Distributor help in Scotland

[Ben W]

Hi guys,

Think my Hall sensor has gone on the old B200E - anyone fairly local to Fife have any Bosch distributor parts/hall sensors I could buy?

Oh, and hope everyone had had a Merry Christmas!

All the best,

Ben

[Laird Scooby]

What year is it Ben and is it K or L/LH jetronic injection?

Also could you let me know the diagnostic process you used to come to the conclusion it's the HE sensor in the dizzy? Usually they're fairly reliable beasts, i'm not saying they don't fail, just there might be another much simpler (and probably cheaper/easier to fix) cause.

[Ben W]

Hi Scooby,

Its a 1990 740SE with 2.0 B200E with Bosch K-Jettronic injection as far as I know.

It would crank and crank and never fire, but someone said on a Volvo site somewhere if it cranks and the tach doesn't bounce its likely to be the hall sensor. We've had the distributor apart and cleaned, glued the hall sensor wire bracket (was snapped) and changed plug leads over for good ones. Cleaning battery terminals and clamps made it crank very slowly once I removed all of the Vaseline from them, re-cleaned and vaselined them today and its back to cranking fast but still no spark at the wires.

Battery smells when attempting start, but when we could get it to start, was showing 14.4V running and even after a few attempts at starting ot was still 12.45V 🤔


Its a real head-scratcher, for me anyway! 😅

Ordered new coil (think this one is okay, started after swapping to a known good one, but wasnt the problem after all), new dizzy cap and rotor on order (they were worn) and I've ordered a new hall sensor which will probably be a pig to fix lol


Sorry for the rambling,

Hope this info helps 😊


Ben

[Ben W]

Oh, one more thing.

It was cranking slowly but firing up, last night had it down to local asda, waited half an hour and it slowly fired back up again. Was running this morning in a similar fashion three times, but after cleaning terminals and applying Vaseline as it was before, is what buggered it and here we are again 😅

[Laird Scooby]

From everything you've put there, i'd say the HE sensor is ok, might need adjustment (air gap should be 0.75mm usually) but seems to be working, as do the leads, cap and rotor.

What i suspect is happening is your starter motor is drawing way too much current and that is causing the Vaseline to get hot, carbonize and form a resistor. Shouldn't use vaseline on electrical terminals, dielectric grease or silicone grease but not Vaseline.

Also you may well have problems in the battery cables and/or the terminals which are on the ends or the cable inside those terminals. Also where those terminals bolt to. This goes for both the +ve and -ve leads.

Check the battery leads to the starter, particularly the ends of the cables where the terminals are crimped on. If the cable is broken or burned at that point, renew it.
Clean all terminals and mating faces of where the bolt on as you go, use a wire brush to do this. Also ensure they are dry and free from grease of all kinds.

Once you've checked and/or repaired all of this, try it again. Make sure your battery is fully charged and has enough electrolyte in before trying though. It should turn over quicker and fire much easier if all is good. If not, get a jump lead. Start by connecting one end to the engine block or bellhousing near the starter. Now connect the other end to the battery -ve terminal. Try starting again. If the starter now spins over quicker, there is an earth lead problem somewhere.

If there's no change, remove the jump lead from both ends and now fit one end onto the main terminal from the +ve on the starter motor (the one the battery lead goes to) and take the other end to the battery +ve terminal.
Test it again, if there's an improvement, there's still a problem in the +ve lead.

If there's no improvement and the battery terminals are still getting hot and the battery is still fizzing, replace your starter motor.

DO NOT replace anything else until you've done this, the HE sensor may still be suspect but at the moment it sounds very much like the starter is FUBAR and pulling way too much current, leaving no power available to power the ignition.

Very common problem!

Just to confirm, you don't have the timing sensor in the top of the bellhousing?

[Ben W]

Hi Dave ,

Thank you very much for all of this info, looking forward to working through it all tomorrow 😎👍

I didn't see a sensor on the bellhousing, but I definately do have a Hall sensor - should I have a crank sensor too?

Many thanks,


Ben


P.S - probably should have consulted you guys first, i'm about 100 quid into parts allready lol

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Ben W

Hi Dave ,

Thank you very much for all of this info, looking forward to working through it all tomorrow 😎👍

I didn't see a sensor on the bellhousing, but I definately do have a Hall sensor - should I have a crank sensor too?

Many thanks,


Ben


P.S - probably should have consulted you guys first, i'm about 100 quid into parts allready lol

You shouldn't have a CPS (Crank Position Sensor) on the bellhousing if you have the HE sensor in the dizzy Ben - i was just asking for confirmation in case someone had done a "mix'n'match" in the past.

Also worth investing in a tube of heatsink paste, remove the ignition amplifier module from its heatsink on the inner wing just behind the left hand headlamp usually, clean the mating surfaces with a solvent and lint free cloth (nothing abrasive) and apply some fesh heatsink compound.
As you refit the module, give it a wiggle to spread the compound evenly and then tighten the scews evenly.
Trace the earth wire from the plug on it to where it goes into the body further along, remove and clean this as you would do for the other battery connectors already described.

This bit for the ignition amp module is more preventive maintenance than a fix, it appears to be working, these two things are just to make sure it keeps working!

[Ben W]

Thanks very much Dave, look forward to fiddling with it tomorrow!

Interesting about that ignition module, the P/O had installed air horns and theres a bit on the lhs wing thats right next to a horn and its a black connector / box with wires coming outnof it, and its filthy @_@

[c1800]

Re: grease on electrical terminals.
A special grease with a metallic component for electrical terminals is better than dielectric grease due to its conductive properties.

Detailed discussion here. The author is a noted Volvo expert and his website has extensive information on this and other subjects related to vintage Volvos.

https://www.sw-em.com/anti_corrosive_paste.htm

A product equivalent to the products mentioned is BX1-225 BICON Electrical Jointing Paste, and available in the uk. Not cheap by any means, but very useful and improves the connectivity of electrical connectors.

https://www.smartmerchants.co.uk/bx1...g-paste-5.html

Some further discussion in this thread.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...ht=Aczp&page=2


Good luck.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by c1800

Re: grease on electrical terminals.
A special grease with a metallic component for electrical terminals is better than dielectric grease due to its conductive properties.

Detailed discussion here. The author is a noted Volvo expert and his website has extensive information on this and other subjects related to vintage Volvos.

https://www.sw-em.com/anti_corrosive_paste.htm

A product equivalent to the products mentioned is BX1-225 BICON Electrical Jointing Paste, and available in the uk. Not cheap by any means, but very useful and improves the connectivity of electrical connectors.

https://www.smartmerchants.co.uk/bx1...g-paste-5.html

Some further discussion in this thread.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...ht=Aczp&page=2


Good luck.

That grease might be better on joints with push connectors, the last thing you want on battery terminals between the terminal post and the terminal clamp is grease of any form, even one with conductive metal particles - the reasons are already given above.

Also that grease is designed for harsh conditions, those conditions might exist in Canada but not in most parts of the UK so would really be a waste of money.