Hello all, I just purchased an 88 240DL. It's an automatic and runs pretty strong. Odometer is dead and reads 216k, who knows what the mileage is really like. I got it for $600. I don't know what it is about it but when the saw the pic on craigslist, for some odd reason I wanted it. It's going to take a lot of work and money, but I like projects. Before I start on suspension, and putting any real money into it. I need to pass Ca. Smog test. I haven't taken it in because I don't want it to fail miserably and be labeled as a gross polluter. I cleaned out the flame trap( it was the plastic one with the little plastic filter thing in it.) I replaced a few vacuum hoses too. I went to check timing and the the timing mark was all the way on the right side of the timing mark,(probably about 6 degrees) before I cleaned the flame trap and it ran great. Now after I cleaned the flame trap it runs ok, but there is a lack of power. Now it feels like the timing is retarded. I only notice it because it ran better before. I'm new to Volvo land and don't know much about them yet. Could a clogged flame trap have made the car run bad and maybe the precious owner retarded the timing so it would run better? I'm going to advance the timing to 12degrees BTD in the next day or so and hope it doesn't make it run bad. Any thoughts on this???
Distributor cap and rotor had been replaced, but I cleaned them up a little anyways. I gotta get this car to pass so I can release it's real potential.

 

'gross polluter' sounds like you're in California. most places around here (Santa Cruz) at least will do a precheck for a nominal fee, which will let you know how badly off you are.

our 1987 240 (we're original owners, its now my daughter's car), which has a broken odometer with 256000 miles, but has about 400K actual miles on it, had to get a new cat last time around, we were warned that we'd need this 2 smog tests (every 2 years) before that, then the next time it was /really/ hard to get to pass (my mechanic took it out and got it REALLY hot and drove it straight into his smog bay and it barely passed), so this last time around, we did the new cat (and O2 sensor) and it was just clean and dandy all over again.

with a little TLC, these things will go forever.

 

Good Ole California.
I'm going to do the pretest soon as I get paid. From what I understand, if it's a gross polluter you have to take it to the referee and smog check every 2 years like you mentioned. I don't want that hassle.
Any idea why the timing is retarded so much? does that help emissions at all?

 

hmm. I've never had a car declared a gross polluter, but AFAIK, once you get it fixed, and the referee at the advanced smog test-only station clears it, you can go back to regular biannual smog checks after that. santa cruz here is a 'easy test' area, no treadmill, just static testing at idle and 2500rpm (I think?).

anyways, the timing spec for LH2.2 cars is 12 degrees +/- 2 BTDC at 750rpm. you adjust it by turning the distributor, same as old fashion cars (on the LH2.4 cars, there's no adjustment, timing is via a crank position sensor).

if the ICU detects knocking via the knock sensor, then it will retard it, but I'm not sure how much. that knock sensor is on the side of the head under the intake manifold, near cylinder #1.

 

The Gross Polluter is a thing of the past as far as having to go to referee stations, etc. Now all the Test Only Stations can handle it all... Depends on the area as far as the strictness of the test.

 

I was reading on this forum and it says to unplug the hose that's plugged into the side of the distributor cap to adjust timing. I thought maybe the engine was retarding the timing, but with that unplugged, it won't start. Does that mean that plug is working?

 

there's no vacuum advance on any 240 made since at least 1980. maybe really REALLY old ones, I dunno. the LH-II and 2.2 cars from circa 83 to 88 with chrysler ignition had vacuum going to the ICU (ignition control unit), the LH2.4 cars after that didn't.

 

It's definitely not a vacuum advance hose. It goes into an electrical plug that plugs into the side of the distributor.

 

OH, that. hah. thats the hall sensor on LH-II and 2.2 cars.... yeah, no hall sensor == no timing == no fuel OR spark.

 

Thanks Pierce! I was wondering what and where the Hall sensor was. Is there anything I need to unplug when I adjust the timing, or do I just loosen the distributor and and turn to adjust?

