240 dl was running grand stopped after rain. Wasn't getting a spark replaced coil . Sparked and started , ran without a care for three days.Three in the morning decides to crank almost starts. Still getting a spark to the distributor cap but not to the plugs. Plugs are wet,?? Is this where the power stage comes to play? Or the crank sensor? any ideas...

 

whats the inside of the cap and the rotor look like?


if there's a spark at the HV wire to the cap, then everything before that is working (crank or hall sensor, ICU, power stage, coil). The distributor rotor sends that HV pulse to the correct spark plug in sequence.

 

The wires are my next replacement.I did replace them from Auto zone but returned them, poor fit ,and still no spark at the plug.Bosch wires should be in by Tuesday.Should I still try the power stage?Mine is old.The other thought was the crank sensor, but having never done one before I'm anxious.I assume either of these items could could work intermittently. The only other item I thought of was the "step relay" as the Orielly associate called it. It is located right next to the coil and looks like a dual lighting relay (I also have a 84 Saab which has similar multiple dual connection relays.)
Thanks for the response. If you can think of any thing else-please-. I will clean the engine of its filth and try electric cleaner on the connections. Thanks again...Will

 

what year 240 is this? crank position sensors were only used on the 1989+ LH2.4 cars, earlier versions used a hall sensor in the distributor.

that 'step relay' is probably the headlights and turn signal flasher.

the bosch wires sold via the parts chains are not that great either :-/ the best cords for redblocks are Bougicords, these are made to the exact spec of the original factory cords.

 

The Volvo is a 1990 240 DL wagon, with 240,000 on it. We bought the car for my son last December from the local foreign car parts dealer. It was part of their delivery fleet.
It has Bremi wires on it and has been a perfect vehicle. I don't like the fit of the Bosch on my Saab, these Bremi are tight at the cap, plugs and coil. I will investigate the availability of the Bougicords.
Is there a better cap and rotor than Bosch? The fit of the Autozone cap is a little tipsy ,possibly not tall enough.The car had Bosch copper premiums plugs, I replaced them with NKG split v's.
Today I'll also put a new fuel filter and heet in the tank.Any Volvo particular direction you can offer would be much appreciated... Will

 

Is the rotor inside the distributor turning when the engine is being cranked? As in, if it is being turned by the timing belt.

 

yes, it has to be so each spark plug gets the spark in the right sequence.

it turns at 1/2 the crank shaft speed so that two full turns of the crank hits every spark plug. the coil fires at twice the crank speed, so there's 4 sparks for each turn of the rotor, one per spark plug.

p.s, thought I posted earlier, Bremi plug wires should be just as good as Bougicord, I've used Bremi on our old MBZ 300E, they were a perfect OEM match. Beru is another good one. Bosch made the distributor, their cap-n-rotor, at least the one sold via Volvo, are as good as it gets. I get all my Volvo parts from www.tascaparts.com which is a real Volvo parts dealer that sells at a discount, and I get aftermarket stuff from www.fcpeuro.com and www.ipdusa.com

 

Thank you for all the great direction. I didn't end up picking up the Bosch wire set. I did attend to the fuel and some heet, and cleaned every electrical contact and relay with electrical cleaner spun the fuses. I did use an old Bosch set from my Saab, vehicle started without an issue.
Bremi wire set did fit so much nicer and are constructed in such a way that "screwing" the heads to the wire(the heads are actually connected to the wires with screws).Allowed me to replace the old Bosch wires with these old Bremi gave a much nicer fit and still a running vehicle.
Gapping the NKG to a tight .28 smoothed the performance, I do wonder if platinum expense might be worth it.
So my chauffeur days are over for a little,but I will ramp up the maintenance and order back up new parts and replace some older wiring around the engine plus that 30 amp fuse holder....Thankxx so much..Will

 

IMHO, the optimal plugs to use in redblocks are NGK BP7ES or Bosch WR7DC, or Volvo 120321 (kit of 4).