the ECU is forward of the right front door lower hinge, behind the plastic side panel in the right front seat footwell. the ICU is on the firewall up near the pedal assembly.

hmm, skipping? thats generally ignition, since all 4 injectors are fired together. have you done a baseline on your ignition system? new correct spec spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, and so forth? also wouldn't hurt to do a compression test on all 4 cylinders, to ensure there's not a mechanical issue with one cylinder.

 

Ohh ok, I was looking in the wrong spot for the ICU haha

And I know that it has new plugs, and wires, I replaced those when I bought it; cap, rotor, and coil pack was replaced before the car was parked and sat for 2 years..

I had a code for a faulty injector before I reset the obd codes but now it isn't showing back up, I also didn't get the knock sensor code until after I reset the codes

 

Ohh I honestly didn't even think to do a compression test because there isn't any smoke at all from the exhaust, but it would still be good to do probably haha

 

at a minimum, pull all 4 plugs and inspect them for consistency. the plug and the valves are really the only thing thats unique per cylinder, all 4 injectors fire together twice per engine rotation, each squirt is 1/4th of the fuel load per cylinder.

 

Ohh ok, I didn't know that, but what I was saying is what if one of the injectors is clogged with trash or there's a short in one of the injector wires, ya know, would that make it skip? I pulled the plugs yesterday and they looked pretty clean, as in no carbon build up or anything, they were still shiny honestly

 

yeah, I suppose it could be a bad injector. I've not experienced any injector issues on a number of volvos I've owned with something north of 500,000 miles aggregate, but my cars have all been bosch, we tend to use brand name premium gas, etc.


edit: premium in the turbos and, and the i6 we formerly owned. regular in the 240 non-turbo.

 

Yeah see that's why it wouldn't surprise me if it was a clogged injector, because the previous owner didn't know anything about cars so I know he didn't use good gas or anything else name brand, and he never took care of them at all which is why he ran the motor so hot that it melted the timing cover and a number of plastic sensors, i swear dumb people shouldn't own cars... He's also the same one that ordered and installed the wrong radiator by the way.... Anyway my rants over now...

And I lied to you pierce, the cap had been replaced by a used cap and the rotor hadn't been replaced, so I'll be picking those up tomorrow and reporting back on how it runs and if I have any more problems, thanks you guys for all the help, specially you pierce you've helped me since day one and I really appreciate that!

 

i always start with a compression test if no apparent signs for the miss are obvious. that way you eliminate the large issues, and go on to the rest. otherwise you are doing all that work, chasing sensors, and vacuums, and adjustments when in fact you may have a very sick patient. first things first! there is an order to this work.

 

Yeah that's true Lev, I think I may do that when I get home, thanks for all of your help too Lev!! This is probably the most helpful forum site I've ever used honestly!!

 

Ok, well it isn't starting now...

Possible causes(list of what I did yesterday):

Installed new thermostat, coolant leaked all over the side of that engine some may have gotten on distributor cap, but I replaced cap and rotor today, still no change

Removed and cleaned knock sensor and connector

Checked Ect sensor signal at the ECU, removed connector and put it back on

Removed battery from car and put it on trickle charge, and put battery back in car

I went through checking for spark and it has spark all the way around, I noticed something weird when I pulled the plugs though, no fuel was on any of the plugs at all, usually they would be covered in gas after cranking it for a while

I then checked to see if I was getting fuel to the fuel rail and I was and had good pressure, and the fpr wasn't leaking any fuel into the vacuum hose

The car is in time too because I checked it...

So I'm getting spark and fuel to the fuel rail, the only thing I can think of is that none of the injectors are working...
Would the coolant from earlier stop them from working? Would me messing with the ECU make them not work? Could the knock sensor make them not work?

I'm open to any other suggestions or opinions...Help!!!

Edit: fixed it, the wires on the radio suppression relay had came loose and weren't making contact, it isn't running hot anymore, my check engine light went off (cleaning the knock sensor worked I guess) seems to drive better with new cap and rotor and clean knock sensor too, I think I still have a bad ground somewhere though because my rpm gauge is kind of jumpy and shaky, shaky around 1000 rpms, jumps down to 500 rpms for a second then back up to 1000 in a rhythmic type of way, but she runs pretty darn good now honestly

 

Here's a little bit of an update, I finally got around to working on it again, and I think I fixed the fan switch problem(check out the pictures), I'll post back tomorrow after the JB Weld cures and I test the car out.

Also, I just drained the ATF, and it was rough looking and smelling, still had a red tint to it but was more brown than red, so I filled it back up with how much came out around 2 quarts is what I ended up putting back in, I think this was my "hesitation" problem(I'm going through all the documentation to see when it was changed last). I fixed the rough running and alternator problems by re-soldering the instument cluster, it had a few broken solder joints.

