Hey everyone, new to the forum and looking for a little advice. I drive a 94 turbo wagon that I bought recently and had the tranny go out. So I swapped the tranny, and start the car up and let it idle, for a few minutes and took it for a test drive. Tranny works as it should. However after a few minutes of driving it seems to have trouble holding an idle. ( will stall if not on gas. Rpms will continue to drop till it dies) so we bring it back into the shop and it starts back up, idles rough then dies. Now it just won't start at all. I've checked all fuel pump relays and have switched the crank and Cam position sensors. Checked for spark and that seems fine, and it's getting fuel as well. I am begining to think that somthing rattled loose and got worse as i drove the car. I can honestly say the car drove for 45 minutes after the swap. The next day it started up, idled, then died and has not started since. I have no clue what else to check. I really like the car. I just wish I could get it started! Go figure you fix the transmission and the engine stopps working. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Might want to check the PTC element at the base of the intake pipe (It's the sensor right next to the turbo with the hoses going in it) to see if that popped out. If it comes loose it will have same kind of symptoms you're describing, similar to the effects as if the MAF was not being plugged in.

 

Is that the black thing with 3 tubes and a sensor plugged in it? If so I swapped that out as well.

 

Did you check for fuel,spark and injector pulse?
You can also check the gray relay on top of the cooling fan. The wires are known to back out of the relay.

 

Yea I threw a noid on the I injectors and they're working. Also I did check for spark and that seems to be working ok to. I will check the relay because that sounds like something that may be a cause. Any other ideas?

 

Well if you have spark and injector pulse now make sure you have fuel pressure.

 

And now that I think of it, I replaced that gray relay as well.

 

Checked the rail for pressure, that was good to. I checked over the basics. That's why I'm so stumped. Got spark, gas and air. Should add up to combustion in my book.

 

Yes it should!
If you have all of that then I would start checking timing stuff now.

 

The spark seemed weaker, then usual that is. What sort if timing things should I be looking at?

 

Make sure all 3 timing marks line up on the front of the motor.

 

Is that somthing that could have happend on it's own? And where are the timing marks at? I'm new to Volvo, but not to working on cars. I also need to get a bently guide.

 

It is always possible to jump time. Pull the front cover and look in. The cam pulleys have a line on them. The the back cover has 2 notches the lines line up with.The exhaust pulley will be at like 2 to 3 o'clock. The intake will be at like 10 or 11 o'clock.
The crank one is hardest to see.

 

I'll take a look. The thing that sucks is that I did the swap at a friends shop and now my car is stuck in there lot and I can't get much of a chance to look at it. I'm getting it towed back to my house on Monday and then I'll be able to really get to the bottom of this. It's just so strange that it drove fine for the first few minutes and then just stopped.

 

Update. Well now it's sparking on 3 cylinders but not the left two passenger side. Getting gas, kinda sparking. For a while it was trying to start. Now it just cranks.

 

Have you done a compression test yet?

 

No I haven't, didn't cross my mind seeing how the car ran fine prior to the swap. It's getting spark, and gas, and now it kinda starts and sputters but once you stop cranking it dies. The tach is also acting weird. Going up to 2 and holding steady or just doing random movements while cranking. It's confusing as heck and I don't know where to look. The spark from the coil is weak and I think that may be my problem. I have swapped out the cap, wires. And plugs and coil. I heard about a spark amp? What's this? And where is it? I have replaced most of the parts related to producing spark and it's still weak!

 

I would check the ground wire where it mounts to the transmission.

 

Ok, I'll give it a look tomorrow. Thanks for the input. It's greatly apriciated.

 

I. Checked the ground wire and it seems to be just fine. It's on nice and tight. Could it be ecu related?