• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Any LH2.4 conversion experts in Dallas want $?

GolfClapperX

Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Location
TX, not by choice
I was almost done with this project when I started a full time job working 70 hours a week, so I have no time to finish it. Willing to pay someone to get it running while I'm at work or maybe on a weekend when I might be home if anyone's interested.

Located in North Dallas TX

85 245
93 B230FT LH2.4 AW71 swapped
89 rear end with speed sensor
electronic cluster ready to install if needed, though I read it's not necessary other than to prevent high idle after highway driving.

Has lh2.4 harness and computers all hooked up, except for the wiring that goes across the dash. The 85 lh2.2 connector is 4-pin and the lh2.4 connector is like 10-12 pin. I spliced a few of the wires, just guess-work, and got it where the fuel pumps prime and the engine starts. But it starts for a second and dies. And that's where it's at.
 
I just helped with an n/a LH2.4 swap into a 77. This swap had bad injectors from sitting.

Has the engine been sitting for a long time? A couple of years? I just helped with a Bertone that had the same symptom. It would start and then immediately stall. The injectors were bad. They put fuel in the chamber but there was no spray just fuel coming out.

You may also only have the start circuit wired. You will need to make sure there is a run or on power to the fuel injection and ezk. Wish you well with it. Seems pretty close.
 
It hasn't been sitting more than a couple months now. The engine came from a 940 I drove home 300 miles a couple months ago. For the record it was a wrecked and trashed car. But the engine was well maintained with an IPD cam and it ran perfectly.

I've also tried different injectors - right now it's running the correct injectors and resistor pack that came with this 93 B230FT, but I've tried N/A injectors with no resistors just to see if it would idle at all. No luck though, same symptoms.

I will try to look back over that last thing you mentioned about the start circuit, thanks for the tip.
 
I had about an hour today to mess with it again and have a couple new discoveries, although maybe I should be making a separate thread. Anyway, even if I'm rarely but occasionally still trying to diagnose it, the $500 offer still stands anytime.

It still starts and then dies immediately, repeatedly. But if that is done enough times, it floods and hydrolocks. If it has flooded but not quite hydrolocked, the injectors can be unplugged and the engine will start and run for about 10 seconds beautifully smooth, then die when it burns off the fuel in the cylinders.

So due to flooding I tried messing with the TPS. I read there's a WOT wire that needs to be removed/cut on turbo engines with N/A harnesses. But I can not find any clear indication of which wire this is on the TPS; the closest I got was an old TB thread with dead picture links and unclear instructions. The TPS has 3 wires. The colors will be different for almost every harness Volvo ever made, but I assume the pinout would remain the same. The middle wire, "2" is black, so I assume it's ground and leave it in place. "1" is blue/white, "3" is yellow. I've disconnected both 1 and 3 one at a time, trying to start it each time. No difference at all. Start-die-start-die-flood, etc.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm just going to switch this thing to LH 2.2 soon if not. I need it drivable again within my lifetime. I'd just hate to have to do that.
 
It's been a long week so I may not be remembering this correctly...

I think someone on here had a flooding problem that ended up being the wrong connector plugged onto the Cold Start Injector (maybe TPS)?

For both the Idle and WOT switches, they're opened (un-connected) when the throttle is between Idle and WOT. In other words, the WOT switch shouldn't be causing any problems until you're at WOT. On a '93 240, the WOT wire is blue-white (and ground is black, Idle is yellow-white).
 
It's been a long week so I may not be remembering this correctly...

I think someone on here had a flooding problem that ended up being the wrong connector plugged onto the Cold Start Injector (maybe TPS)?

For both the Idle and WOT switches, they're opened (un-connected) when the throttle is between Idle and WOT. In other words, the WOT switch shouldn't be causing any problems until you're at WOT. On a '93 240, the WOT wire is blue-white (and ground is black, Idle is yellow-white).

No cold start injector on 93 lh2.4 cars
 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0cbr--8QJio" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm sure this isn't your problem it's only a problem if you floor it or full throttle and you are running an older 5xx ecu, if your using a 9xx ecu it is not a problem. Other thing it's only a problem if your using NA 240 harness as turbo harness...

Sounds like you do not have the 4 wires to make your lh2.4 upgrade run hooked up properly. That one wire needs to be hooked to the power while cranking wire, the little wire that runs to the starter solenoid.. Hook it to that instead of trying to figure out where on the fuse panel..

Have you checked the codes?

Forget about the wire from the rear diff or spedo the speed sensor wire, that will not not make it run, who cares..


THe critical wires are the ones near the ECU that come out of the 2.4 harness, seems you got the later one that needs constant power wire instead of the earlier ones that had the fues and constant power 30 amp fues at the battery..

You stating you hooked up some wire guessing isn't gonna make it run.. Figure out the 4 main ones to make it run and that other main power one.. Those are the ones you need to figure out.

As far as cold start injector and 1993, who gives a sheet, cold start injector isn't a problem no matter what. Unplug it if you think it is, it will start and run without it, not needed anywhere in USA no matter what unless it's 50 below zero... LH will not give a sheet if you unplug it.. It will still run fine, it's not needed at all.
 
