Car cranks but won't start

I am not very mechanically inclined by any means. But I'm trying to
figure out why my Volvo won't start right now. It's a Volvo 240D 1986.
It's been very wet out lately and it stalled on me the other day. I
went to start it this morning and it wouldn't budge. The engine is
cranking, I can hear it, but it just doesn't start. Thinking about it
being low on gas I went to the store and put in a few extra gallons
plus some of the dry gas to no avail. If anyone can help me out I'd
appreciate it.. Otherwise I guess I'll call a tow truck!

 

It could be moisture condensing on electrical parts. I had
a Peugot with that problem. When I was at home, I could
blow warm air from a hair dryer over the distributor, and
start the car. On an older car, the wiring can make it hard
to start in wet weather. Dirt collected on the wires lets
moisture build up.

 

It could be a fuel pump relay, or fuel pump.

 

Well you need fuel, spark, and compression for it to run. Assuming the
cranking sounds normal you probably have compression so the next thing
to do is check to see if you have a spark, if that is present then you
have a problem with the fuel system. Report back what you find out and
we'll go from there.

 

I used to have to whip the mag out of my car and shove it in the oven
for 20 minutes or so on damp days before it would start.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e375/unilynx/DSC06080copy.jpg

the link above is a picture of a crack i noticed...

not sure if this has anything to do with it or not.. but i've had the
car towed and it seems like it must be something to do with the fuel
pump.. it cranks and theres a spark so..

 

That's the preheat tube, I usually just yank those and toss them, if the
airbox thermostat fails the hot air from that tube will kill the
expensive AMM and unless you live in a cold climate the preheat tube
does little.

 

Oh okay thanks. Well I live in Maine and we have pretty cold winters,
but if it's not a huge thing I probably won't worry about it..

 

Looks like it was the Fuel Pump Relay.. That's what my mechanic told
me. Total came to about $120

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

....except cause you to fail the smog test if it's cracked, torn, or missing.

 

For future reference:
In some model years (iirc), the hazard signal relay is the same unit as
the fuel pump relay.
Check your manual to confirm but might save a towing bill in the future.

 

As far as I know there's no Volvo like this. All injected models up to
'77 and LH injected models up to 1984 do use "plain normal" relays that
are used elsewhere, but all the rest use specific fuel pump relays. Of
course I'm not sure about non North American models, but I'd assume
they're the same.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

As far as I know there's no Volvo like this. All injected models up to

Yeah, my mechanic said that it was not the same. It was specifically a
fuel pump relay.

 

I'm not clear on what you're saying here.
First you say you don't know of any Volvo like this.
Then you say some injected ones up to '84 use relays that are also used
elsewhere. Sounds like you're contradicting yourself...*g*
I guess what you're saying is, later models like the OP's '86 are not
like this.
I'd have to agree, after chasing my fuel problem, that the ones that
have the relay on the left of the doghouse in the driver foot well have
specific relays. Those like my '83 that have two relays behind the panel
under the glove box, use a generic relay that could also be used elsewhere.

What I know is, all I could say was sonoma beach when I read that there
was another relay just like my fuel pump relay under the dash that I
could have switched and maybe got home on my own wheels.

I'll backtrack and find where I saw this tidbit. I didn't confirm it on
my '83 as it requires tunneling into the dash but if the trade off were
another $160.00 towing bill, I think I'd start digging.

 

The statement was the fuel pump relay is the same as the hazard relay,
which it's not. It can be the same as other relays, depending on the
car, but not the hazard relay.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

You're right. It's not the hazard relay, it's the central lock relay...
http://www.eeuroparts.com/productdetail.aspx?code=7296