Bought a 89 740 GL from an employee of mine to fix up and give to my dad since he has no car at the moment.

Long story short when I got the car from my employee (he couldn't afford to fix it) the car was drive-able, but it had a bad tick coming from around the valve cover area and was leaking oil pretty bad from the valve cover. I believed it was an exhaust manifold gasket that had failed and took it on as a simple project to replace both manifold gasket and valve cover gasket.

The car would also sputter are run very poorly when then engine was first started for the day. I believed this to be a fuel issue either dirty fuel filter and or also needing spark plugs.

So I drove the car 30 miles to my house and replaced the exhaust gasket,valve cover gasket, spark plugs and fuel filter. While replacing the fuel filter I broke the hose that connects the fuel filter to the fuel pump. After ordering that hose and installing the new connecting hose, it still would not start. I noticed that #1 fuse was blown. I replaced #1 fuse and the fuel pump relay (white relay)

Still no start !! I noticed the fuel pump was not making any noise and went ahead and replaced the fuel pump today. After replacing the fuel pump (which now makes noise and works) IT STILL WONT START!

Getting very frustrated at this point. It's my first volvo and don't know what else to check? I've checked for spark and it's getting spark...

I don't feel that it's getting fuel to the engine though. I found a receipt in the glove compartment that one of the past owners had a shop replace the in tank fuel filter on 08/15 .

I didn't spend a lot of time tracing the path of the fuel lines yet. But I did unhook what looked to be a fuel line coming towards the fuel rail. It was a small rubber hose that went into a small metal filter looking thing. And there was no fuel in that line and none coming out when cranking the engine.

I'm dumbfounded that a week ago it was running when I brought it into my shop and now I can't get it to start after putting several new parts on.

 

2 areas to look at Volvo Relays
Volvo Relays

 

Not following? I'm new to Volvo's. I did replace the fuel pump relay. What other relays do I need to check?

 

The relay that controls the fuel injection. It is the second one to open in my post. It's called the radio suppression relay and it controls the injectors. Read the material on it. Also crank sensor. Did you open both of the links I sent.

 

I'd make sure the parts you put in are correctly installed. When I am faced with such problems, I retrace my steps: the car ran, you did something after which the car doesn't run. Rather logical that whatever you did is the cause.

 

to the forum 9lives

In the video is a fuel pressure regulator. Is this the thing you say there was no fuel in the hose ??

Have you tried to give it a shot of starting fluid to see if it will fire up and run a second or two on the fluid ??

 

Good video! Yes the fuel pressure regulator is what I took the line off of. Although after watching the video I see that I had taken the vacuum line off. It did smell of has but didn't see any pouring out, maybe just a drip. Sounds like it might have gone bad.

I have tried the starting fluid method just to make sure I was getting spark. It would start for 1-2 seconds and stall on ether.

 

Tried bridging the two lines together on the radio suppression relay, didn't help any.

I'm going to order one of those fuel pressure regulators. After that I think it will be the junk yard for this car if it doesn't work. This was supposed to be a budget car for my dad. I'm approaching the dead end of the budget.

 

All you need is spark and fuel so what o you have. If you pull a plug is it wet or dry. Did you check to see if you have spark. Look in the oil fill cap and see if the cam is turning when someone cranks the motor. Before you throw money at parts go back to the basics.

 

10.4 . Problem is I work alone...I have nobody here at my shop to help. I did pull a spark plug out and set it along the head with my cell phone taking video so I could watch for spark. I did see spark in my video.

Spark plugs were a bit wet (brand new!) and they did already have soot on them even though the motor has not fired since I put the new plugs in. I'm trying to track the fuel line coming to the motor to see if the fuel pump is pushing fuel to the motor at all.

 

If you shoot a little starter fluid in the intake near the throttle body and it fires up but quits then you are not getting fuel pressure. Unplug the hose from the IAC that goes into the intake near the throttle body. Give it a shot of starter fluid and put the hose back on. Try to start it . If it doesn't fire then you don't have spark . At that point I would look at the crank position sensor which triggers the spark. Why don't you ask your father to help and make it a joint project. All he would need to do is just try to start it while you play with the engine.

