'86 240 electrical problem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DBJW
  • Start date Start date
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DBJW

I have a 1986 245. It has started dieing while driving. Engine dies in an
instant. I think the radio goes as well. as well as other electrical. It
went out 3 times this morning and then not again. I turned on the dome
light to watch but it did not happen again. I can turn the ignition key off
and back on again and the engine catches and runs. I have not been able to
duplicate this to isolate the problem. Battery replaced last month. Any
place I should look first to troubleshoot?

Thanks.
DaleB
 
You did not state location. In Europe cars from 1986 may have
carburators or fuel injection for gasoline engines. Then there are the
diesels...


If your is fuel injected, I would first check all fuses and make sure
they are free from oxide problems. If all fuses appear OK, I would then
suspect the fuel pump relay.

Please provide more info on what engine/fuel system you have.

--
Gunnar

240 Turbo Wagon '84 200 K Miles
940 Wagon '92 150 K Miles
on Swedish roads
 
This is US model with fuel injection for gasoline engines. Today I removed
all fuses in fuse box at driver's side footwell and cleaned the contacts.
All fuses appeared OK.

Thanks,

DaleB
 
DBJW said:
This is US model with fuel injection for gasoline engines. Today I removed
all fuses in fuse box at driver's side footwell and cleaned the contacts.
All fuses appeared OK.

Thanks,

DaleB
Click to expand...

Fuses can appear OK and have a ring of corrosion right where they
contact the fusebox. When I had 240s, I made it a practice to change
fuses at least every couple of years.
 
I also seeem to recall something about a fuel injection fuse somewhere
in the engine compartment, or maybe that one was for something else?

If there is one on my '84 240 turbo, I have not found it (yet). But that
car has K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection. It does have an electric
fuel pump so there is a fuel pump relay, but that's it as far as wires
go. US cars did have catalysts and electronic injection also in early
80's I think.

--
Gunnar

240 Turbo Wagon '84 200 K Miles
940 Wagon '92 150 K Miles
on Swedish roads
 
Gunnar said:
I also seeem to recall something about a fuel injection fuse somewhere
in the engine compartment, or maybe that one was for something else?

If there is one on my '84 240 turbo, I have not found it (yet). But that
car has K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection. It does have an electric
fuel pump so there is a fuel pump relay, but that's it as far as wires
go. US cars did have catalysts and electronic injection also in early
80's I think.

--
Gunnar

240 Turbo Wagon '84 200 K Miles
940 Wagon '92 150 K Miles
on Swedish roads
Click to expand...

That fuse was only on the LH injected 240s, so don't look too hard on
your car for it!

The original poster's '86 would have this fuse, mounted in a corrosion
prone holder near the battery. The other place to look when multiple
circuits fail at once is the ignition switch.
 
I have a 1986 245. It has started dieing while driving. Engine dies in an
instant. I think the radio goes as well. as well as other electrical. It
went out 3 times this morning and then not again. I turned on the dome
light to watch but it did not happen again. I can turn the ignition key off
and back on again and the engine catches and runs. I have not been able to
duplicate this to isolate the problem. Battery replaced last month. Any
place I should look first to troubleshoot?

Thanks.
DaleB
Click to expand...
Did you check the engine wiring harness ?
I had all kinds of weird electrical problems until I replaced mine with a
non-biodegradable one. This is a problem with all Volvo 240/740s up until
about 1989- 1990. The first place to check is the engine harness connector
wires on the firewall - a lot of times you will be able to pull back the outer
sheath and see insulation flaking off and bare wires touching. Also check the
alternator wires, mass flow meter wires, and the coil wires. - always pull
back the heat sheath to check - if you see flaked off insulation or insulation
with the consistency of soft wax, your harness is breaking down. If this is
the case - replace your engine harness and ignition harness - 99% of the time
this clears up the weird electrical gremlins.
 
Same car - same problem. Ignition switch.
A little jiggle cures it everytime.
 
