He's not getting anymore of my business anytime soon. Once I found out how easy it was to change and the fact he didnt see the destroyed ground wire at the alternator that was making the battery die he got put on my mechanic black list.

I decided to go the route of changing the distributor out completely to get the new hall sensor since my local advanced auto had it readily available. Unfortunately that hasn't cured anything except what to do about $220.

Does anyone else have another suggestion?
So far I've changed out the ICM, distributor rotor, distributor/hall sensor, and a different ignition coil that only seemed to confuse it my idle.

 

I've lost track, what are your symptoms now?

 

It's cutting off all ignition related processes after random amounts of time. The engine cuts out, the radio turns off, the key has no effect, if the head lights were on they go off, no horn, but the hazards do still work, basically the entire car shuts down like if the key was turned to off. Sometimes it lasts for a second and everything goes right back to normal in an instant and other times it lasts for minutes and ill have to turn the engine back on with the key.

Since I made my last post though I put the bosch ignition coil back on and sprayed the contacts with WD40 because they were a little rusty. I did that and started the car and it ran without issue for a half hour which it hasn't done since early September. I had to leave for a while but I'll be trying it again when I get home in an hour or so. If the whole problem was just some dirty ignition coil contacts I'll be very happy but mad that all this could have been solved so simply.

 

ok, if *everything* is failling, I'd be looking at things that are in the path of EVERYthing, like the battery main connections, battery ground.

maybe even the ignition switch itself, or the power wires to it (2 red wires to the ignition switch that come from the 'positive terminal' on the left fender, this is a small black plastic flat box that has a bunch of red wires coming out the bottom, there's also two red wires from the battery + to the positive terminal... this is the MAIN current path for almost everything in the car).

 

SOLUTION TO MY ISSUE:
The red ignition wires the little black box next to the battery, although perfectly whole and in proper condition were loose and not making full contact as they should have been. After removing them, cleaning up the contact area and tightening them back in I have no more problems and my car is running better than ever because of the extra work I did.

This time the hall sensor, distributor, and ICM change out were unnecessary but still good things to do on a 26 year old car.

Special thanks to pierce, zjinqui1k, and swiftjustice44 for all your help.

 

Glad it ended up being a simple fix. As time and weather permits, take the effort to check all your electrical connections. As you have discovered, a visual check is not enough. Loosen, check for corrosion, clean as necessary and retighten. The ground wires attached to the two main fuel injector rail mounting bolts are a common source of gremlins as well.

It can not be overstated how important it is to learn your car. Think of the money you've spent and the eventual simple cure. Too many of these cars have gone to the scrapper simply due to ignorant/unscrupulous repair shops robbing owners without even resolving the issues.

 

Hello folks,
I know this thread is a few years old but i stumbled upon it when doing a search. Lol.

First off i will say that not all 240s have ezk-116 ignition. Unlike the 740 i used to have my "new" 240 ironically a 1986 as well( built january 1986) it still contains the chrysler ignition setup. So does the parts 240 still sitting at the guys i bought my 240 from and thats a 1988. I wish they did. The ezk is easy to notice if the dist. Is mounted to the rear of the engine.

As to the ignition issues: i am higgly suspecting a ignition switch. My 240 will do exactly what the OP indicated. Its more rare than a pink elephant for example but once or twice while driving i lost ALL accessories but the engine was still running. Pretty scary when youre doing 80 in north dakota at night on the interstate. Slight turn of the key and everything returned with no issues.

Could be wiring but my harnesses seem to be original and in near perfect condition. Idk if originally being an arizona car has anything to do with that?

But yea try the simpler things first before "chasing a ghost that never seems to get caught".

 

Just to point out, on the 240's, all ignition types had the distributor in the same position, at the front, above the aircon compressor(at least up to 1990). Whether points(carby), electronic, chrysler or ezk. The 740 had the distributor at the back of the camshaft, between the motor and firewall. I'm not sure year that began though and not whether other countries used that design on 240's.

All 240's I've seen in Australia, have the distributor at the front of the motor.

 

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Ok, so with the black box at the front ONLY and no ignition amplifier module on the fender and no computer for the ignition in the dash by brake pedal what type of system is that? I was always told it was the Chrysler ignition which would make sense as the underhood ignition module, computer whatever is the only stock part made in America. Lol

 

yeah, thats the Chrysler ignition system, used on all the LH 2.2 Volvo 240's in the USA at least. in 1989, the 240 switched to LH 2.4 EFI with EZK-116 ignition, those have the ignition amp module under the hood, and the ICU under the dash. overseas, they had some more primitive systems early on, like basic breaker points with vacuum advance, and a pointless system.