Short story: I bought this car from a lady who said it started fine a year and a half ago, it has been sitting ever since..

I recently did an extended life tune up on my car:

Air Filter
Fuel Filter
Oil Change
New power belt
Spark Plugs
Coil wires
Distributor Cap and Rotor
Fuel Injector Seal Kit
All new vacuum lines
Upper and lower radiator hoses
Also replaced the camshaft positioning sensor

I go to try starting the car for the first time. It just cranks.. and cranks.. and cranks again.. I looked over all connections and everything is hooked up.. I check fuel delivery and that was a go. I checked the spark, and there was none. I traced the problem back to the Ignition Coil. I used a Volt Meter to check the power from the connector off of the engine wiring harness and it read about 12.4 volts.. but for some reason, there is no spark coming out of the ignition coil.. I think ok I'll just replace it, so I did.. different ignition coil, same problem.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This car is currently equipped with a very crappy Valet 551t Remote Start System. In the back of my head, I keep thinking that the car is in some kind of lock down mode, and its causing the ignition coil not to send spark.. is that even possible?? The wiring for the system is very sketchy. I tried removing the power to the system off of the positive battery terminal, but that didn't do anything..

I went to a local volvo specialist, $80 an hour.. The actual dealer was worse than that.. both the specialist and the dealer said, "sorry I wish I knew what to tell ya, you could bring it in and have us look at it?" ha.. that ain't happening, I'm 18 years old and I don't have a couple hundred bucks laying around!

I'm curious if anyone else has had a similar problem with either the Iginition Coil and no spark problem, or the Valet 551t issue?
Anything would help at this point, I'll try anything.. Its killing me have a beautiful conditioned 850 Turbo Sedan with 130k miles just begging to be driven, just sitting there..







This would be what under the driver side knee bolster looks like.. whoever wired this system should probably never touch a car again. I promise this is how I found it! Crazy I know..



These are the cables that supply the power to the Remote Start System.. shot..



These pictures summarize what I am currently dealing with!

 

I would remove the aftermarket stuff.....bring it back to Factory wiring.

 

Makes it quite a bit harder to diagnose with a non-factory starting system in there.

did you replace the coil to cap wire when you did the plug wires?
Where did you test for spark? Did you test a spark plug or did you also test at the coil wire?
check all of the grounds?
Did you check all of the fuses?


And fix those power leads ASAP.

 

My question is: did you drive it home and do the full tune up or did you buy it, tow it home, tune it up and you have no spark ?? Have you had it running at all?

If it never ran than the tuneup and new parts really shouldn't matter ,,, unless you put something in wrong. You might want to go over the ignition stuff once just to make sure if you haven't already and test for spark like the other guy suggested at the coil wire to near ground if you haven't already.
You replaced the coil. Did you use the stock replacement Coil and module assembly or did you just do a coil ? Some of us do have separate coils.
You did the cam, the other likely one would be the crank sensor but if it's bad enough to cause a no start (missing signal or badly scattered signal) it should set a trouble code.

You might want to try to pull the codes to see if you have any from the under hood self diagnostic center or if you have the rare 94 that has an OBDII port just above the shifter under the coin holder it would be easier to plug in an OBDII tester.

And yes, no dealer or independent is going to try and walk you through diagnostics over the phone for no spark without being paid. Why in the world would they ?? The other problem is half way through you find out the person you're trying to explain a system or procedure doesn't have a clue what you're saying or any of the tools necessary. I've finally started to qualify people who ask electrical questions by asking if they have a 12 volt test light or a voltmeter. If they say no and indicate they have no desire to purchase one there really isn't any reason to try and explain anything as they can't do any of the simple tests anyway. And yes that doesn't apply to you as you said you took readings at the connector. What you'd be paying that 80+ dollars an hour is for someone who knows what they are doing go through the system and find the problem in a much shorter time than it will take the collective "us" to guide you through the steps we can think of. But, that's why we are free and they get the big $$.

Battery fully charged, no spark at the coil wire, the best thing to do is follow the diagnostic tree back through the components that fire the coil and lastly .......... if it's still dead, pull the remote starter out or if you have a schematic of it's wiring at least disconnect any part that splices into the ignition system. The starter part seems to work so you need not rip it all out yet.
Have you checked on the web site for your Valet 551 to see if there is a different "reset" procedure to use if the system locks you out in case that is what's going on ??

 

Here is the 850 service manual in zip format:

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/dow.../Volvo_850.zip

I agree with kissingfrogs, see if there are any stored DTCs first. You replaced all that stuff and the car wasn't running yet?

 

1. Yes sir, original Volvo parts only!
2. Tested both at the plug and at the coil wire. Both failed.
3. To the best of my knowledge all the grounds are secured.
4. All fuses have been checked and double checked.

Kiss4afrog- I towed it home and started replacing things right away. I have not had it running yet. I double checked everything and I'm pretty positive that everything is hooked up properly. I used all original Volvo parts. Yes, my car is one of the few that is OBD-II compliant, thank goodness. I have not yet searched for any codes yet, but I will be able to tomorrow morning. But yes I am ok with doing it this way even if it is slower. I learn more and I save much $$! I really do appreciate all this input! I was not expecting too many responses, a lot of times people just treat me like I'm retarded and don't know what I'm saying.. I mean if I knew everything there was about my car, I wouldn't be posted here haha. I have yet to find any helpful information on that ridiculous 551t system yet, I'm still looking and asking around. But I have a few more things to try before making the 551t my only suspect left.

