Ugly Duck wrote:
I wasn't polishing!!! Ian made a clean spot and I had to deal with it.
Thanks to Dale and Beth for re-routing their trip home to chase the sputtering, stalling, and restarting 780 all the way home. F$king thing. I THINK it was the radio suppression relay, whatever that does. I'm going to have to go back and re-read Jim's thread on the red car, and do a google. Thank heaven I had a spare.
It was 'cause I washed the engine... I know it!
Best explanation I found, with acknowledgment to swedishbricks.net:
Radio Suppression Relay. [What is the Radio Suppression Relay and where is it?] The radio suppression relay (as it's called) is in actually a fuel injector relay. The pre 1986 injectors were supplied constant + power to one terminal and supplied a timed ground to the other terminal via the ECM. The constant + power used to come from the fuel pump/injection system relay. In 1986 Volvo decided to isolate the fuel injector circuit because of some radio interference created by the pulsing circuit. The solution was to energize a relay (the radio suppression relay) with the pump/system relay feed instead of using it to power the injectors directly. The radio suppression relay then supplies the + power to the injectors. The timed ground still comes from the ECM. The reason Alex can't find his radio suppression relay is because it's located on the other side of the engine compartment behind the power steering reservoir, (relay closest to the engine of the two relays mounted there Alex). For the most part the non-turbo engines had the radio suppression relay mounted on the right side (pass) of the engine compartment on or near the coolant reservoir as Alex mentioned. The turbo engines had the radio suppression relay mounted on the left side (drivers) of the engine compartment on or near the shock tower. Not set in stone just as a general rule. The radio suppression relay was used from 1986 until 1995 on almost all LH injected 4 cyl and V6 engines. There may be a couple of exceptions. The 5cyl and straight 6cyl engines do not use one. When it's bad or missing, the radio will work fine, but the engine will not run. Remember even though it's called a radio suppression relay it's function is to supply + power to the fuel injectors.
Problem diagnosis: If you suspect that your radio suppression relay is faulty (causing hot start problems, etc.) try switching the leads with the electric cooling fan relay if your car is so equipped. This relay is identical and in many car lines is located right next to the radio suppression FI relay. If your fan stops and your engine starts, then you've isolated the problem.