85 240 GL non turbo saga

Hey all,

Havin some fun with my buddy's 85 240, it sat in
a snow bank all winter due to unavailability of
some parts. It first cacked out in the middle
of nowhere, and we couldn't figure out what
happened. The timing belt snapped, the key on
the crank was bent, leading us to believe there
was a failure of a rod bearing or something of
that nature.

However, it still turned over manually. Meaning no bent
valves (WHEW!) and visual inspection from
underneath with no oil pan did not reveal any
internal damage, it all looked brand new. So we
figured the timing belt tensioner must given out, replaced it and put a
new t-belt on. Fired
her up and holy smokes she was makin a bad
noise! Didn't know what it was, but sounded
alot like a rod bearing again.

So what was actually wrong? It wasn't the rod
bearings. Upon disassembly, we noticed that the
bolts connecting the trannie (automatic) and the
engine were almost all broken. There are 8, and
all but 3 were busted.

So now we have the whole bloody car in pieces in
the garage, and we decide to fix it. Since the
engine is now in a million pieces, we figured it
would be a good time to replace anything that
showed any wear. My first mistake. It took
over 4 months for the crank bearings and piston
rings and some other parts to come in. Guess we
went with the wrong supplier.

So, anyways, the car sat outside in a snowbank
on the street for the last 6 months (engine and
trannie were in the garage). We FINALLY got the
parts in, put it all back together..... and
NOTHING. won't fire up. Here's what we have
done so far:

Ignition Coil (too much resistance, needed replacement)$30
Distributor Cap (center pin busted) $10
Plug wires (mismatched) $40
Fuel filter (old) $30

Also noticed the Main Fuel relay was not working. Is this a common
problem? I have a honda, they are famous for main relay probs. Plus the
relay is like $100!!! Is there a way to fix it?

We were wondering about bad gas too, its not
coming out clear...

Also, any ideas on what else might be causing us
problems?

Thanks, sorry for the novel of a post...

t

 

The relay is a fairly common problem, the solder joints on the circuit board
inside it crack. Replacement is about $50, but repair is dead easy if you
know someone with a soldering iron and some rosin core solder (as opposed to
acid core plumbing solder).

So I assume you've verified that it does have a spark and that the ignition
timing is not 180 degrees off? The fuel pump relay should pull in when it
gets a signal from the hall sensor in the distributor, this should start up
the fuel pump. If the pump doesn't run, check the connections right at the
pump, and of course clean all the fuses in the fuse panel, after sitting
outside in nasty weather for so long there's a very good possibility that
they're corroded. Oh don't forget to check the blade fuse on the left fender
well over near the battery.

 

Yes it has spark, actually it seems like the
injectors are stuck. We were thinking of
jumping them just to get them unstuck, if they
were sitting all winter with bad gas in them
there could be a lot of varnish in them, right?

Thanks for the other tips. Keep em coming!
need all the help I can get on this one...

Thanks
t

 

I suppose it's possible, though I've never seen stuck injectors. Have you
checked for voltage at one of the injector plugs? You should get something
when the engine cranks, a 12v test light should flicker when connected
across the plug. Don't forget to check that fuse under the hood, it powers
the injection system and is a very common failure.

 

Follow up: the problem was the wiring harness
going to the ignition ECU under the hood.

I suppose it's possible, though I've never seen stuck injectors. Have you
checked for voltage at one of the injector plugs? You should get
something
when the engine cranks, a 12v test light should flicker when connected
across the plug. Don't forget to check that fuse under the hood, it
powers
the injection system and is a very common failure.