B21FT problem

My son's '84 242 Turbo started running lousy Saturday during a 80mph blast on the freeway, like one of the plugs wasn't firing. Lousy idle.

I checked for spark, OK, was getting fuel...odd.

Today, it started briefly, then died and won't restart.

Smell of unburned fuel, so it seems to be getting gas.

I went over to check it out and am stumped: when cranking it over, there is a rhytmic, metallic clicking sound, every one or two revolutions of the crank.

Seems to come from the front, perhaps timing belt area?

No fan blade interference.

Any ideas?

no start

I'd suggest checking the timing belt. If the belt is good then it's either spark timing, fuel, or
cranking power.

Best regards,

Yeah, I suspected the belt, too.

Took the cover off, saw that the cam gear was off by about 180 degrees.

I assume it stretched?

Fairly new belt, I put it in new a year ago when I rebuilt the engine, but my son beats the bark off his car, he street races etc, and noticed an apparent failure at 80 mph.

Off to IPD tomorrow (a four mile trip, thank god!) for a new belt.

What would cause a belt to stretch enough to allow it to jump out like that?

It's not uncommon for this to happen if a belt is not re-tensioned properly. I find it's best to retention a new belt after it has warmed up for 20-30 minutes of driving, and then again after 600 miles. Some will simply install the belt and never retention it. And some who do retention the belt will fail to first rotate the crankshaft 45? by hand before doing so. Also the quality of the belt is very important, though I have had even Volvo issue belts fail shortly after installing. And it is advisable to put anti-seize on the tensioner pivot pin and face that sits up against the block.

belt issues

Those are some great tips! Thanks TFT!

I was also told by a Volvo specialty shop years ago to retension again every 10k miles. Especially if you are someone who runs the engine hard. So, I do it every 3 oil changes. Makes it easy to remember.

Best regards,