Volvo 240 won't start, anymore

Where abouts is the car at?

If it was closer I'd have a look

On a car this old, it could very well be anything. It could be the fuel pumps, (check fuel delivery to engine) and check for spark during cranking

How many thousand kilometres? If the number is low, I'd bet you have rust in the fuel system

Hi @VolvoNorth

One option might be to have the car towed to an independent Volvo workshop.

If you haven't thrown out the ignition and timing parts you've replaced recently - keep them until you've got a fix. Sometimes new parts are defective out of the box or just plain incompatible.

To diagnose yourself, I would start by checking fuses. Open up your fuse box and see if you have any crusty or blown fuses.

From there, disconnect Ignition lead from #1 cylinder, connect ignition lead to one of your old spark plugs, ground the sparkplug thread to something conductive, and crank the starter to see if you have a spark.

If you have spark, buy a can of aerostart spray and spray into intake tubes. If the engine fires you've got a fuel supply problem.

Could be a heap of different things, but that will be a good start.

Post picture of engine bay if you get a chance! ?

I'd confirm its timed correctly at tdc on #1 firstly. Pull spark plug on cylinder #1 & wind it over to the crank timing alignment mark. You can shine a torch down the plug hole or poke something down there (that you can't drop in) to confirm the piston is at the top of the cylinder.

Once you confirm tdc (top dead centre) check that the cam and ditributor marks align.

And dont forget that fuse in the engine bay just in front of the left strut tower. That gave me grief on the weekend. It looked OK but the car wouldn't start so now it has a Stanley knife blade in it and hey presto, the car starts. It still runs rough but at least it starts.

His car doesn't have that fuse because it's isn't electronic fuel injection

On yours, I urge you to replace the piece of metal (unless you want to start a fire) with this

Costs less than $10 including the terminal connectors but it might save your car

Hi Volvo North,

It's hard to diagnose via forum post without it just being a list of everything that could be wrong.

Don't get disheartened. There's nothing you have mentioned that sounds like you hit a self-destruction button. On my 740GL I had part on my timing cover break off and jumped the timing on the belt while I was driving home from a night shift and got towed. It's a non-interference head and resetting the timing got it on back on the road (after it got towed again from the mechanic back to my house and I fixed up my maintenance). It's a process of elimination until you find the bit of the system that is letting you down. I spent all day repining connectors on the k jet and then connect everything on the intake side to be right back where I was 10 days ago, not starting still.

List the things you have from kinda running;

- battery power ( possible it could cause a poor run condition as I had that with worn out alternator bushing. I got it to a mechanic but not one that care about volvo's which didn't help me. But you would hear it being sluggish when starting)

-cranking (turns over and sounds like there is compression)

-Spark (plug in lead and ground is a nice check)

-fuel (I poured some into my intake through a vacuum port to confirm that my b21e would run )

-timing (I personally don't have a timing light but it could be piece of mind for you in this case)

-missed electrical connector ( the bad land of blue smoke but the Volvo wiring Green book is available as a free PDF if you want to spend the time)

My Volvo still doesn't run still (and I am about to spend money on vacuum hoses knowing that isn't the no start issue) but the process of elimination is what will get it to.

Also depends why you have the 244, and when you need it. I like figure things out and learning how it does what it needs to, so mine can sit in the driveway when I get the time, part, experience or money. Spending money with the right person to get it done now get you to the driving part if that's what you want.

Good luck!

It would be worth doing a compression test, B23Es are an interference engine so if the belt was a few teeth off it would be possible to bend valves.

If the engine is original, it is a B23E. K-jet (mechanical) injection

It's very easy to put the timing belt on incorrectly on these engines, I've done it myself

Yup, I got it wrong on my b23e first time around. In my case it was needing to be more careful about the alignment of the intermediate shaft.

From memory mine had a ripple on the edge of the timing cover backing plate that I thought was the mark, instead of the slight groove buried deeper in.

Do you have fuel supply? (K-Jet needs a good deal of pressure, like at least 65 PSI). If not, fix.

Do you have spark? (These things have electronic ignition, so check the wiring from the dizzy to the module). If not, fix.

But it seems to me there's some clues here as to what's going wrong:

I decided to replace [the water] pump, and timing belt and gear seals while doing the pump. [....] So here is where my issue starts. Once everything was back on I started the car and it had trouble starting but after lots of cranks it finally started but with hesitation, and had trouble revving. I decided to take the timing belt off again and see if I had done something wrong. Put it back on this time making sure I had all my marks lined up. I may be wrong, but presuming you always had good fuel pressure, those symptoms sound like the cam is out.

JFTR, here are the marks which need to be lined up - all 3 of them - with your 123 square tooth belt. Maybe worth checking again?

(pic courtesy of TP30156-2, which can be found in the Oz Volvo Tech Archives)

If the cam one is out, you'll see compression issues.

If the intermediate shaft one is out, it will put the dizzy off.

If the crank one is out, it will put off the other two.

Here's an example of one tooth out.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/102993628@N03/

Also, it may be worth noting that my K-Jet 244 managed to start up after sitting for about 15 years on very cruddy 15-year-old fuel, albeit with a bit of Aerostart and after replacing the main fuel pump, and I doubt your fuel is that stale. It may be worth replacing the fuel filter in the engine bay too.

Always turn the crankshaft the rotating direction

Not the other way

It goes clockways