Gents,

What are some suggestions for looking for vacuum leaks? Any tips, suggestions, opinions would be appreciated. Reading over the years I remember folks suggesting listening with a piece of hose, spraying solvents, etc, but can't find the details.

Got a '93 240 Wagon, which occasionally complains about excessive lean/rich mixture.

Thanks much in advance.
Alex...

 

visually check the hoses first. They can become dry and brittle and develop leaks. That being done, you can spray carb cleaner around the throttle body, and intake valve gasket and injectors and listen for a rise in rpm's. I'm not sure if these cars are prone to these leaks, and where. Wait for some experts to chime in.

 

If they are all orginal hoses, youd be best just to replace them all, I did that on my 940 last weekend. Cost me about 45 bucks for all the hoses and i reused the clamps or just used zipties. I noticed alot better idle, and stronger boost from my turbo. Alot of the hoses were brittle and flakey to the touch, and one i started to pull them off, they just cracked and broke in my hands. Definately a well spent 45 dollars.

 

Easy there killer...Please don't listen to the DIY's if they say something CRAZY like this...you don't have to replace all your hoses...or be an ameteaur replace all your hoses and then find you still have a leak Your choice but I would listen to BUCK you can spray a bit of carb clean/starter fluid while car is running around vacuum hoses, bellows,injector seals,in take manifold gasket etc. and listen to see if your car idles up...if it does you've pinpointed a leak...start there....yes all 240's no matter what year aquire vacuum leaks...CERTIFIED VOLVO MECHANIC SPECIALIZING IN 240's....

 

Hey, if the man wants to replace his 17 to 35 year old vacuum hoses in one fell swoop, how is that a bad thing?

Carb cleaner, yes...starting ether? That's just insane to recommend that to anyone. You may use it in your shop because you feel you know what you are doing...but it is not something I'd recommend to anyone in a forum context. Most pros prefer propane...w/ a long piece of vac hose on the nozzle it's very easy to pinpoint leaks.

 

most people that don't know what they're doing may use propane but us pros have no problem using a little starter fluid...it evaporates so FAST and if used in VERY small amounts won't hurt anything...just don't let it pool up...forgot these guys aren't mechanics... Or you can use brake cleaner...just about anything flammable that evaporates FAST! No I have no problem with replacing hoses if they're bad but I HIGHLY doubt they are all 17-35 yo or whatever...most if not ALL vacuum lines break down over time and do not last that long even in perfect climate...I'm sure they have been replaced a couple times already...also pulling parts and replacing is just not my style unless parts are BAD. I don't know what you do in your shop but here I test and leave what's good and replace what's bad...that's why my customers TRUST me. Been doing this for 20+years. So is that what you do in your shop SWIFT? You pull all the hoses when someone has a vacuum leak you don't test and find where the leak is coming from first? What if it's not the hoses at all? What if it's an intake manifold gasket or a bellows or an injector seal? Then what? You charge your customer for all new hoses plus labor? Sorry sounds *** backwards to me and yes I am a pro are you even a Certified Volvo Tech or just workin on Volvo's? Were you trained by Volvo? Go to their school? Or any mehanic school for that matter? Because no good mechanic would just go off and replace a customers every last hose if their car was brought in for a vacuum leak that's just ridiculous...sorry.

 

OK, VG2323...not really sure where you're coming from that you feel the need to slam everyone in the forum. Why not run over to turbobricks.com This is a pretty civil forum...members here are DIY'rs as is the case on most forums. They come for any number of reasons; the pleasure in repairing things themselves, saving a ton of money, or to resolve an emergency situation among the more popular reasons. They don't come here to be brow beaten and to be made fun of. I won't clutter up the op's original post any further but if you'd like to pm me, I'll elaborate further.

 

SWIFT...you challenged me not the other way around...I am simply tring to TEACH how to diagnose a problem. You do not diagnose a problem by throwing parts at it(REALLY BIG PET PEEVE OF MINE) and as a mechanic you should know better. We are here to guide and when I see a newb telling someone to replace all their hoses when they haven't even tested them my job is to interveen and give a better more thought out alternative...or else these guys will NEVER learn how to do things on their own...I was not slamming anyone simply rebuttled your comment to me...I think it is you that has the issue....

 

Try spraying Vac hose connections with carb cleaner! Engine RPM will drop when leek is detected. Dan