Subject: Volvo 1800ES engine problem
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Glenn - I have been visiting your site looking for information as I rebuild my "project," a 1973 1800 ES. I've run into a problem and am looking for help. When purchased, the car ran well, but was very difficult to start no matter the weather. I found that the exhaust manifold had several significant cracks and the compression checked at 98-138-115-158 p.s.i. I decided with the encouragement of my teenage sons to attempt the work myself.
When I pulled the head, I found a burned valve and a blown head gasket. Took the head to a shop which did the valve job, replaced the guides and seals and ground it flat. I rebuilt it with a set of IPD headers, all new gaskets, points, plugs, condensor, wires, rotor, distributor cap, plugs, etc. Compression went to 160-160-160-160 and the car starts very easily. Problem : it develops no power, it is slow to rev up, and when you drive it, it stumbles, bucks and can barely get to 30 mph.
I have checked the timing, the points, the plugs, etc. Pulled the injectors and tested -- no drips, regular conical mist output -- looks good to a novice. Put in all new injector gaskets when I reinstalled them -- still no improvement. Any thoughts other than take it to a dealer or shop?? Any advice appreciated!
Rick
kettler@milwpc.com
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998
Rick - It sounds as if you might have got the spark plug wires out of place, and you're running on only two cylinders. Check the plug wire locations carefully. On the distributor on my car, the #3 plug wire is positioned closest to the low-voltage terminal on the side of the distributor. If you go clockwise from #3, the order should be 1, 2, 4. (These numbers, of course, refer to the cylinders, which are counted from the front to the rear of the engine.)
You can tell if spark plugs are not firing by pulling the wires off of them one at a time while the engine is running. If the engine does not slow down when you remove a plug wire, you know that plug is not firing. If you find that two plugs are not firing, try swapping their wires.
Other items that can affect firing are the position of the distributor drive gear and the position of the timing gears. If you have removed these parts, double-check their position.
If the plugs and firing order are o.k., I would try to find a vacuum leak in the induction system. Check the intake manifold for plugs you might have forgotten to replace or a gasket that is not sealing properly. When you say you replaced the injector gaskets, I trust you mean the tip seal, the shaft grommet and the housing o-ring on each one. If not, you should replace these items.
Hope you get it running soon. -Glenn.