 

to tell you the truth, I've never even LOOKED at the timing on our 240, its always just run right.

afaik, I've never seen anything saying you need to disconnect anything, just hook up your timing light, and go for it.

 

That's what I did. I got it to about 6*BTDC and that's as far as the distributor will go. I'm thinking now that the timing belt might either be bad or installed wrong. I'm going to take off the cover tomorrow and turn the motor till the timing marks are lined up and see if it all lines up. It idles weird now, it runs for about 5-10 seconds than almost dies, but speeds right back up. I'ts kind of a cycle now. When I put it in gear, it idles ok and just a little faster than when it's in park. Not sure what that's all about. I'm going to search the forum for picks and locations of the sensors that might need cleaning like MAF and whatever else I read in the forums.

 

cleaning MAF's rarely works for long in my experinece. had to replace a couple, and the cheap aftermarket rebuilt ones suck and are prone to failing early.

I was reading a thread on matthewsvolvosite where the guy had symptoms of insanely high advance, swore up and down he'd checked the timing belt marks, changed all kinda other stuff, FINALLY double checked the timing belt again and realized it was way off, 2 teeth. set that right (with a new timing belt), and the distributor went right back to the middle of its range and was dead nuts on at 12 deg. BTDC.

 

the only sensors that count are...

• hall sensor in the distributor provides the master timing
• ECT (engine coolant sensor) on side of block under intake manifold, tells ECU and ICU when its cold
• throttle idle switch tells ECU when its time to regulate the idle via the IAC idle air control valve
• MAF tells the ECU how much air is coming in so it knows how much fuel to squirt in
• knock sensor (side of engine block below intake manifold) tells ICU to retard ignition if its pinging
• O2 sensor in front of cat tells the ECU if its lean or rich so it can fine tune the fuel mixture.
• ... I think thats it?

 

Thanks for the list !!

There is a hill where I live that I have to go up to get home, it's about 5 miles long at least. I had the timing set at about 15*BTDC( I was trying for 12 but didn't take into account the angle of the engine, the timing notch only says 0 and 2 so I have to kind of guestimate), I know because I looked at it when I got back home. It was pinging like crazy, coming up that hill, it even started to loose power. I barely made it up the hill. I retarded the timing a bit and now it's somewhere between 10 and 12. Took the hill again on the way home tonight and it started pinging about a mile in, no where near as bad as last time though, and no loss of power. So I'm going to retard it a little more tomorrow. Then I'm going to start looking for those sensors...... When I was rechecking the timing, I pulled the plugs and they all looked good. I did notice that the #1 plug wire wasn't seated all the way on the plug. Between securing that wire and retarding the timing, the miss went away. Still along ways away from getting this Brick to the way it should be, but it gives me something to do on my off days. I appreciate the help.

 

there's three sensors along the head under the intake manifold ports... 1) knock sensor, 2) ECT for engine management, and 3) temp sensor for dashboard gauge. normally thats the order they are in from front to back, but I've seen them swapped around.

I said the ECT went to both the ECU and ICU, someone corrected me on another thread, thats only on LH2.4 cars (1989+), on LH2.2, its just for the ECU.

 

I went to a smog shop for a smog check. They hooked it up and punched in the numbers and got a message that I have to take it to a Smog Only shop, so after waiting an hour before they plugged my car up, I had to go to a different shop. At the test only shop, they tested the Brick. It passed the emissions, but the timing was off. The idle should be about 750 and it was at 1250. They didn't say what the timing was at. I had it adjusted to about 6*BTDC and got crazy detonation going up a hill. Had to bring it all the way down to 6*ATDC so it to take the hill without any knocking or pinging. Then I took off the throttle body and cleaned it. Idle picked up alot. I went and put a bottle of SeaFoam in and it had half a tank. That's where I had it tested. If I move the distributor all the wat to the right, the most timing I can get is 6*BTDC. So I bought a new timing belt and I'm going to change that tomorrow. Hopefully that will make the difference.