Hey guys, my name's Joe and I'm a new Volvo owner. I've lusted after a 240 wagon for years, and now that I have one I'm torn.
I bought the car two days ago for $600. It ran fine, but needed a tune-up and a few things. Power steering pump, for example. But I'm not worried about that right now, as it's not a problem.
What IS a problem is that I changed the spark plugs, plug wires, cap, rotor, and oil, and now it runs like crap. To the point that it died on me going down the road to exchange some parts in the hopes that they were simply defective.
Made a small pop, then made three more pops shortly down the road, and it died. Wouldn't start. Turns over, starts for about two seconds, then dies.
Tried old plugs, old wires, old cap, no combination would work. Then the plug wire on the coil wouldn't stay on. Went and got a new coil, still same problem. Give it gas when trying to start, dies faster.
Finally got enough charge on my phone to google it, led me here to a thread that said to pull the Mass Airflow Sensor plug and see what it did. Did that, finally started. Runs very underpowered, barely made it up the hills back to my house, but now I have it home, and I'm reading that the ECM could be bad. I also read that the Mass Airflow Sensor could be bad. I'd like to know what it is a little more definitively before I start spending money.
I drove the car all day yesterday and 30 miles home the day before without a single hiccup. I find it hard to believe that a tune up could kill an ECM.
Some insight would be awesome. I work 65 hours a week and can't afford to be out of a vehicle.

 

I also changed the air filter. Just figured I'd add that as well. Never know what kind of info might help.

 

What brand(s) parts did you use? May not seem crucial but it could be!

By what you describe sounds like your MAFS died, which can be coincidental... or not.
An old car is like an old structure, held together just so by the total of its components--you disturb one tiny element, the whole thing collapses... Well, this may be a weak analogy. But the quality of the after market parts is bad! And I bet you used cheap generic whatevers to replace old parts which were probably good quality? This is what screwed up your car most likely. The wires, plugs are crucial, you used what brand?

 

I bought Autolite plugs, which are cheap, but proven quality over the many cars I've owned over the years. The wires were the same as the old ones on it, which were Xact (Advance Auto Parts brand), and the cap & rotor were BWD, which again, was what was on it previously. The air filter was a Purolator, and the oil was Mobil Super.
None of the parts were necessarily cheap cop-outs, but even after reinstalling old parts, nothing changed. I tried a different set of wires, to the same result.
I did notice, though, that after it died, the coil wire was not attached to the coil or the cap. Which is what prompted me to buy a second set of wires and a coil. It popped it off.

 

From what I know of this car thanks to its previous owner, the bare minimum was performed in terms of maintenance on a regular basis. There is gunk and grime all over the engine bay, and under the car. It ran amazingly, though, prior to this.

 

I'd never use those parts, especially the ignition parts, the air filter is not crucial. Some of these things are personal preferences I realize, but wires and plugs? Now, if you say the car was running great with crappy parts, who am I to argue with that? Still, after 30 years and hundred of Volvos, you get set in your ways... I use Bougicord wires, NGK copper plugs, Bosch cap and rotor, Mann oil filters--the small extra cost is well worth the OEM durability and performance.

 

Changed the Mass Airflow sensor, car starts and runs with it plugged in now. I still have a huge misfire problem, though.
New coil, old parts back on, new parts back on, doesn't matter. I tried to drive it up my driveway and heard a pop. Kept running, everything stayed connected, buutttttt it's still skipping like hell. The old MAF sensor had oil in it... could I have low compression in a cylinder, causing oil in my intake? there's a pretty thick coating all over the pipe.
I'm going to have to do a compression test, and see what's going on. Looks like this car is going to be trouble.

 

How's the PCV Positive Crankcase ventilation? Is there a lot of blowby? When you open the oil cap while running, does a lot of air/smoke blow out? If so, likely the PCV is plugged up and needs service. Look up the procedure under Flame Trap, Oil Separator, etc; part of maintenance and not hard or expensive. A plugged up PCV causes this kind of oil intrusion...

The "skipping" I assume is a misfire or may be a timing belt skip? Still, a compression test is a good start in a case like this.

 

re: oil on the MAF, this car doesn't have a K&N air filter, does it?

 

From what I understand, this model does not have a standard PCV system. There's not a replaceable valve, I just have to take the intake off and clean out the oil separator. I will pull the cap off when running and see what happens.
I highly doubt it jumped time between me driving it up on ramps, changing plugs & wires, and starting it back up. I don't discredit anything, but there's never any telling with cars like this. It feels like it's not getting enough spark. Like, for example, the plugs are crossed. But they're not, I've quadruple checked.

No, it does not. And the oil is actually on the engine side of the MAF. Like coming from the manifold. And it's definitely engine oil, not filter oil.

 

Make sure that you don't have a massive vacuum leak somewhere. I would look especially at the intake hose from the MAf to the throttle body. Make sure that there are not any cracks in the bellows or around the clamps. Stick with it, you can get to the bottom of this! I think that this is an LH2.4 car. Do you have a check engine light and stored codes?

 

It's actually the B230 2.3L.
No CEL, no codes. I'm genuinely baffled. Gonna go over it with a fine-toothed comb tomorrow, and hopefully replace the radiator core support in addition to solving the effin' problem.
I'm honestly thinking vacuum is the culprit, but my stupid eyes aren't the best, so I'm having a friend come over tomorrow to take a look at it and see what he thinks. Especially since he'll have the car torn down before I even agree. Lol

 

Figured out what the problem was. The picture I pulled up on my phone for the firing order was for a 740 instead of a 240. Switched 2 & 3 around and now it runs great. Even got a little tail happy in the rain. I could swear I did that and it ran like crap, though.
We also replaced the rotor button with another piece. Maybe that was the secret. We did them at the same time. Oddly, no vacuum leaks!
Started cleaning up the FILTHY interior, will post pics tomorrow.
On a side-note, does anyone know if the 240 sedan side trim on the lower part of the door is interchangeable with the wagon's?

 

the 240 and 740 should have the same firing order?!? maybe the camshaft-end distributors turn the other way from a side-of-block distributor, so the cylinder numbers are go the other way around?

 

That's what I thought. Apparently, the distributors are:
740 240
1 3 1 2
2 4 3 4

At least that's how it's running. Knowing almost zero about my car's history, there's no telling if something is horribly wrong.

 

nah, if two cylinders were swapped across like that, it would run horrible or not at all.

the camshaft and side distributors must turn in opposite directions. makes sense they would, because the side distributor is bevel gear driven off the intermediate shaft, which turns the same direction as the camshaft.

The firing order is 1-3-4-2, so the 240 distributor is turning counterclockwise, while the 740 is turning clockwise if you were looking at it from behind the engine.

 

It did run absolutely horrible. It would go about 5mph.
I'll take some pictures of the distributor system tomorrow after work, because I'm PRETTY sure that's how it is, but I might be wrong. I've been working so much lately I haven't been able to keep much straight.