I have seen problems as well with the keyswitch spray it with contact
cleaner?

also with the fusebox.
I had a 79 that was intermittent and one day rolled to the siide of
the road in the fog. it would dye like that unexpectedly and I got a
deal on it because of the problem, the previous owner warned me that
it happened to his wife and they couldn't figure it out.

it would crank and fire bt would not run.

I got a short tow home and traced the problem to a jumper in the
fusebox. the wiring relyed on a U shaped metal thing that went between
two of the fuses. I made a better jumper that used the prongs the
wires go on instead.

as I remember there were two circuts one through a ballast resistor
and one goes straight to the coil one is or cranking the other for
running.

so what I am saying is don't just check the fuses, check those
particular wires with a meter, and you may find a conection by the
fusebox open or with resistence.

Phil
 
Buc4evr said:
Did you check the engine wiring harness ?
I had all kinds of weird electrical problems until I replaced mine with a
non-biodegradable one. This is a problem with all Volvo 240/740s up until
about 1989- 1990. The first place to check is the engine harness connector
wires on the firewall - a lot of times you will be able to pull back the outer
sheath and see insulation flaking off and bare wires touching. Also check the
alternator wires, mass flow meter wires, and the coil wires. - always pull
back the heat sheath to check - if you see flaked off insulation or insulation
with the consistency of soft wax, your harness is breaking down. If this is
the case - replace your engine harness and ignition harness - 99% of the time
this clears up the weird electrical gremlins.
Click to expand...

Milady's '85 244 had the same symptoms. After posting to this group one of
the responses reminded me of the corroded FI fuse problem. There is a 25-amp
fuse mounted on the left-hand fender next to the FI relay. Evidently it's
very common for the fuse blades and the holder contacts to corrode to the
point where electrical contact is intermittent. Common enough that ipd sells
a weathertight fuse holder to correct just this problem. If you shop around
you can source the same holder for a fraction of what ipd charges. In Canada
there is an automotive electrical manufacturer named Pico. Their part number
for this piece is 951-E. It cost me about $5 Cdn.
Pico's web site is:

www.picocanada.com

The previous poster's advice about the disintegrating harness is well
stated. The harnesses on both my Volvos are falling apart, but we haven't
had any electrical weirdness attributable to that (yet). At the time I
posted my query, however, someone gave me the URL for Mr. Dave Barton, who
runs a small business in SoCal selling slightly-used factory replacement
(non-biodegradable) Volvo harnesses. See link below.

http://www.linkline.com/personal/dbarton/WireHarnesses.html

I contacted Mr. Barton and purchased a harness for my lady's 244. It arrived
in short order, well packaged, and with detailed wiring instructions. There
was no problem getting the harness across the US-Canada border. The harness
is in excellent condition, as promised by Mr. Barton. I have no hesitation
in recommending his service.

In my case cleaning the fuse blades and holder contacts with wet-or-dry
paper and liberal doses of contact cleaner solved the immediate problem. For
the moment, anyways. Since it's my lady's daily driver and she's unsold on
the value of preventative maintenance, I haven't yet had a chance to install
the new harness and the weatherproof holder. I'm sure that it will soon
become a top priority some dark, wet, cold December night, rather than the
sunny, warm August Saturday afternoon that I would have preferred to spend
working on it. <sigh>

Hope this helps and isn't redundant.
Lyle Beaulac
82 245 B21A
85 244 B230F
81 Westfalia @#$$#% air-cooled piece of @#$^*&
 
Have you checked the fuel pump relay? Under the right hand side top of
passenger footwell at firewall. The soldering on the board tends to decay
after a while and lose connectivity. i used to have to reach under the dash
and squeaze it to get my baby started again. Quite a feat when cruising in
traffic! Once the fuel relay fails, the computer automatically cuts off the
ignition to prevent any possibility of fire. Looks like a small white
plastic box. Not uncommon. You could re-solder the board inside if your
brave enough, or spend $20 and forget about it for the next 10 years.

RobC
89-245 DL
Still Purrrrring
 
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