Engine: 2.3 F/Inj B23E/B230F: damp weather = unhappy GLT

[mr dbini]

Hi folks,

my 1989 injected GLT has been running great all Summer (the new fuel pump helped with that) but now things have got a bit rainy, its a nightmare to start.
it takes a few minutes of turning over before it'll fire up, and then the first 5 or 10 minutes of a journey is touch-and-go whether it'll stall at traffic lights. if this happens then it takes a bit of cranking to fire up again - usually involving a backfire or two and a cloud of exhaust smoke.

its fine in the cold, but if it's stood for a day or two in the rain, it hates it.

any ideas what it could be and how to treat it, beyond a good spray of WD40 every morning?

cheers,

john

[Michael J]

Unclip the distributor cap, lift it up, look inside, wipe it out with a clean dry cloth. If the terminals are heavily eroded then replace it, and a new rotor arm at the same time would not hurt. This fixed my DL (Renix electronic ignition). Also, when did you last have new spark plugs?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by mr dbini

Hi folks,

my 1989 injected GLT has been running great all Summer (the new fuel pump helped with that) but now things have got a bit rainy, its a nightmare to start.
it takes a few minutes of turning over before it'll fire up, and then the first 5 or 10 minutes of a journey is touch-and-go whether it'll stall at traffic lights. if this happens then it takes a bit of cranking to fire up again - usually involving a backfire or two and a cloud of exhaust smoke.

its fine in the cold, but if it's stood for a day or two in the rain, it hates it.

any ideas what it could be and how to treat it, beyond a good spray of WD40 every morning?

cheers,

john

This was never a problem when these cars were current and on the road , I bet most of your Ignition components have been changed , the perfectly good volvo bits thrown away to be replaced by cheap poor quality parts to cure some problem which wasnt the ignition ! I have seen it many times .
If you can find some genuine volvo HT Leads and plug caps and distributor cap and rotor arm you should be ok .. The volvo distributor cap is laquered on the inside ie shiny , other bosch applications are not .. Hopefully you still have your original coil!

[Derek UK]

+1 to having quality parts but check out what you have for obvious corrosion etc. Pull the leads out of their sockets and check there too. Thoroughly wipe down the leads and the cap inside and out with WD and see how it goes. If there are improvements it might mean your on the right track. Check the ignition module and the adjacent big fuse for poor contacts. Run the engine in the dark and see if there are any pyrotechnics around the plug leads.

[D19VDM]

I had a similar issue with a GLT many years ago. It was water getting onto the ignition module that caused problems with mine.

[volvo always]

My GLT would sound like it's misfiring on one cylinder until it got up to temperature.
Changed the plug leads, spark plugs and Dist cap and still doing it. Once I received my new rev limiting rotor arm all great and running like a watch. The previous Volvo ignition parts had done 3 years but rotor arm and cap 5 years.

About 2 months before I was on my way to work overtaking a lorry and doing about 75mph and a massive bang came from under the bonnet and power loss. Thought oh dear, have I blown it up at 203,000 miles.
Looked under the bonnet and a ht lead was off and the spark plug had gone!! Fitted a spare and 7 minutes on my way!! Saying that though with a loose spark plug it seemed much more powerful and sounded great.

I would say install all new genuine ignition parts then get the mixture adjusted.

James

[mr dbini]

so, i gave the distributor cap a wipe down - it seemed pretty clean, but the limiter may have been a bit corroded. then, just for good measure, i sprayed the fusebox with WD40 (i had a problem with corroded fuse terminals last winter)
now its starting nicely, even after 3 days standing in the rain.

thanks for your advice,

john

[Derek UK]

If WD-40 "fixed" your fuse box you may have water dripping onto it from above. Worth checking. Remove all fuses and clean up all of the box contacts. If any of the fuses have plastic cores replace them with ones that are made from real ceramic. More critical with those that run heavy loads, fuel pump etc, as they get hot and the plastic compresses when hot to give you a loose fuse when it cools. Poor contact/high resistance connection then gives you problems which only get worse as the process is repeated.

[heckflosse]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

+1 to having quality parts but check out what you have for obvious corrosion etc. Pull the leads out of their sockets and check there too. Thoroughly wipe down the leads and the cap inside and out with WD and see how it goes. If there are improvements it might mean your on the right track. Check the ignition module and the adjacent big fuse for poor contacts. Run the engine in the dark and see if there are any pyrotechnics around the plug leads.

Get one of those trigger spray bottles you use in the kitchen.
Then lightly spray the leads etc with water mist when it is ticking over, any bad shorting will be obvious.
Manky leads would be my first thought.

[Clifford Pope]

Originally Posted by heckflosse

Then lightly spray the leads etc with water mist when it is ticking over, any bad shorting will be obvious.

That's a very clever tip heckflosse - I'd never have thought of doing that.

Normally one rushes to try and eliminate any possibility of damp, so sprays WD40 everywhere, which may cure but also mask the problem.