1987 volvo 240 cold start trouble help!
 

Hi - I'm new to the forum, I'm a touring musician who's been taking my 87 240 wagon on the road. It has 247,000 miles and I recently started having problems starting it when the temperature is cold, i.e. below 40 degrees. My mechanic had me try spraying some carb cleaner in the hose that connects to the manifold, and this works in most cases *except* when it's below 40, in which case it just won't start. Help! I'm in the middle of PA and headed towards Wisconsin where it's only going to get colder!

So far I've been to 4 different mechanics along the way - one cleaned the air mass meter (did nothing); one tried to tape up a small leak on the large accordion hose (also did nothing); one replaced the coolant temperature sensor (did nothing); once the car starts and is warmed up, it is generally fine for the rest of the day, and otherwise runs great. Except that maybe the gas mileage seems to be a little worse than usual.

Some have suggested it could be a neutral safety switch (? the car has a manual transmission); someone else suggested it could be something about where the key goes in. Someone else suggested replacing the distributor cap and rotor. However, it is *absolutely* related to the outside temperature, and none of these things make sense to me when I think about that.

If *anyone* has any help or suggestions, please let me know! I've spent about $400 on useless repairs and I'm still in the same horrible position.

Thank you!

:)
namoli

P.S. Should I also mention that the fuel filter, fuel pump relay and in-tank pre-pump are new?