1983 242, Trying to Get It Running

Hello,

This is my first post on here that isn't in the "For Sale" bit. Here's some details on the car: I have a 1983 Volvo 242 with the B23F, and it was actually my first car. I bought it back after a couple owners and now I'm just trying to get it started. It sat for maybe half a year.

It runs for a bit, but it misfires and will not idle. Seems to run worse when warm. It burns a TON of oil. I believe the oil issue is some gunked up rings. But it runs really nice on starting fluid, which tells me it's not getting the fuel it needs. I went through the fuel system and fixed the wiring the P/O did on the in-line pump he had installed. He also gashed the outlet side hose on the banjo fitting on the fuel filter. It leaks slowly unless I manipulate the hose into spraying. That shouldn't be problem enough for the car to not run. I'll fix that next week.

After not being able to hear the in tank pump, I pulled that out and inspected it. Hooked it up to direct power and it works OK. The sock was busted in half lengthwise and no longer filters at all. I also saw gunk bits in the bottom of the fuel tank. I replaced the sock filter and called it a day.

So I'm wondering if it's possible that the unfiltered in tank pump sucked up some crap and clogged the injectors? Is that possible?

Thanks!

It's very possible, I just replaced my gas tank because of rust inside plugging up my EFI injectors.

VB242 said:

It's very possible, I just replaced my gas tank because of rust inside plugging up my EFI injectors.

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Ah, that sucks!

I'm guessing my rusty old injectors would be better replaced than repaired? I found Bosch P/N: 62354 are fair priced, and would update the old nozzle style to the new 4 hole nozzles.

I'm not sure if there is remaining crap in the feed lines, so I think I'll disconnect the lines from the fuel rail and let them run for 30 seconds or so.

OldCarNewTricks said:

Ah, that sucks!

I'm guessing my rusty old injectors would be better replaced than repaired? I found Bosch P/N: 62354 are fair priced, and would update the old nozzle style to the new 4 hole nozzles.

I'm not sure if there is remaining crap in the feed lines, so I think I'll disconnect the lines from the fuel rail and let them run for 30 seconds or so.

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Is this k-jet or lh?

VB242 said:

Is this k-jet or lh?

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It is LH 2.1, I believe. I don't have the AMM P/N on hand, but it has the Chrysler ICM and the LH ECM.

Another issue is that the screen on the AMM seems to be half destroyed. I am considering either replacing it (if I can find one) or just convert to LH 2.2

OldCarNewTricks said:

It is LH 2.1, I believe. I don't have the AMM P/N on hand, but it has the Chrysler ICM and the LH ECM.

Another issue is that the screen on the AMM seems to be half destroyed. I am considering either replacing it (if I can find one) or just convert to LH 2.2

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I would change the fuel filter too, I had an aftermarket 40 micron filter on mine, the factory filter probably has better filtration but it might have been overwhelmed. There's a guy locally Injector Pulse that cleaned and tested mine, he only charges $20ea. He gives you a full report. Check him out online, you just have to ship them in and he'll get you straight.
https://www.injectorpulse.com/

VB242 said:

I would change the fuel filter too, I had an aftermarket 40 micron filter on mine, the factory filter probably has better filtration but it might have been overwhelmed. There's a guy locally Injector Pulse that cleaned and tested mine, he only charges $20ea. He gives you a full report. Check him out online, you just have to ship them in and he'll get you straight.
https://www.injectorpulse.com/

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The in-line fuel filter was replaced at the same time as the in-line pump, and that was about six months ago. And then I did replace the in tank sock filter. Does the in tank line go directly to the fuel rail or through another filter? I saw that it is separate from the in-line pump.

That's actually priced very fair for injector servicing. I'll check it out and weigh out my different options - thanks for the recommendation!

OldCarNewTricks said:

The in-line fuel filter was replaced at the same time as the in-line pump, and that was about six months ago. And then I did replace the in tank sock filter. Does the in tank line go directly to the fuel rail or through another filter? I saw that it is separate from the in-line pump.

That's actually priced very fair for injector servicing. I'll check it out and weigh out my different options - thanks for the recommendation!

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All the fuel goes thorough both the pump strainer and the in line filter.

Do a spray test before concluding that you need injectors. Just get four small bottles and pull the fuel rail/injectors out of the manifold. Put the ends of the injectors into the equal size bottles and have someone else crank the engine over while you watch the spray pattern coming out of the injectors. You will be able to see the spray pattern and also compare the volume of fuel each injector sprayed during your test.

2manyturbos said:

Do a spray test before concluding that you need injectors. Just get four small bottles and pull the fuel rail/injectors out of the manifold. Put the ends of the injectors into the equal size bottles and have someone else crank the engine over while you watch the spray pattern coming out of the injectors. You will be able to see the spray pattern and also compare the volume of fuel each injector sprayed during your test.

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Good idea. I will have to do that when I get some time. If it disproves my theory, I can save $90.

On a 1983 car one of the classic issues that causes rough running is degradation of the engine wiring harness. Check yours carefully to see if any of the insulation of the individual wires is crumbling. I've seen this on every early 80s 240 I have ever owned or worked on, and it's a well documented issue.

The heat of the engine bay causes the wire insulation to become brittle and fall off, allowing the wires to short against each other or even break in some cases. Usually the worst of the damage is concentrated near the firewall, back of the engine bay, where the harness passes through to the interior. Under the dash the harnesses are usually fine because they've been protected from heat.

Volvo made an OE replacement harness with better insulation, and there are aftermarket harnesses too. It's not too bad to replace it in an afternoon but you may need to remove the intake manifold and some accessories.

