I have people telling me its an interference motor and im pretty much screwed and others saying its a non interference and theres still hope. Im confused can anyone help?

I was driving fine and while i was stopped at a red light it just stalled out and wouldnt start. It stills cranks but doesnt start up and go. Any suggestions?

 

Hope is at hand! Non interference motor, like 100% certainty. Just change the belt.

 

Lev's correct. It is a non-interference engine. No damage done. Just replace the timing belt. While you are at it, I'd replace the tensioner as well. If you do it yourself, you can get all the parts for under $60. It's a pretty straightforward job. Just take your time positioning the timing marks.

Good luck

 

Thanks guys. So just to confirm, even though the haynes manual says my car does have an interference motor i should still be good?

 

Your Haynes manual is apparently wrong. Your car has a non-interference engine.

 

The most important question here is what type of motor is installed in the car? saying that, my money is on non interference motor.

 

IPD says its the B230F

 

bmxrider, if your car has the original engine, it is non interference. On the cam cover on the motor should be a label that says b230f along with a motor number. Despite what Haynes and some of the auto parts places say, it is noninterference.
That being said, are you sure that the belt broke? There are many other reasons for a car to stop running and not restart.
An easy way to check would be to remove the oil filler cap on top of the valve (cam) cover. As you have an assistant crank the car over, look inside and observe what is happening to the valve train inside. If you see movement, your belt is intact. If no movement, do the belt and the tensioner. Do a search of this forum, and you will find lots of information on how to do it.

 

Thanks buddy! I had the mechanic dude come to mi casa and he pulled the timing belt cover off and there was like 3 in of missing teeth on the belt and before we checked that it wasn't getting spark so we put in a new ignition coil, dist cap/rotor, wires, and plugs. Then figured well chk the timing and that's what he saw, some teeth missing an he said there was a Lil flat spot on the cam lobe and that my engine WAS interference and I was screwed. So I put the car on Craigslist and literally as soon as I clicked post this older couple came over to chk it out an they already knew what the prob was and were very nice in telling me what their plan was to pretty much steal the car but they saw I was a kid and told me it was a timing belt. Rather then leave me with nothing and also it was a non interference motor lol

 

Sooooo....... now I'm curious, what was the problem?

 

As I speak Kid, I will translate. The timing belt was indeed fubar'd. His mechanic lied and said the cam was messed up and it WAS an interference engine. The older couple (probably younger than me) were going to buy it as is for cheap but since the OP was young, they decided to help him out and tell him what the problem was.
To the OP, changing the cam shaft is extremely easy. The M cam in your engine is extremely common...I typically throw them away. I doubt you need one but even if you did, they're MAYBE $20. Timing belt and a new belt tensioner and you're good to go.

 

Ok so I took the top timing cover off, locked my flywheel and got the crankshaft bolt/bottom timing cover off and rotated the timing mark on crankshaft pulley to the 0' mark on bottom cover to indicate TDC, also lined up the intermediate gear and cam to their corresponding marks, while loosening up the tensioner and putting on the new one/timing belt. All marks were lined up, tightened up the tensioner and re installed ignition pack/wires/dist cap and rotor.

When I went to start the car, we double checked to make sure the belt was on right and check for spark from the ignition pack middle spark plug boot wire and we had spark. Then assembled the dist cap plugs to corresponding cylinders in the firing order 1 3 4 2 or w/e volvo says and it wouldnt start up.

Can anybody help or have they experienced this problem? Then my buddy thought maybe we had to turn it 180 degrees on the cam and still same problem.

This is the diagram I am going off of.



What am I missing here? I cant figure it out and dont have any volvo specific mechanics around its just me, a friend, and my uncle.

 

First, I would verify the ignition timing by moving the crankshaft bolt till it shows 0 degrees TDC. Then pop off the distributer cap and verify that the rotor is pointing to the wire going to cylinder 1 or 4.

If it doesn't align, then the timing for the intermediate shaft is off. Most likely the valve timing is off as well. If this is the case, pull the belt off and re-align.

Every timing belt I have purchased had marks on the belt that you align to the three shafts. The marks on the belt should align to the dots on the cam and intermediate shaft sprockets. The mark for the crankshaft should align to the notch in the crankshaft. I noticed that you used the timing mark from the crank pulley to set TDC. This pulley has a rubber piece in it that can become de-laminated rendering the timing mark inaccurate. If re-aligning the timing belt to the notch on the crankshaft solves your problem, I suspect that you need a new crankshaft pulley as well.

Good luck

 

Well i messed around with the crankshaft pulley and i got the car to start but now it idles really ****ty. Timing off by a few teeth then?

 

Yea dude I did that, but now it starts up and idles really crappy. I'm not sure what to do now?

 

Most likely you are a tooth off on timing, recheck that all 3 shafts are aligned. Generally, first timers get the crank and cam pulleys aligned but miss the intermediate shaft running the distributor. For what it's worth, the white lines found on many timing belts are worthless, and occasionally wrong. Just go by the marks on engine...you're almost there.

 

Ok thanks man, I can def align the cam shaft because of the dot on cam gear and rear housing, i can do the crankshaft pulley because of the notch in the crankpulley and rear housing with the 0 degree mark, but how do I dial in the intermediate gear, alls it has is that dot on the gear thats "supposed to be at 3 o' clock", I remember someone saying something about checking the rotor and make sure it aligns back up but cant remember the fine details.

 

If lets say the cam of intermediate arent lined up can I just turn each one by hand or with a socket w/o the belt on?

 

Yes, checking the rotor is a way to make certain it is aligned, it should be pointing at #1 cylinder. As for the intermediate shaft orientation, there is indeed an index mark on the rear timing cover...here's a simplified schematic...

While you are in there, count the total number of teeth on the intermediate shaft gear. Divide that total into 360 and you will see how many degrees of timing just one tooth makes.If the car runs at all, you are probably no more than 3 teeth off...maybe just one.
On the up side, when you are finished, you will be an expert and have the satisfaction of knowing just how close you came to dumping the car on CL. compared to most all cars, the 240 is a mechanic's dream and a great first car to cut your teeth on under the hood.

 

Sure, that's how it's done. I can see we'll have a sucess story by this afternoon I'll bet. I would just caution you to adjust the belt tensioner accordingly. It's a simple matter of loosening it and allowing it to tighten, then retighten the bolt on it. Be sure to do this one more time in a 1000 miles or so after the belt has worn in and stretched a bit. There is a rubber plug in the top timing cover to access the adjuster bolt w/o removing anything else.