Have you tried pulling codes to see if it will point you in a direction ??

I hereby solemly swear not to bother my Volvo brothers and sisters again before trying the "search" function on the site. Bad connection to the crankshaft position sensor.

running well now I hope?

Where is that sensor? I know where the cam sensor is but not the crank sensor.

You say that now ...... but ;)

The Crankshaft or RPM sensor is sticking straight up from the transmission where the bell housing connects to the block. Straight up with a loom coming out of it.
In that last picture (sorry it came out small) it's No.11 and under the distributor.

Camshaft, crankshaft.. Details details... :)

And yeah.. You're probably right.. Next time car sneezes I'll probably be making panicky posts before anything else.. :D car is running. Like said earlier, i still think intake comes in a tooth late and it's using too much coolant making me think the head is still not right. I'm just hoping that with plenty oilchanges it's going to get me at least through the cold months while I save up for a remanufactured head so I know for a fact it's right.

What did you want to know :confused:

I wanted to know if anybody knew why my car quit sparking from one moment to the next. Search function told me to look at cam position sensor. Found bad connection and fixed it. Voila!. Spark. But made panicky post first..

Alright. This one I really can't figure out. Even after search. Car runs fine when I park it one day. Next day won't start. Period. Second time this happened. Not sure how I fixed it first time. Took everything off the intake (airbox and such) and got it running somehow. Now it'll turn over and sounds like it wants to catch when gaspedal slightly pressed but motor just won't crank. Idea's?

Are you getting fuel pressure? Check the fuel relay thread.

It sure smells like gas?

Update. Just for s&g's stuck key in ignition and cranked right up. Motor died after 30 secs and back to not starting? It doesn't make much sense. If it would be a consistent thing, I could start looking in some direction, but this "works one moment, not the next and back to working" doesn't leave me much to go on?

Shot in the dark: Crank Shaft position sensor may be bad.

Have you noticed what the ambient temperature is like when it does start vs. when it doesn't? - just curious.

I don't like repeating myself but since my wife has dementia I don't mind as much. Have you looked at the fuel pump/relay thread?

Hey y'all. Had half a day off today and went and picked up different cam position sensor. Didn't make the difference. I think (and thought) the fuel rail pressure is good because turning over without catching would have it smell like a gasstation within seconds. Double checked timing marks. Intake was about a tooth and a half late (like it has been?) but bit the bullet anyway and religned the marks right. Figured since it may have gotten colder, the computer may dump more fuel in the ports trying to warm the engine up quicker causing it to flood. The reason I was thinking this was that if I left it sitting for about 20 minutes and turned it over, it would caugh every time as if to want to start up, and then spend it's time trying to catch smelling like a lot of gas. I guess having set the intake cam back where it belongs, causes the gas to actually end up in the cylinder when it needs to be there instead of collecting on top of the valve waiting to drown it on the next cycle.

So far promising. Car fires up every time within 4 turns of the starter. Keeping fingers crossed.

Cool, glad you got it going again.

Glad to hear it is running again. I have never given this much thought, but does anyone know if a fuel injected vehicle gets flooded, it can be unflooded using the old fashioned technique of maintaining a WOT until it vents out and starts?

Yes they do. It's best to pull the plugs and let them air out.