850 T5 intermittent starting

[Sparkysparks]

Ok, after my warm welcome id like some help please so i can enjoy my volvo.

This is the story so far.
Intermittent starting, sometimes it'll crank for 1 second and start, sometimes it wont start for 20 tries.
I had it the other day where it would start after 5 seconds of cranking with the accelerator fully down.
Today it would start everytime but cranking ranged from 2 seconds to 40 seconds. Then i tried again 20 mins later and nothing atall.

I have tried a new Cranks Position switch, Im told its had a new dizzy and rotor.
The fuel pump is priming as it should so i think the relay and pump are fine.
I had noticed today that the main ignition relay above the fan had silicone around the bottom of it.
Also these are the wired going to it
They are working as they should for now.
The relay however sometimes wouldnt switch, but even with the relay bridged the car wouldnt start.
When the relay does switch the ICV buzzes constantly aswell.
I get a really weak spark untill its running then its a full heavy spark.
Im getting 12v on ignition to the coil and injectors.

I also took the ignition barrel cap off to find nothing damaged.

I should add that when the car starts it runs spot on, wont stall or show any signs of a problem.

Am i right in thinking that my next check would be the cam sensor?
TIA
Mark

[Shinsplintz 101]

Those wires look proper ropey, certainly worth further investigation if as you say everything else is ok...and please remove that horrendous purple silicon from the engine bay unless you have the full leopard print interior to go with it & have a side line as a pimp

[jamesy12345]

Mark, it looks from the photo that the that the wiring is damaged in 2 places - near the multiplug and to the left of the photo a break in the insulation in one wire, plus what looks like heat damage on the others?? Are you saying you have fixed this now?

What year is it also, any chance of OBD checking?

///edit aa it's an M-reg according to your other posts

[Sparkysparks]

Shinsplintz it also has a cool dump valve haha.
Those wires are all brittle and nasty, ive not repaired them yet as it seems to be working ok. Its even damaged further down the line, all wires on this car have seemingly got hot and brittle and broken away somewhere. How hard is it to take the loom out?

M reg yes, Ive checked the codes, all I was getting was fuel pump, icv, coil, basically confirming things that I had unplugged. Nothing jumping out saying change me.

[Sparkysparks]

When I turn ignition on, should I be getting 12v at coil and injectors and 5v at crankshaft and camshaft sensors?
Mark

[Sparkysparks]

When cranking today it was giving 12v to the ignition coil, uninterrupted. So whatever controls the earthing of that is the issue here. Does anyone know what that may be?

[jamesy12345]

When cranking today it was giving 12v to the ignition coil, uninterrupted. So whatever controls the earthing of that is the issue here. Does anyone know what that may be?

could be the wiring fella according to this

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/Ignit...is&Service.pdf

Not much help just confirming what you know

[Sparkysparks]

This relay is causing my issues. Or whatever is controlling it.
That it crank voltage ac when running.

Does anyone have a known working spare that I could try?
Mark

[Sparkysparks]

New relay in, still no joy. I am rapidly losing patience with this issue.
Im going to try to tidy the wires, or at least eliminate them all together and make my own connections and see what happens.

[Sparkysparks]

I want to remove the relay all together for testing purposes.

[jamesy12345]

hope you get it sorted Mark, you are obviously handy since you did that engine swap, know any good auto electricians??

[Sparkysparks]

Thanks man. Im not handy with the electrics though. This is mostly new to me. It makes no real sense. I know of a guy but i think hes a plug and play type of man, i dont know how hed be at actual diagnosis haha.

[mike 850]

Is the idle control valve buzzing? If so the relay is doing its job. I had a big intermittent starting issue, went though everything from sensors, ecu to the loom turned out to be an earth issue on the points behind the inlet manifold. It would crank but not start but would bump start instantly, basically the draw from the starter stopped the signals to the coil etc. I can help with testing individual components as I went through literally everything

[Sparkysparks]

The ICV buzzes when the relay does connect but i do have to manually make the connection myself. Its when it makes its own connection that it will start.
I can manually make it but it will not hold or start..
Your help would be greatly appreciated Mike.
Ive seen that a dodgy starter can take too much, drawing power from other components.

[Harvey]

This relay is causing my issues. Or whatever is controlling it.
That it crank voltage ac when running.

Does anyone have a known working spare that I could try?
Mark

Why have you got the test meter on 200 volt A/C range to fault find ? ,put the meter to 20 volts on the D/C range.

[Sparkysparks]

Reading info around the web it told me to test crankshaft sensor on ac scale as its a pulse. It shows no reading atall on DC

[Harvey]

Reading info around the web it told me to test crankshaft sensor on ac scale as its a pulse. It shows no reading atall on DC

Sorry didn't see you were testing sensor through you were testing crank voltage at starter motor.

[Sparkysparks]

No probs, It cranks fine, I just dont know if its taking too much current, Something else i need to test

[mike 850]

I'll get my notes out tomorrow lol, then go through the sensors one by one, have you got a jump lead you can put on the earth then the other on the gearbox/ starter body? Just to check the earth

[Sparkysparks]

Excellent. I have a jump lead yes.