on them. Cleaned easily with a cloth. The other seems fine. I could smell gas when I pulled plugs.

Retraced my steps and reinstalled the old parts one piece at a time. Attempted start car at each step (after refitting old cap and rotor, after refitting old wires, etc.. ) eventually had the old wires and cap and rotor back on and still the same problem. I did not replace old plugs as the old ones looked pretty dead.

The only issue I ran into when I was doing this is that the spark plug wires on 1 and 2 seemed really short in length, so it was a real pain in the butt to get them attached and fitted. But I got them in place. Other than that everything went smoothly. I checked all over for maybe a wire I had bumped, but I can’t see anything obvious.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Post by **abscate** » 25 Nov 2018, 08:59

Welcome from a fellow 1/2 time upstater. I drive by you twice weekly.

Good job with those parts - they are cheaper than the non-OEM ones, meaning you pay more for them upfront, but they won't die in a year.

Keep that battery healthy by putting on a charger if you have one, if not, use another car to jump it while you are testing.

A no-start with healthy cranking is diagnosed three-fold

Engine evaluation - we can skip compression and bad stuff since you were running well before, and can assume we have decently operating pistons and cylinders..for now. You can lift the timing belt cover and confirm it is turning fine if you are really paranoid. I would skip for now.

Fuel delivery - definitive test - measure fuel pressure at rail with a fuel pressure gauge.
The trouble spots here are fuel pump relay, fuel pump pressure regulator (FPR) and fuel pump itself.

Its very common on Volvo for the fuel pump relay to go intermittent with age and cause a hard no-start.

Get some starter fluid and give the intake manifold a 3.14159 second spray, and see if suddenly Volvorina breathes fire and smoke. If she does, you have a 'correct fuel pressure delivery problem' and we will go from there.

If there is no fire from the dragon, we troubleshoot the ignition and spark side of the tree.

Put those good new parts back on, too. You done good.

If you aren't too far from I87 give me a PM and I might be able to do a drive by with more diagnostics. Doing an Albany Ithaca swing this week.

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 09:30

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't have a fuel pressure gauge so that will have to wait....

Tried the starter fluid to intake manifold and no luck.

Did I do something when replacing those parts? I've never had a starting issue with the car, other than the recent wet-start issue, but I always got the car started and drove it.

Sommerfeldt · Post by **Sommerfeldt** » 25 Nov 2018, 09:43

Just a thought, but if you're not seeing the right spark, then there's something off in the supply.
I notice that the only part not changed is the coil - have you checked that it's not fried?

- S

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 10:15

Have not checked coil but I will.
Why would it die when never had a problem before?
Thank you!

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 25 Nov 2018, 11:08

If you used the Haynes manual for the wire order on the distributor it is dead wrong, the .PDF Volvo manual is wrong as well.

The correct order is here:

Volvo 5 cylinder engine firing order

...Lee

Sommerfeldt · Post by **Sommerfeldt** » 25 Nov 2018, 11:12

Unknown... coils do fail at times, so if that's the problem, it might have just let go, or you smacked it, or something's loose and got jiggled just the right way. Or wrong, that is.

Replacements aren't too expensive and MSD also has a unit that worked well for me on a past 850.

- S

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 11:50

Ozark Lee wrote: ↑25 Nov 2018, 11:08 If you used the Haynes manual for the wire order on the distributor it is dead wrong, the .PDF Volvo manual is wrong as well.

The correct order is here:

Volvo 5 cylinder engine firing order

...Lee

Thanks, Lee. I copied the order of the wires that were on there. Also, there were corresponding numbers on the Bosch cap that were correct as well.

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 11:51

Sommerfeldt wrote: ↑25 Nov 2018, 11:12 Unknown... coils do fail at times, so if that's the problem, it might have just let go, or you smacked it, or something's loose and got jiggled just the right way. Or wrong, that is.

Replacements aren't too expensive and MSD also has a unit that worked well for me on a past 850.

- S

Thank you, S.

rarkep · Post by **rarkep** » 25 Nov 2018, 11:52

abscate wrote: ↑25 Nov 2018, 08:59 Welcome from a fellow 1/2 time upstater. I drive by you twice weekly.

Good job with those parts - they are cheaper than the non-OEM ones, meaning you pay more for them upfront, but they won't die in a year.

Keep that battery healthy by putting on a charger if you have one, if not, use another car to jump it while you are testing.

A no-start with healthy cranking is diagnosed three-fold

Engine evaluation - we can skip compression and bad stuff since you were running well before, and can assume we have decently operating pistons and cylinders..for now. You can lift the timing belt cover and confirm it is turning fine if you are really paranoid. I would skip for now.

Fuel delivery - definitive test - measure fuel pressure at rail with a fuel pressure gauge.
The trouble spots here are fuel pump relay, fuel pump pressure regulator (FPR) and fuel pump itself.

Its very common on Volvo for the fuel pump relay to go intermittent with age and cause a hard no-start.

Get some starter fluid and give the intake manifold a 3.14159 second spray, and see if suddenly Volvorina breathes fire and smoke. If she does, you have a 'correct fuel pressure delivery problem' and we will go from there.

If there is no fire from the dragon, we troubleshoot the ignition and spark side of the tree.

Put those good new parts back on, too. You done good.

If you aren't too far from I87 give me a PM and I might be able to do a drive by with more diagnostics. Doing an Albany Ithaca swing this week.

Thanks for the offer of help! I sure appreciate it. Im going to try to figure it out myself. Will update as I proceed. Thx again.