working on the 84 volvo, the distributor has had some play in the shaft for a long time, causing it to wear out the cap+rotor in just a couple months. well its been getting worse, the last set only lasted a few weeks before it quit.
obviously, i need a new/reman distributor, but the problem is i can't find one at any supplier out there except these guys VolvoPartsPlus - Volvo Parts and Accessories at wholesale price | VolvoPartsPlus and 4 options, no pics, and prices starting well over 400, means it just ain't gonna happen.

every other year of volvo seems to have a dizzy available from IPD, o-really's, autozoo, or anywhere else - its just the 84 thats impossible. any ideas on finding the right one if i don't get lucky at the junkyard?

 

I doubt the '84 is one off... I should think you can get lucky at the junkyard. New will be hundreds.

 

Do you have a white distributor cap?

here is a used one for $162 including shipping....follow link.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-1984-VO...-/320649105022

 

its not the white (chrysler) cap, its the standard bosch cap. looking at the pics at oreillyauto.com, my unit is identical to the one for an 83 in terms of its housing and sensor, but has the wire plug found on just about every other year. earlier years have the right plug but the ring that the sensor reads is quite different, thus giving a different signal at a different time. its like the older ones in that it has the mechanical advance weights inside, whereas the 85-up got rid of the weights and has yet a different ring for the sensor.

so it appears that it is a 1-year special

what if i were to find an earlier dizzy at the junkyard with a module that matches it - would that work for me

 

indeed, 84 was like the first year of LH injection, it was an early LH2.0 or 2.1, then they did LH2.2 until 1989 when LH2.4 came out and did away with the hall sensor entirely in favor of a crank position sensor, which was used until the end of redblock production (1995 940 for the US).

 

so considering that it is a 1 year special, and the local junkyards don't have any 84s in stock at the moment, would it be possible for me to take the distributor and module from a car of a different year and make it work? i seem to remember that its on its own harness separate from the fuel harness, so i would suspect it would work, but is there anything weird relating its advance systems or anything else that would prevent me from swapping years around?

 

I would seriously avoid the 1987-1988 240 chrysler ignition, while those use Bosch distributors, the ICU has a problematic connector and a funky vacuum mechanism.

1989+ systems are LH2.4 injection and EZK116 ignition, the ICU and ECU for these are a bit too closely integrated (they have 3-4 signals between them that trade info) so these probably wouldn't work either. Also, LH2.4 systems use a crank position sensor and have no hall sensor in the distributor, so you're not going to be able to mix-n-match with those either, so forget /that/ approach.

anything from 1983-1987 is likely to have the suspect 'biodegradable' wiring harnesses, best avoided

let me puzzle over the 1984 greenbooks in a bit, and see if it looks like you could use JUST the power module and coil and distributor from another year with your existing ICU or not.

 

I don't know where you are but the PickN Pulls in Portland, OR show four '84 240's. If I have a reason to go anytime soon I may pull a dist. May be a good thing to have if so rare... (That's how you get a houseful of "valuable" Volvo parts, and then discover that most Volvo owners prefer to drive POSs rather than spend some time and money to make them nice...)

 

ok, I see, thats a vacuum advance distributor on the 240, assuming its 'breakerless electronic system'. later cars moved this vacuum advance to the ICU (ignition control unit), then got rid of it entirely. the diagrams also show a 'MPG" system used in 1984, this has the vacuum advance on the ICU, the ICU directly fires the coil, and the distributor just has a hall sensor but no vacuum advance. this ICU is on the side of the coolant overflow tank, it looks like (or maybe its the window washer tank)...

now, what these wiring diagrams won't tell me is which of these was used in the US. they have diagrams for euro only configurations (1984 B23A with carbs?!? distributor with breaker points?!?)

 

thanks for all the help guys, i finally found one at a local shop in ballard. he's the authority on hard to find volvo stuff, and had 3 used ones in stock for the 84. cost me 80 bucks which is a little spendy for used, but i put it in the car and it fired right up, so i'm happy

as you were seeing, the 84 uses the mechanical advance weights of the older rigs, but with the vacuum moved to the ICU.

i still think its crazy how often they changed designs, but its working now so i'm happy
thanks again guys

 

hey, I'll take incremental engineering improvements over arbitrary cosmetic restyling any day.