Last edited:
A picture's worth a thousand words, and sbabbs' video is even better!

For OP:
- what year/model harness are you using? I'd assume a 240 harness.
- what did you need to custom wire? Injectors to r-pack and MAF?
- any diag codes?

Based on the "flooding" and "hyrdrolock" descriptions, my first guess would be mis-wired injectors dumping fuel continuously. If this is happening, you could disconnect all 4 injectors and measure the voltage across the 2 pins of any of the 4 connectors - it should be 0volts with key on, and maybe a couple volts (average) while cranking, or running on dumped gas. If it's 12v all the time, it's mis-wired.
--> Edit: use a test lamp instead of a meter so that there's some load on the circuit. Without a load from either the test lamp or one, or more, injectors being plugged in, the voltage readings will be misleading.

If the coolant sensor is way off (very high resistance), the ECU thinks it's very cold and commands extra fuel. I think the ECU will toss a code if the temp sensor is completely disconnected.

A high MAF reading will cause high fueling. Have you double checked MAF relocation wiring?

Finally, check that both double-ground wires are connected to the intake manifold.

Since it runs for a while on dumped fuel, your "Just a few wires to make it run" should be OK.
 
Last edited:
A picture's worth a thousand words, and sbabbs' video is even better!

For OP:
- what year/model harness are you using? I'd assume a 240 harness.
- what did you need to custom wire? Injectors to r-pack and MAF?
- any diag codes?

-It's an 89 240 LN2.4 N/A harness.
-Correct, I added the resistor pack and lengthened the MAF wires.
-When I checked yesterday, actually the diagnostic ports weren't getting power. They were working right after I did this swap, and were just showing 1-1-1 (no fault) in all three sockets. Symptoms are the same now as they were with the diagnostic sockets were working.

When I pulled the harness from the 89 at Picknpull, I removed the dash and tried to trace and document all wires that go across the dash from the engine harness. Most just go to the blower, A/C relay, etc. There's one which goes to a pin on the ignition, and that one has to be jumped to 12v+ to get any power to the LH at all.

I will go get some pictures of the situation. Just to be clear, the original connector for the harness that goes across the dash for LH 2.2 in '85 was a 4-pin, and the LH 2.4 one is something like 10-12 pin, but I have cut both connectors off to try and find the correct combination of wires to cross. It hasn't been purely blind wire-crossing, I've done as much research and tracing on each wire as possible.

Pictures in a few minutes...
 
Do you have the correct injectors? If you dont have a resistor pack, or high rez injectors, you will fry the injector driver and it can result in a "always on" injector situation. Toss a noid light on there and see if that's the case.
 
No power to the diag box is suspicious. The +12v to the box comes from the ignition switch and is shared by the ECU and EZK. Since it runs a bit, the EZK box is getting power. Maybe the ground wire to the diag box is broken instead? I think that one runs over to the ground wires on the intake manifold.

Just to make sure, you have seen ZVOLV's "Just 4 wires to make it run" thread? It probably doesn't match your dash/cabin wiring, but the '89 engine harness wiring should be good.
 
I'm using the correct injectors, they were on this engine when I pulled it from the 940 with the resistor pack from the 940 as well. However, I've changed things around a few times during testing so I'm not ruling out the possibility that I fried something. I did try at one point running N/A injectors without a resistor pack and the symptoms didn't change.

I'm trying to get my nice camera to upload, but meanwhile, I wrote down which wires I'm dealing with from the original '85 dash 4-pin connector to the LH2.4 9-pin (previously thought it was 10-12 pins).

'85 4-pin:
yel/red (thick)
white (thin)
red/black (thin)
red (thin)

Those last three wires I have twisted together. I can't remember exactly why now, it's been months since I did that but I'm sure I had a reason.

'93 9-pin:
blue (medium-thick) - goes to pin 6 on round cluster connector
pink - goes to pin 3 on cluster half-circle connector
red/black - goes to ignition pin 15 & speedo pin 3 - I have spliced to the 3 twisted together wires on '85 harness, it needs this spliced or there's no power to LH
yel/red (thin) - unknown
yel/red (thick) - I have spliced to yel/red (thick) on '85 harness
purple - unknown
red/white - to A/C relay and stuff
green - to A/C relay and stuff
yel/blue (thin) - unknown

After looking over it and cranking it a few more times just now, I noticed it's pouring gas out of the exhaust to the extent that it's running down the driveway. Time to change the oil...again.



 
Last edited:
I think I've studied Zvolv's 4-wires to make it run post for at least a few hours total by now. I always come back to that thread and I still don't figure it out. It's a great writeup but I keep getting lost when trying to figure out how to apply it to the '85 dash harness.
 
It's 30deg in my garage so I'll get another cup of coffee and take a look over your wiring descriptions.

Do you still have the original 9-pin connector with wire stubs sticking out? It's often hard to figure out wiring just by wire colors since it changed through the years. If you have the connector, the mapping of wire color to pin positions can help.

