240 General: HT Leads

[Johnny64]

Ive been looking for a new HT lead and bought a Bosch 5 lead kit which was told would fit my car but the HT lead doesn’t fit. On enquiring at various autofactors the response has been either ‘no, wont be able to get one of those’ or to offer me the same Bosch kit I have bought. As far as I know, my coil is original and my distributor cap is standard (I did replace it about 18 months ago). My existing HT lead has similar shaped/size fittings both ends whereas the one in the kit has very different fittings- I will take a couple of pictures tomorrow and post if possible.
I assumed this would be a very standard item and would be easy to replace but seemingly not- sorry, this is very basic stuff but does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Ps.. my car is a 1992 (K reg) 240 Torslanda

[Juular]

I had exactly the same problem with HT lead sets off the shelf. In the end I bought a universal kit and made up my own, it was an hour's work and saved fighting with sellers.

[crogthomas]

Same here on my 1991 model with LH2.4.

I got Bosch set B866 which was listed for my car. The plug leads fit, but the king lead for the coil has the wrong end fitting (can't remember which end).

I re-used my old king lead which was in good condition. It's only the plug leads themselves that seem to deteriorate anyway due to their proximity to the exhaust manifold.

[classicswede]

Whilst sensors etc Bosch is one of the few brands I trust they do not do good HT leads. They do not last long on the volvo engines and with 240's often come in wrong lengths and coil leads often of the wrong type

The original leads are made by Bougicord
https://www.classicswede.org/shop/ht...-bougicord-oem

The Bougicord kit comes with the lead for the most common coil position on the LHS strut tower. The coil fitting is the same as the distributor cap with this coil
It also has the lead for B200/230K engines including 360's

The one version it does not cover is late 70's 240's where the coil was mounted on the RHS bulkhead

I would return the Bosch leads as not fit for purpose

[Johnny64]

Originally Posted by crogthomas

Same here on my 1991 model with LH2.4.

I got Bosch set B866 which was listed for my car. The plug leads fit, but the king lead for the coil has the wrong end fitting (can't remember which end).

I re-used my old king lead which was in good condition. It's only the plug leads themselves that seem to deteriorate anyway due to their proximity to the exhaust manifold.

Many thanks; yes, thats exactly as mine is. I did think about re-conditioning the HT lead but its quite long and the previous owner had 'bundled' it up with zip-ties and it had developed a bit of a kink which i wasnt too happy about. the fitted rubber caps at both ends were quite loose and some damp had got down onto the connections plus the metal fittings had got quite loose- i had opened them out a bit (very carefully) but they have come loose (actually started popping out of the distributor cap when starting first thing!) so i think a new one is in order!

[Johnny64]

Originally Posted by classicswede

Whilst sensors etc Bosch is one of the few brands I trust they do not do good HT leads. They do not last long on the volvo engines and with 240's often come in wrong lengths and coil leads often of the wrong type

The original leads are made by Bougicord
https://www.classicswede.org/shop/ht...-bougicord-oem

The Bougicord kit comes with the lead for the most common coil position on the LHS strut tower. The coil fitting is the same as the distributor cap with this coil
It also has the lead for B200/230K engines including 360's

The one version it does not cover is late 70's 240's where the coil was mounted on the RHS bulkhead

I would return the Bosch leads as not fit for purpose

Many thanks Dai, i will be in touch very soon!

[Bob Meadows]

The Green Spark Plug C/o is a descent supplier for these parts & others:~
https://www.gsparkplug.com/remax-ht-...m-5-leads.html

A set is listed in the above link to include the length & fitting types.
I have not checked the suitability for your car but I'm sure you can do that.
Bob.

[Jungle_Jim]

On the subject of ignition leads - what is the optimal resistance for the leads?

I'm saying this because recently I was replacing ignition parts, and I broke one of the ignition leads, so I was hunting around my shed for a spare lead, and came up with 3-4 sets I'd replaced and kept over the past 10-15 years. What I had were sets of varying quality, from cheap Halfords ones to a Volvo-brand set and a Lucas-brand set.

My point is: these ignition lead sets had different resistances - some sets significantly lower-res than others. I can't remember exactly but from memory they were all around 3K ohm per lead - which seems surprisingly high. A copper cable of that length would be around 0.2 ohm. Obviously there must be a reason ignition leads are what they are! But still - surely lower-resistance is better?

Anyhow, without knowing the age or mileage of the ignition lead sets I had (each set had been on the car for about 3-4 years), I ended re-using the set which was both the lowest-resistance, and the most chunky and seemingly high quality - which I think ended up being the Lucas spark plug leads and the Volvo coil-dizzy lead.

Which also had me wondering about what intervals ignition leads should be replaced at - because if they aren't physically deteriorated or kinked, the connectors aren't corroded, rubber seals good, and the cables are electrically sound, why would they need replacing at all? I suppose there is the possibility of breakage at the connectors caused by fatigue after years of being shaken around!

[morsing]

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

My point is: these ignition lead sets had different resistances - some sets significantly lower-res than others. I can't remember exactly but from memory they were all around 3K ohm per lead - which seems surprisingly high. A copper cable of that length would be around 0.2 ohm. Obviously there must be a reason ignition leads are what they are! But still - surely lower-resistance is better?

No, that's about right, I think it's for noise suppression, but Google failed to confirm this.

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

Which also had me wondering about what intervals ignition leads should be replaced at - because if they aren't physically deteriorated or kinked, the connectors aren't corroded, rubber seals good, and the cables are electrically sound, why would they need replacing at all? I suppose there is the possibility of breakage at the connectors caused by fatigue after years of being shaken around!

I've also been wondering the same, but some years ago my 240 wasn't running great, HT leads all measured fine but a new set made a world of difference. No idea why.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing