starting trouble, not firing all cylinders

tomcruiise · Post by **tomcruiise** » 06 Apr 2021, 12:16

I have a 1976 volvo 264 with a B21F K-jet engine in it. Recently I have been having troubles with starting the car, primarily on cold start. Sometimes on cold start I will turn the key to start and I will hear the engine fire once and then it will die. It will continue to do this multiple times until I really gas it on start up, and sometimes I have to hit the "cold start injection" switch that is on my dash next to the hazard light switch to really get it to continue running.

Once it does fire up and start running it doesn't run on all cylinders, sounds like it's only firing on 1 or 2 cylinders. When this happens I will then continue to rev up the engine until it starts to fire on all cylinders and run normally. Once the engine is running and firing on all cylinders then it continues to run and drive fine. On warm start up it will it fire up normally but it still won't fire on all cylinders at first, until I rev it a bit.

I have recently replaced the in-line fuel pump and fuel accumulator. After replacing the parts it started right up and ran great for a few days until it started to do the no-start on cold start. I also just replaced the timing belt a couple days ago, since it broke on me while driving, but it is still starting up the same.

I'm a still noob at cars but I'm trying to learn. Any help is appreciated, thank you

you can find photos of my car here on my flicker

here is a list of everything that I have replaced since buying the car in July 2018:
starter
spark plugs
spark plug wires
alternator
battery
distributor cap
brake pads
1 rear brake caliper
oil changes
inner and outer tie rods
stabilizer bar bushings
stabilizer end links
ball joints
muffler
brake booster
brake master cylinder
all belts
leaking gas tank and lines
tires
fuel filter
headlight switch wiring
fuel pump
fuel accumulator
timing belt

Post by **RickHaleParker** » 06 Apr 2021, 14:35

A 1976 Volvo 264 with a B21F ???

The Six-cylinder PRV B27 (Peugeot Renault Volvo ) engine was the only option for a 1976 260 series.

Retrofit?

tomcruiise · Post by **tomcruiise** » 06 Apr 2021, 19:56

yeah, so technically it's a 244. The shop I bought it from said that the PRV was replaced with a B21 because the PRV's weren't very reliable.

Post by **matthew1** » 06 Apr 2021, 20:03

Have you tried re-seating the spark plug cables? It sounds like it could be something simple... or at least, always start with the simple and work toward the difficult.

That would be a simple thing to address electrical causes.

To do something simple to address combustion, I'd throw 1/3 can Seafoam in the gas tank right before your next fill up.

Post by **volvolugnut** » 06 Apr 2021, 20:21

I believe this engine will have a cold start injector and cold start relay to provide extra fuel when it is cold. The cold start relay may be bad or the temperature sensor for the cold start system may be bad. Do you have a service manual for this B21F K-jet?
Also, if this car sat idle for many months or years, there may be lots of junk in the fuel tank and you have clogged your new filter.
The K-jet can be very reliable when you get it sorted out. I drove a '75 245 with K-jet from 120K to 240K miles with little trouble. volvolugnut

Post by **RickHaleParker** » 07 Apr 2021, 03:04

Found something. On the Red blocks the temperature switch initiates the cold start process. If the temperature switch is defective the cold engine would be trying to start on the warm start process. Other components involved in the cold start process are ECU, Frequency valve and Thermal time switch which reduces Cold Start injector operating time as the coolant temperature rises.

Temperature switch is not on the list of things that have been changed.

tomcruiise · Post by **tomcruiise** » 07 Apr 2021, 11:24

matthew1 wrote: ↑06 Apr 2021, 20:03 Have you tried re-seating the spark plug cables? It sounds like it could be something simple... or at least, always start with the simple and work toward the difficult.

That would be a simple thing to address electrical causes.

To do something simple to address combustion, I'd throw 1/3 can Seafoam in the gas tank right before your next fill up.

yeah. I will inspect the wires and plugs and try again though.

tomcruiise · Post by **tomcruiise** » 07 Apr 2021, 11:28

volvolugnut wrote: ↑06 Apr 2021, 20:21 I believe this engine will have a cold start injector and cold start relay to provide extra fuel when it is cold. The cold start relay may be bad or the temperature sensor for the cold start system may be bad. Do you have a service manual for this B21F K-jet?
Also, if this car sat idle for many months or years, there may be lots of junk in the fuel tank and you have clogged your new filter.
The K-jet can be very reliable when you get it sorted out. I drove a '75 245 with K-jet from 120K to 240K miles with little trouble. volvolugnut

I will look into those. I have a Chilton 1970-89 volvo book that covers all of those engines, I'm not sure on how detailed it will be for the B21F K-jet though

tomcruiise · Post by **tomcruiise** » 07 Apr 2021, 11:31

RickHaleParker wrote: ↑07 Apr 2021, 03:04 Found something. On the Red blocks the temperature switch initiates the cold start process. If the temperature switch is defective the cold engine would be trying to start on the warm start process. Other components involved in the cold start process are ECU, Frequency valve and Thermal time switch which reduces Cold Start injector operating time as the coolant temperature rises.

Temperature switch is not on the list of things that have been changed.

Thanks, I will look into these.