Dave Barton has a thorough page about it and sells aftermarket replacement harnesses too: https://www.prancingmoose.com/volvoharnesses.html

Duder said:

On a 1983 car one of the classic issues that causes rough running is degradation of the engine wiring harness. Check yours carefully to see if any of the insulation of the individual wires is crumbling. I've seen this on every early 80s 240 I have ever owned or worked on, and it's a well documented issue.

The heat of the engine bay causes the wire insulation to become brittle and fall off, allowing the wires to short against each other or even break in some cases. Usually the worst of the damage is concentrated near the firewall, back of the engine bay, where the harness passes through to the interior. Under the dash the harnesses are usually fine because they've been protected from heat.

Volvo made an OE replacement harness with better insulation, and there are aftermarket harnesses too. It's not too bad to replace it in an afternoon but you may need to remove the intake manifold and some accessories.

Dave Barton has a thorough page about it and sells aftermarket replacement harnesses too: https://www.prancingmoose.com/volvoharnesses.html

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This is something I was aware of. During my first ownership I put loom over all the wires in the bay. So one of the first things I did when I started working on it this time around, is I cut that all off and I've inspected alot of the wires. The wires that plug in to the Chrysler ICU all seem to be in good shape, but are covered with old sludgy electrical tape residue. I also read on Dave's Volvo page that the ICU had connector issues for 83-84, and they make sleeves for a tighter fit. If the injectors are all in good shape, I will look further into the wiring.

It seems that the original guy I got it from, who was very much into Volvos, replaced a good portion of the original wiring. However, I did see that the headlight and front turn signal wires have all crumbled down to nothing. I will have to rewire that all before I can get it on the street again.

Well, I got around to doing a little more work today. Double checked some of the wiring. Figured out it's a "round plug" distributor, if that's important.

Well, while inspecting wires I left the AMM unplugged. And I tried starting it. It actually idled! I mean, a very rough idle, but still. Plugged the wires back in... no start.

Can a bad AMM cause these cars to act this badly?

My AMM is the 002 model, and after viewing some of them online, mine is missing the rear screen and the front one is very damaged. I found some on eBay. Would it be better to replace with a like model or update to 2.2? Are there any benefits to 2.2 over 2.1?

Before I left it for the evening, I put a generous amount of seafoam in the cylinders. My hope is that I am right in thinking that the rings are sludged up and need some help. But a bad head gasket can also cause heavy consumption of oil, correct?

Sorry for the huge paragraphs, I very much appreciate the help!

I tested my AMM, and it seems the 2 and 3 pins read out 4.1 ohms, however, I think the extra .1-.2 is because of the poor quality test leads attached to my Fluke DMM. Pins labeled "6" and "7" also test out as 4.2 ohms. I tested both because of conflicting posts.

Seems my AMM may not be the issue?

I can get it running with alot of cranking and with help from partial throttle with or without the AMM. But without the AMM was the only time I've been able to get it running with no throttle and it idled.

That’s almost conclusive that the AMM is bad. Disconnecting it makes the system go into limp home mode. That’s why it will start and idle.

I concur with Roy... likely a bad AMM. I had an '83 with LH2.0 that would no-start and run very rough, and as one of the diagnostic steps I found it ran much better with the AMM unplugged. Replacing it with a known-good used one was the fix. There are rebuilt AMMs out there too, but the one that failed on that car was previously rebuilt, so I cannot attest to their quality or longevity vs. original Bosch.

Edit: I forgot that I did convert that one over to LH2.2 using an AMM and ECU from a 2.2 car. That was a pretty easy conversion and the 2.2 AMMs are much easier to find.

I wrote up my work here: https://dailyturismo.com/dtpc-efi-system-upgrade-all-systems-are/

FYI: your car has LH 2.0. 2.1 is a 760 only system used for half a year in 1984 for the turbo model.

Anyway, yes, the AMM is dead... You can probably drive it around with it in limp-home mode, but it will have that rhythmic idle surge, and, when you try to accelerate, you may need to goose it a little while releasing the clutch. As Chris mentioned above, the 007 AMM on the LH 2.2 cars is a lot more common than the 002, since it was used for four years, instead of two. The three compatible LH-Jet ECUs for non-turbo cars running 2.2 are the 511, 544, and 554. 511 seems to be a 1985-early 1986 computer, whereas the 544 was used for mid-production 1986 through 1987, possibly early 1988, then the 554 is for the final production run of 1988 cars.

Thanks for the clarification on LH 2.1 vs 2.0 John242Ti.

I ended up finding that O'Reilly's sells reman 002 AMMs for $74 plus a $34 core. Quite alot more than getting one from the scrap yard, however, it's the only place that comes with a lifetime warranty! Good deal.

The AMM tests out better with my DMM (~3.8 Ohms). I'll try to get it on the car today and also repair that fuel line.

After a day working in the Oregon rain, still no luck. I repaired the fuel line and installed the new AMM. I also capped off and installed some missing clamps throughout the vac system. It didn't want to start at all. The couple times it ran, it was only for a couple seconds and it sounded really good. No more sucking oil past the rings and running off that, so the seafoam in the cylinders did the trick there, I think.

I was messing around with all the different connectors, and after messing with the circular plug that connects to the distributor it almost wanted to go. I cleaned as much of the old dielectric grease out of the connector as I could with WD-40, because I had nothing else on hand. No luck after that.

After that I cranked it for a while and it was blowing exhaust out of the tail pipe, but it didn't try to run for me.

Not sure what to troubleshoot next. I think testing injector flow might be a good idea.

Another thing, does anyone know what pins in the ICU connector that they started putting the little sleeves in? Even if it's not my issue here, I'd like to address that at the same time I clean all the old dielectric grease from the connector.