Edit: The last records that were with the car were the 60,000 mile complete service in 1996, I hope it has been changed since then but I doubt it...

I can't test out anything until that JB Weld sets though, so I'll also report back tomorrow and let you know how it runs and drives and if the fan switch rig works or not!

 

just draining the transmission only gets about half the ATF in the system, it doesn't get whats in the torque converter. you need to drain and replace whats in the main trnamission, then disconnect the tranmsission cooler line at the radiator, and point that at a graduated oil container, start the engine, and for every quart that comes out, add a quart fresh via the dipstick, til its running clear. I find it usually takes about 8 quarts of ATF to completely flush the system, but there's actually only about 4 quarts in there.

 

I'm still debating on doing that is the only reason I haven't done it yet. I've been looking into doing a complete flush over the past few days and I read a few posts saying that it could possibly be a very bad thing to do. I read a that it could do more harm than good and it scared me out of doing it. Although I went ahead and bought 3 gallons of ATF just in case I decided to go through with it.

Also, if I do the flush, where do I hook the clear hose up to? Do I connect it to the trans cooler line or to where the line goes to on the radiatior?

I had been thinking that I hooked it to the trans cooler line but I think I remember seeing the clear hose hooked up to the radiator in a thread somewhere.

 

See Transmission. Automatic AW70 and ZF

you disconnect the upper (return) line from the radiator, and connect a 6-8' piece of 3/8" clear hose to the radiator fitting, and idle the engine to drain 1 quart at a time into a few gallon milk jugs that you've marked off quarts on. it comes out pretty slowly, you can pour fresh quarts in while its draining and keep up with it. helps to have someone who can kill the ignition for you when a jug fills.

 

If you have a helper, you can just run the car while you are doing the draining/filling in a big bucket. One person mans the pour in, the other watches/holds the hose draining the ATF. The rate of draining is about the same as the rate the filling tube can accept. The trick is not to overfill it as then you have to drain a little and that's messy. It usually needs 10-12 quarts before it runs clear.

 

Alright, thanks y'all, I'm about to run to store and pick up some clear hose. Then I may attempt to do it by myself but if I can't I'll wait for one of my buddys to get off work, I'll report back after its finished.

 

Well I haven't the flush yet, because I ran to the hardware store and picked up 8' of clear hose and I'm waiting on the car to cool down now.

I ran into another snag though, when I left my house the car turned over and started fine. When I tried to leave the store the car turned over really slow like the battery was dead, and the store is only walking distance from my house. Thankfully I got a guy to give me a quick jump and it started right up and I drove it back home and turned the car off. I immediately tried to start the car again and it started right up. I turned it back off and waited maybe 5 minutes and tried to start it again and it barely turned over and didn't start. It may just be the alternator acting up again, but it really acts like something is draining the battery with the ignition off. Or could it just be a bad ground somewhere that I haven't found?

Edit: Also my battery light on the instrument panel doesn't come on and hasn't as long as I've owned the car, and the light isn't blown because it comes on when I turn the ignition key to place #2. I did also notice that my tach sometimes randomly jumps around when ideling.

 

You can verify the alternator is charging the battery with a volt meter. read the voltage at rest, then start the car let it warm up a few seconds, and read the voltage again, it should be about 1.2-1.5 volts higher... a fully charged battery that's been resting a few hours is around 12.6V at room temperatures (70F or so), and the voltage with the alternator working should be 13.8-14.2V.

 

Ok, I'll check that in about an hour, I've got a spare battery on trickle charge just so I'll know for sure that it'll have a good and freshly charged battery in it. My moms on here way back home with a new multimeter also, the batteries on mine recently died. Preciate it pierce!

Edit: Wouldn't my battery light come on if the alternator wasn't working properly?

 

Ok, I just got the multimeter and I did a number of tests.
I measured volts at rest it was around 12.7volts
Volts while at idleing where 12.7 but steadily going down.
Volts while revved up around 2000rpms it jumped up to 13.8 and went to 14.1 and constantly stayed there as long as it was revved up. When I let it go back to idle it went back to constantly dropping. I measure this on the battery terminals AND on the positive and negative terminals on the alt. So my wiring seems good.

I then checked the exciter wire on the alt, and it was reading a steady 11.5 volts at idle, and 13.8 or higher when revved up.

I went ahead and checked to see what the draw was on the battery when the car was off(I removed positive cable and put the positive lead from the meter to the positive bat post and the negative lead to the positive terminal) and the meter read .002 amps, I had the meter set to 10amps.


Does .002 amps sound right or should there be absolutely no draw?

I wouldn't be so worried, but I have to take about a 100-150 mile trip for work tomorrow and this is the only car I can drive do I want to make sure that I can make it...