Turkey Sandwich- Thanks for that link. Also, I replaced all of those things because A. they looked shot. B. I knew that even if the car was running they would've needed replaced anyway, and C. I got a huge discount on all of the parts.. and that was that ha..

I appreciate the help so far, I'm going out tomorrow to test some other things that have come to mind, I will post back with any updates and a video if I get it started! Thanks

 

Did you drive it home and do the full tune up or did you buy it, tow it home, tune it up and you have no spark ?? Have you had it running at all?

 

Before you start tearing all that stuff out. It would be prudent to fix the remote start connections and see if that will work. If not, like stated before disconnect it all back to factory. Are your cams lined up properly? (bring the car ti TDC and post a pic if you are unsure) Hind sight is always 20/20. But it probably would have been better to get it started, before doing any of the work to it. Oh, and I forgot. Did you replace the coil module?

 

Link to valet 551t manual:

http://www.directeddealers.com/manua...alet/N551T.pdf

 

@ Kiss: He purchased it, had it towed home, started working on it, and it does not start (no spark). Has yet to start.

My #1 suspect is the cam sensor since that was my problem.

 

I missed his answer by 4 minutes. I was asking as he was posting. Wanted to be clear on if he killed it or it came that way.

Rspi, he already did the crank sensor but it could be a bad new part ... or were you thinking crank ??

I'd disconnect the remote starter as far as it's connected to the ignition system just to eliminate it as a possibility but I wouldn't fully pull it out as once you get it running you might still be able to use it. Once you have it isolated from the vehicles wiring then you only have to deal with the Volvo stuff and do a straightforward diagnosis of the no spark.

Once you have it disconnected you do however want to try and start it just to see if maybe it is just the remote starter that is causing you the trouble.

 

I was thinking cam sensor on the back of the exhaust cam.

 

Have you checked the timing belt by chance?

 

didn't think about that. that would suuuuuck.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Cam sensor- My local U-pull it yard has around 11 850's, which is an incredible help! One of the 850's had 52,000 on the odometer and man did it show it, that's where I got a lot of parts because the car looked so nice. Anyway. I took about 4 cam positioning sensors from the yard because they were $3.50 a piece, I tried every last one, no change in cranking behavior..

Cams- The cams look lined up but I'll be honest, I'm not too sure about that kind of thing, I'll take some pictures and post them up to be double sure..

Timing Belt- According to sticker on timing belt cover, and last owner, the timing belt replacement was almost exactly 59,000 miles ago. I doesn't look old or worn, but either way due to past bad expeirence, ONCE (not if) I get the car running I'm going to have my shop do the full timing kit.

I'm still convinced its this security system.. Some have said pull it out, some say keep it in.. honestly I'd rather get the car running with the system still attached and worry about getting it out later.. I read the entire manual for the 551t and found a bunch of helpful information..

Back on page one of this thread click on the 551t PDF file posted:

Refer to page 21, bottom of the page. It talks about the disabling of ignition and fuel..

 

Is this black box in the lower right hand corner the valet unit? Is it just me or does it look melted?

In other cars I have owned with electrical issues, and a few friends cars. Removing aftermarket stuff has cured issues. You have no idea if this thing has ever worked in this car period.....I would pull it out and then trouble shoot. Buying 4 cam sensors and trying them all is just wasting money and time.

Good luck finding the issue....like you said before some of that wiring looks a little less than pro quality.

 

Is there any non-stock looking wiring under the hood? Especially around the area of the fuse box, or the harness that goes to the ECU? There are only so many places they could disable the ignition system and/or ECU, if that is what is happening.

 

Can you post a better picture of that box ??

If that is the boxes plastic that looks like a knot the size of an egg then that unit is surely shot and is likely causing your problem. I'd carefully remove it from your wiring securely soldering any wires back together that were cut and tied into that control. Some wires might just be connected to for a signal to that control and were not cut, just need to re-insulate the damage but some will have been cut with a lead into and a different lead out of the box. Those are the ones you should solder back together and re-insulate.

 

That "knot/burned stuff" looks to me like either foam insulation or possibly something they attempted to use to stick/ adhere it up there. As far as my earlier statement relating to cams being aligned. Feel free to post a pic anyway, but I must have misread, and was under the impression you did timing service when the car was still dead. Reason I suggested you reconnect first was because if there is an immobilizer by pass spliced in to the system, simply disconnecting it might no do any good. (since your car will not know to disarm)

 

GREAT NEWS!! After hours of head scratching and clueless testing, I finally managed to get her running!! You'll never believe what the problem was, beacause it was so easy, and it only cost me $27!!

Drum roll please.. da da da da da.. THE ECU

I switched out the ECU even though many people suggested not too because their failure rate was too low. But I was getting desperate and figured why not. Now I have an amazing car so if your car is losing spark at the ignition coil, check your ECU, you never know?

Thanks for all the help, its great that the remote start system had nothing to do with the problem! I just disconnected it from the positive battery terminal for now.. eventually I want to get it removed.. That black melted looking material is actually just an adhesive of some kind used to stick that box up underneath the knee bolster..

I am sure I will have questions coming up soon, as I started the car today it was idling rough and the turbo needle was about 3/4 of the way in the black, which I guess is vacuum? Could that just mean that my turbo waste gate needs to be adjusted? But the car has been sitting for probably close to 2 years, would that affect how it runs for a little while at least? Thinking about draining the fuel out and getting fresh stuff, yes? Anyway, thanks for all the help, I'm off to bed to start again in the morning