 

Shot starter fluid into both areas described above - I've definitely got fire...literally. I sprayed more then enough ether in for my own enjoyment and started the filter on fire.

Checked fuel line coming from the tank to the frame mounted fuel filter and it flows nice and free.

Checked fuel from the fuel pump to the filter and it flows nice and free

Checked fuel from the filter to the line that goes up to the engine and it squirts with every revolution while turning the motor over but does not free flow. Not sure if this is normal? I took the filter off again to verify that I had it facing the right direction and I do. Just to make myself clear the fuel only comes out of the filter when the engine is turning over. If the key is turned to run position, nothing comes out of the filter.

Still no fuel at any of the lines on the engine. Once again I don't know which line supplies the fuel to the engine @ the engine....but have disconnected all lines and their is no fuel in any of the lines I checked.

 

I don't understand your 1st statement about spraying the starter fluid in and lighting the filter. You don't spray it near the filter but where I described above. Next you did not say if the motor started and ran for a few seconds. Next is the fuel pressure. It gets pumped out of the main fuel pump under the car at above 40psi so it will not dribble out . The rubber line that goes into the fuel injector rail is the in (high pressure) line and where it changes from rubber to steel is where you take fuel pressure readings from. The main pump runs for a few seconds to pressurize the system and if the car doesn't start it shuts off. You need to 1st see if you have spark. Get a helper so you can verify if you have spark.

 

The air filter started on fire from me shooting WAY to much starter fluid up into the air intake tube. Some had dripped back and when I tried starting the engine it had backfired and ignited the ether all the way back into the filter housing where it had dripped

 

Are the fuel filters easy to clog/plug ? I noticed when taking the fuel lines off last night that the fuel coming from the tank appeared to be crystal clear. The fuel coming from the fuel pump to the fuel filter inlet was crystal clear and the fuel leaving the filter going to the motor was dripping brown fuel?

 

It is somewhat difficult to diagnose problems assuming other basic areas have been checked. Things like verifying the timing belt is OK and the cam is turning during start. Also did you take a compression test. You alsom mention the filter is pushing out contaminated fuel so I assume you didn't change the filter. By the way the fuel pressure coming out of the filter should be over 40psi something like turning your water faucet on full. Now the backfire doesn't sound good but it does say you may have spark. Did the car run when you got it. Also if the fuel coming out of the filter looks bad you may have to get the injectors cleaned. Replace the filter , check for spark at one of the wires and check fuel pressure.

 

Car ran and drive into my shop before this all started. On my way to get a new fuel filter now.

I found someone to watch my kids tonight so my wife will be coming by the shop to start the car while I watch for spark and cam turning etc...

 

Put a new fuel filter on from Napa...still no start. Wife came over today for 5 minutes while I pulled a plug and verified that their is spark & with the oil fill cap off I can see the rocker arms going up & down.

Still no fuel coming out of the hose at the fuel rail. Would it be safe to take that line off the rail and shoot some compressed air from the top down to the filter end? With the filter banjo bolt off of coarse? Not sure if some kind of blockage is in the fuel line.

 

Got it to start! Had the wires on the fuel pump reversed. To my defense their was no directions to explain which wire went to which pole. Now on to diagnose why it has a really bad tick at idle, sounds like it's coming from the intake area. Gets better when the engine has built some heat.

 

OK great now what does the tick sound like. Is it just a tick sound or does it sound like a knock. Does it get quieter as the motor warms up. Does the noise seem to go away as you rev the motor. These motors tend to have a knock noise as they age . Some say piston slap and others believe it to be wrist pin slop but they seem to continue to run for a long time. Our 740 picked up the knock around 150K miles and it now has 357K on it. Take a piece of hose or a long screwdriver and put it to your ear and listen around the engine. Just watch out you don't hit a part that's moving.