'86 245 intermittent won't start

Youngest brother recently converted to Volvo - purchased a well kept '86 245
with around 240,000 miles about 3 months ago.

1 month ago, car began having intermittent problem starting. Happens when
car is hot, or cold, or just right. But only sometimes. Battery is good.
Spark is good. Starter is good. Seems to not be getting fuel, is his
guess, and electrical, not mechanical. The reason electric is suspected is,
if it was mechanical (vacuum leak, injector seal leak, weak fuel pressure
regulator, weak fuel pump, stuck temp sensor/sender, and the like), then
continuing to crank the starter would eventually get the car started. But
continued cranking does not get car started. He usually waits a few minutes
or 1/2 hour, tries to start again, and after a while this will fire right
up. Again, this happens when he just stops for a minute, or when the car
has sat overnight, so it doesn't seem to be temp related.

He replaced the 2-spade fuse in the engine bay over the left wheel well, and
situation improved, then came back. Fuse is Ok.

Probably, this is the original wire harness. Don't know about airmassmeter.

What are the 1st 3 things you would look for?

 

Fuel pump relay, the soldering cracks on the circuit board inside and the
car won't start, this is the #1 no-start problem I've found.

Fuse panel corrosion, happens much more readily in some climates than
others, visual inspection is pretty easy, rolling the fuses with a finger
will usually at least temporarily cure this.

Hall sensor in distributor, this will cause both lack of fuel and lack of
spark if it fails, often gets intermittant first. Easy to check by pulling
the center wire from the distributor, and hold it near bare metal under the
hood, crank the engine and watch for a spark.

Another thing I've seen cause this problem is a corroded connector at the
fuel pump under the car, twisted it around a bit and seated it firmly and
it's been fine ever since.

 

Dunno but I have had the same the last 2 days (80 model FI) since a battery
failed. All those failed attempts at starting might have upsset it. 3 fuses
affect starting on mine and jiggling them seems to help, but it's too much
of a coincidence that it only started playing up after the battery, maybe
it's just the wait that dries the flooding out. I'm going to try changing
plugs.

 

1. Rotted wiring
2. Clean all wire harness connections and dont forget all the battery
connections
3. A few choice swear words.

Harold

 

You don't say what engine he has. My 1989 760 turbo (B230FT) had the same
intermittent problem for a couple of years. Several hundred dollars later
(both fuel pumps, the Hall effect sender, ignition coil, ignition relay,
fuel system relay, coolant temperature sensor, ignition power stage unit,
plugs, wires, cap, rotor), I finally found the problem. The "charge air
overpressure switch" (basically, a vacuum-operated on/off switch that
monitors for excessive turbo boost) was defective, cutting off power to the
fuel system relay (and thus the pumps), even when there was *no* boost (the
car was not running).

The Haynes manual for the 740 only covers through 1988, and it specifies the
switch as being under the dash, by the pedal cluster. For some totally
head-f*cked reason, the Volvo engineers moved the switch up under the hood
for 1989, and MOUNTED IT TO THE COOLANT OVERFLOW TANK! Like dramatic heat
cycling would ever affect an electronic device....

My local dealer had never heard of this part, and IPD doesn't have it
either. I spoke with IPD's go-to turbo guy (can't remember his name), but
he told me that if I suspected a faulty switch, to just short across the two
wires that go to it, and see if the car starts then. Two alligator clips
and a scrap of wire (essentially free), and the car has not failed to start
in many months.

Good luck. I know it can be frustrating.

--Dale

 

He said it's an '86 245, there was only one engine available in North
America in that car, the B230F.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 850SE 20 valve 1994 model. I'll try out
some of these solutions. Thanks.