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79 242 GT No Spark-No Start

tsieber

New member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Location
Orange County California
Hi everyone, I'm a new Volvo owner here and just recently acquired a very good shape 242 GT and it has been running great. The previous owner took very good care of it and was well maintained with all records. I had it for about 2 weeks and only been driving on the week ends.

Just recently, I have a no start/no spark issue. Everything was fine when driving home as normal. After parking the car and turning off the engine for a few minutes and then restarting the car again, it wont start up. It will crank fine. I did the fuel pump test by jumping fuse 5 & 7 and can hear the pumps running. The spark plugs, distributor cap, wires, and rotors are new. I did the spark plug test near the block and I'm not getting spark, however, the distributor coil is the original. Could it be that the distributor coil finally just died? I know the car is 39 years old and the car still feels solid. The wires, harness, and fuses are all clean and no corrosion. I never had a car with a bad distributor coil before but then again, it is almost 40 years old. Really appreciate any input. Thank you.
 
Pull the oil cap off and have someone crank the engine while you watch the camshaft. The timing belt may have broken or stripped teeth off at the crank gear so the cam and intermediate shaft aren't turning. FYI, the intermediate shaft turns the distributor and oil pump.

Check the 2 wire harness between the distributor and the control unit. It's common for the wires to fray and break at the connectors.

If the wires are OK and the belt isn't broken, Then you'll need to diagnose the ignition system.

Here's a link to the greenbook. There's a diagnostic tree on page 56.

https://ozvolvo.org/archive/?download=Vm9sdm8vMjQwIEdyZWVuIEJvb2tzLzNfMzQgVFAzMDQzMi0yX2lnbml0aW9uX3N5c3RlbXMucGRm
 
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You will need an ohmmeter and a test light to help you troubleshoot the ignition.

If you can't find anything wrong. Please ship the car to me and I will take care of it. :-P
 
Well it finally started right up. I don't what happen but when I tested the coil by grounding it to metal, disconnecting the HT lead cable from the distributor cap and placing near a metal surface, I got some spark. During the test, I heard some buzzing or humming sound from under the intake manifold like something had come on. I reconnected the wires from the coil and turned the key and the car started right up. Drove it around the block and started up right away a few times. This was strange and I don't know what had happen. I did the ohmeter test on the HT and LT both seem a little high according the the manual. @Hyperfauto, I did check the timing belt and the distributor and both were turning fine. Thank you guys.
 
I spoke too soon. It happened again! Luckily the car was in the garage. I think the distributor coil is going bad.
Did the ohmmeter test again, this time I'm getting 2.3 ohms on the primary and 13.4 on the secondary. Both of these readings are over according to specs from the Chilton manual (1.9 primary / 9.5 secondary). Time for a new
coil since the original is about 40 years old. Has anyone use a universal coil or does it have to be a Bosch unit?
 
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