Help! First breakdown in 15 years
 

Hello,
After 15 years of faithful service, my wife's Torslanda suffered it's first breakdown today. Fortunately I was driving it so I know exactly what happened but I'm stuck on how to fix it.
It just died driving along the road and I coasted in alongside the pavement.
I tried to restart it but I just heard a whirring of the starter motor but no clunk of engagement. Having never had a car with fuel injection or a computer before I thought it may be the fuel pump relay, so I tried the bypass tricks on the fusebox and on the relay connectors themselves but it still just whirrs.
I had a similar whirring on my Ford Fairlane last year which was a dodgy starter solenoid which I diagnosed but shorting the terminals. I can't see how to do that on the 240 though.
Any ideas on sorting this would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

The timing belt may have broken. One way to check this is to take the oil filler cap off and have your wife turn the key while you look and see if the camshaft moves. You might need a torch, depending on conditions. You could alternatively start removing the plastic cover for the timing belt until it's possible to take a peek and see if the belt is intact. If it's broken, it may be as simple as replacing it -- there are guides on the internet for how to do this.

I don't know if your Torslanda engine is an interference engine. The B230F is not, but I'm not sure about the B200F. If it is, then it will be more work than a belt replacement. Good luck!

As far as I know the only difference between the B230F and B200F is bore size and everything to do with that. On that basis, given that the B230F is non-interference, I think it would be safe to assume that the B200F is as well. In fact, I'm fairly sure that all B2** engines are non-interference unless they've been fitted with DOHC heads.

Hopefully it's only a broken cambelt. It's annoying but a straightforward mechanical fit.

Hope that helps,

Alex

Have you checked for fuel and spark?

If there’s no spark look at the ignition amplifier and the crank position sensor- personally i’d just buy a new one of each as they’re relatively cheap, do fail occasionally and if the old ones weren’t at fault you can put them on the car as spares to help get you going/fault find after any future breakdown.

If there’s no fuel try hotwiring the pumps (sounds like you’ve already tried this) and try starting the car again. If that works then the fuel pump relay may be at fault (again, sounds like you’ve tried this).

Good luck- there’s a relatively small number of things to check so
I’m sure you’ll find the fault fairly quickly.

Cheers

Torslanda..... seems to be a B200F or B230F with LH2.4

At first : CPS crank position sensor
second : Fuel pump relay

third : fuel pump (s)

behind this you need more skill......


Don't think the worst like a timing belt or something ****ty like this.



and most of B2x0 are non interference, H and K are.....

good luck, Kay

Actually, you can use the onboard diagnostic box to check the crank position sensor is working- although beware they can work intermittently when they’re failing.

Use this guide:

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/EngineOBDCodes.html

And this thread has useful photos:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=122391

Cheers

The lack of "clunk on engagement" of the starter suggests to me that the timing belt might be your culprit - when was it last renewed?

Try checking for cam rotation as described in post #2 but don't discount the timing belt even if the cam appears to be rotating, it's possible if the timing belt is old that it may have become slack and jumped, however your description of the sound does sound as if the cam isn't turning at all. You should see the fan turning merrily on the starter, even if the cam doesn't.

Reallly need you to perform a few basic tests to ascertain what area the problem most likely lies in. Also check your fuses, it's not unknown for fuses to get dirty on the contact ends and a quick spin in the holder (for the Continental/ceramic/plastic round fuses) or removing and refitting a couple of times for the blade variety is usually enough to clean them enough to get you mobile.

Lack of "clunk on engagement" suggests that the starter motor isn't engaging with the flywheel. The first check is surely to see if the crank pulley turns when you turn the key?

While that is true, it wouldn't have caused the engine to just stop. If you've ever heard a car trying to start after the cam/timing belt has failed, you'll understand about the lack of clunk on engagement of the starter.
Yes, there's a bit of a click/clunk as the solenoid pulls on the yoke to engage the starter pinon in the flywheel but the most audible is when the starter tries to start turning the flywheel at the same time and meets resistance from compression. If the timing belt has failed, there will be no compression so the flywheel/engine is (relatively) free to turn.

Hence the "lack of clonk" suggesting timing belt failure. If you read the rest of my post, i point out the fan should turn on the starter - this is the most obvious and visible indication the starter is turning the flywheel, easily seen even in poor light conditions.

Thanks everyone for your replies.
It was a timing belt problem.
I've not stripped it down yet, but the belt is slack. It looks as though the bottom pulley has come loose. My own fault as I fitted a new timing belt last February. At that time I did reuse the old pulley securing bolt, but I did loctite the threads and torqued it to specs, but somehow it loosened. I've now ordered a new belt, tensioner and v belts from the local dealer (the spares chap was an enthusiastic ex 240 owner, which was a pleasant change from the usual disinterested response one gets when trying to order parts for an older vehicle!). However a new pulley bolt is unavailable at present, so I'm wondering now where I could get a new one, having searched online and coming up with nothing, yet. The only place I could think of may be an engine reconditioner, any other ideas anyone?
Thanks again,
Chris