Before trying anything else, disconnect all your injectors until a cause for the dumped fuel is found. Raw fuel running out of the engine is an invitation for disaster and a new non-volvo project. You can call your local auto parts store and ask if they'll rent you a "noid light kit for fuel injector testing", or sell you just a noid light for the bosch/volvo injectors.
 
Thanks, I appreciate it. It was around 32 degrees early this morning when I started looking at it, outside on the driveway. I took the same approach and went to get a liter of hot coffee first.

I know I still have those connectors somewhere, I would not throw them away. I will try to find them and report back.

Yeah, I know raw fuel pouring out of the exhaust is dangerous... I may not have made it sound like I knew this, but I was quite alarmed to see that and I don't plan on making it happen again. Fuel has now made it's way about 15 feet from the car, under the fence and into the alley. Fantastic... not only is it bad for the Volvo and bad for the environment but I'm sure city code compliance are on their way.
 
Thanks, I appreciate it. It was around 32 degrees early this morning when I started looking at it, outside on the driveway. I took the same approach and went to get a liter of hot coffee first.

I know I still have those connectors somewhere, I would not throw them away. I will try to find them and report back.

Yeah, I know raw fuel pouring out of the exhaust is dangerous... I may not have made it sound like I knew this, but I was quite alarmed to see that and I don't plan on making it happen again. Fuel has now made it's way about 15 feet from the car, under the fence and into the alley. Fantastic... not only is it bad for the Volvo and bad for the environment but I'm sure city code compliance are on their way.
That sure sounds like when the injector drivers failed in my microsquirt, which caused the injectors to run wide open and dump 6 gals of gas through the engine in a minute or 2
 
You also want to spend some time testing where each of the 93 wiring goes to the ecu. It should be the same as the one I recently did.
In the harness we had. Blue is power to stuff like the ignition coil.
Red/black is power to the computer. This is 'on' like when you turn on the ignition switch.
Yellow/red thin is fuel pump in tank or other stuff that runs off the fuel pump relay.
Yellow/red thick is main pressure pump.
Yellow/blue is the starter cranking signal so the computer knows you are trying to start. You can connect this to the starter solenoid. What I do is connect it to the starter test lead on the firewall on the back left side of the engine compartment. There is a single connector there for you to test the starter or crank the engine while you work on it. Connect there with a male spade connector.

I don't remember the pink and the purple. One was vehicle speed signal which you don't need and I forget the other. But I don't recall connecting them. The red/white and green wires for the a/c aren't needed until you connect the a/c system. One is for the compressor running and the other is a/c on signal.

Also the thin white wire you have twisted together with the others is suspicious and I would trace to where that goes. It might not be needed.

We were using an 89 n/a lh2.4 harness. It had a branch in the engine compartment that had a blue and a red/white wire on it. It needed to be wired to power for the blue wire since that was coil power and the red/white was the tach lead going in to the dash for a tach.
 
Last edited:
'85 4-pin cabin connector:
yel/red (thick)
white (thin)
red/black (thin)
red (thin)
>>> I couldn't find this in any diagram. Thick yel/red is very likely power to fuel pumps (from relay in engine harness). I'd leave the other 3 disconnected to start. I'll post an update if I find descriptions for the other 3 wires.

'89 9-pin engine harness connector:
1) blue (medium-thick) - goes to pin 6 on round cluster connector
>>> This is wrong - pin6 is a connection to the alternator dash lamp (also used by A/C relay to prevent stalling when starting and A/C is on). You want to connect the blue wire to ignition switch pin 15. It should provide +12volts both during cranking and running. Some folks have needed to change ignition switch wires to get +12 during cranking.

2) pink - goes to pin 3 on cluster half-circle connector
>>> This should be OK. You're connecting the check-engine-light signal to the choke lamp in the dash.

3) red/black - goes to ignition pin 15 & speedo pin 3 - I have spliced to the 3 twisted together wires on '85 harness, it needs this spliced or there's no power to LH
>>> I'm not sure about this one, I didn't find the matching colors in any diagram. There should be a blue/black VSS wire that connects just to the electronic speedo pin 3. I'd disconnect this for now and see if it works with the blue wire changed too.

4) yel/red (thin) - unknown
>>> This wire goes to the O2 sensor heater, and is normally connected to a fuse that provides +12v during running. Check ZVOLVs writeup for options. You'll want to wire this up if your O2 sensor is far away from the engine, but the O2 sensor should still eventually heat up enough from the exhaust gas without the heater wire.

5) yel/red (thick) - I have spliced to yel/red (thick) on '85 harness
>>> Should be OK. This is +12v from the fuel pump relay in the engine harness to the fuel pumps.

6) purple - unknown
>>> This is the dashboard shift light for manual transmissions. Not needed.

7) red/white - to A/C relay and stuff
8) green - to A/C relay and stuff
>>> red/white maybe be red/gray? Green goes to A/C pressure sensor, red/gray to A/C relay. Not needed to get it running.

9) yel/blue (thin) - unknown
>>> This goes to the start pin on the ignition switch, and to the park/neutral interlock on automatics. Not needed, but might provide better idle control for automatics when shifting out of park.
 
Back
Top