Been helping a friend diagnose her 240 wagon not starting issue. Story has it when we would get a heavy rain here in Hawa'i the car wouldn't start for a day or so then fire back up, then during a recent rain episode the thing just stalled on a hill and hasn't started since. I checked/change the plugs no spark. Moved to the distributor nothing. Coil had power going to it but no spark so we got a new coil...Still nothing. I had read on the forums here about the crank sensors leading to this problem so I pulled that and it had no wire fraying or melting so I assumed this was still good...was that a mistake??
The car wants to start and I feel really close to figuring this out. Any insight or next steps to take would be greatly appreciated.

Mahalos for your time

 

The CPS may be bad even though it may look fine. Change it!

 

ok sounds good! thanks lev
...any suggestions on the next step if its not that ?

 

is the distributor getting wet inside?

is the interior of the car getting condesnation and moisture? (hint would be steamed up windows).

 

So I changed the CPS and nothing.
However, upon double checking everything again, im seeing no power to the coil now only from the blue wire on the top. the blue+15... is this telling me the ignition switch is bad? I swear I had volts coming from the +15 last week...car's paying tricks on me
- I also tried the self diagnostic LED thigs and i'm not getting any flashing... in either pin 2 or 6...
- As far as the disty being wet, it is not. Totally dry. We have extreme humidity here in Hawaii but the interior seems pretty dry inside, but moisture is inevitable here...it rains almost every da

Mahalo again for the replys and help! the war continues...

 

ignition switch is powered by 1-2 heavier gauge red wires from the 'positive terminal', which on a 240 is on the left fender, its a flat black plastic box about the size of a chiclets box, with a bunch of red wires coming out the bottom. the positive terminal, in turn, should be directly connected to the battery + terminal.

 

Check the error codes to see what comes up. Also, check to see if the crankshaft, camshaft and distributor are all indexed properly.

 

Oh, and check to see if any one of a number of fuses might be blown.

 

Pierce-
Right I'm familiar with that box. So if the ignition switch isn't getting power then the coil will not either...right? And if they (the heavy gauge red wires) are getting power than the ignition switch is bad??


Sleipnir-
Ive tried to check the error codes but get no flashing after turning the ignition to II and holding(or pushing) the button...in either pin 2 or 6... i think it may be faulty.
As far as the fuses go, i cleaned up all the connection sites and replaced all he fuses just for good measure when i started this whole trip.