Hi everyone, this is my first post so apologies if I am digging over old ground. I just bought my first volvo, a 244 GL 1980 model which has had the 2.1 lt with 3 speed auto replaced with a 2.3lt 4 speed which is all good. The car is imaculate but I am having an issue with rough idling. The car runs great but just idles rough. I also have an intermittently noisy fuel pump which i found by accident as it sounded like an exhaust rattle so i dropped into the exhaust shop only to find my exhaust is great but the fuel filter had a strange rattle noise. The car seems to use excessive amounts of fuel also. I had the injector o-rings replaced today and the mechanic tuned it up a tad and it does drive better but the rough idle and fuel pump noise are still there (i also had him do a compression test while he was at it and all good). He also tels me there is a small leak on the inlet manifold gasket which he will fix next week, no problem. Has anyone had a similar problem and do you think the problems are related? Perhaps this is common behavior with Volvo's? I am trying to get this running sweetly as it will be my daily commuter so any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

VAcuum leaks play havoc with smooth running engines if not dealt with, one way to find them is to spray a little bit of ether on suspect lines, some guys use propane and listen to see if the idle smoothens out.
I fixed my leaky intake manifold by snugging the nuts down a bit, I replaced the gasket later on when I had to pull the manifold anyway.

Fuel filters are cheap, I think around $15 , I found mine was a buggar to remove the pressure checkvalve in the end, I had to use an impact airtool, silly because I should have replaced the checkvalve too instead of bolting the old one back on to the new filter. Your filter might just be loose in its cradle.

 

Thanks Jonesg, at my next opportunity to get under the car I will be checking the mounting of the fuel pump. It doesn't rattle all the time which makes fault finding a bit of a pain. I also took it to a volvo guythis morning who had a quick fiddle and has it iddling at a better speed but the roughness is still there, he also tells me I should be using 98 RON gas with the lead additive which may make some symptoms dissappear, including the noisy fuel pump? I actually nipped up the inlet manifold bolts yetaerday and convinced myself it made a bit of a difference but on driving it this morning I dont think it did. Admittedly I only did the ones I could reach and two nuts in particular seemed a little on the lose side. Perhaps when the mechanic does the inlet gasket next week things may improve. One more question, do these engines (2.3lt) have adjustable tappets or are they an OHC with lifters? I have some ticety ticks i would also like to get rid of if possible.

 

OK, did some work on the car today, tightened the exhaust manifold bolts which were really lose, found a plastic brake line bracket near the external fuel pump which had broken so made a dampner our of some self amalgamating tape both at this point and another which has removed a few rattles I wasn't even aware were there. I have still found that the fuel pump does make a vrrrrrrrt vrrrrrrrrrrt after aboy 15-20 mins driving. I also removed the fuel cap and tried to listen for a fuel pump noise but couldn't hear much apart from the engine noise resonating through the tank. How obvious is the noise from the in-tank fuel pump? Could it be that it is dead and making the external work a little harder? If the in-tank is dead can I still run the tank down low or should i keep it topped up?