Hi all, new guy here, hoping to get some help with my new baby. I recently bought a 92 240 wagon with 233k miles (actually more, that's where the odometer stopped working), and I'm having some trouble getting it to start. It's been working like a champ for the past month or so, but yesterday started acting very strange. I was leaving for work in the morning, and the car started up fine, and I let it warm up for a few minutes while I took the trash to the curb and got my son loaded into the car. I then started driving, and about a half mile down the road I suddenly had no power when pushing the accelerator, and the car started chugging and eventually died. I pulled over, and tried to start it again - it fired up, and i was able to drive about 100 feet before it did the same thing. Then while trying to start, it would turn over, and every couple seconds or so I would hear a cylinder fire, but it wouldn't start. I turned it off and opened the hood to see if there was any fluid leaking anywhere, but I couldn't see anything in the engine bay or under the car. So, I got back in the car, and tried to start it again, this time pumping the accelerator while doing so. It eventually did start, but would only stay running if I kept the revs high. I managed to drive it back home (thank god it's a manual, or this would not have been possible) by keeping the revs just below causing the shift light to come on. I pulled into my driveway, and let the car fall back to idle, expecting it to die again. But, it settled right back down to idle, and hummed right along as if nothing ever happened. I checked in the engine bay again to see if there was any fluid anywhere - nothing. No squeaky belts or anything. So, I drove my son to daycare, and went to work. It worked fine the rest of the day - I was able to drive home for lunch, and drive home after work. This morning, however, I went out to start it, and the same thing occurred - it will turn over, and at first I could hear a cylinder fire every couple of seconds, but after a few tries of starting the car, it wouldn't even fire a cylinder.

So, my question is, what do you all think could be the issue? It's strange that the issue went away after I drove it at high revs for a few minutes, and then came back after it sat overnight. Here are my theories:

1. When this started, there was a little under a quarter tank of gas - could some sediment from the gas tank have clogged the fuel filter?

2. The exhaust is the original exhaust, I believe, and does have a hole in it somewhere - could something inside either the catalytic converter or muffler have broken off and is clogging the exhaust?

3. Is it possible that it is something electrical? Starter, distributor, etc?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I love this car, and other than the above problem it's actually in really good shape for how many miles it has. It has spent it's whole life here in Wilmington, NC - it was bought here new in 1992 by a woman who drove it for 12 years, then gave it to her daughter who drove it up until I bought it. It was maintained at the local Volvo dealership, and even has the 100,000 and 200,000 High Mileage Club emblems from Volvo on the back.

Thanks,

- Mark

 

Fuelpump relay should be changed

 

Sounds like the Mass Airflow Sensor is acting up... They will do that intermittently. Check the OBD code reader on the left strut tower to see if there is a code stored... When/if it does that again, unplug the MAFS and see if the idle speed smooths out. The MAFS is the first black box you see after the air cleaner box, easy to plug in/out.

 

yeah, fuel pump and/or relay, or the MAF would be to good candidates for this. there's a low pressure 'transfer' pump inside the gas tank, then a high pressure pump under the car. if it runs better with a full tank, I'd be looking at that transfer pump. the fuel pump relay can be tested with standard electrical trouble shooting techniques.

the MAF is fairly expensive and the cheap rebuilds on the replacement market aren't very reliable. best way to test it is to swap the MAF for another car thats known good, and see if the problem travels with the MAF.

 

Lot's hope it isn't your AMM (what is occasionally called a MAF). Your 92 w/ a manual tranny should have LH3.1 fuel injection and the AMM for it is rather scarce to find used and quite expensive new. If you narrow it down to your AMM, you can confirm which one you need by checking the last 3 digits of the Bosch number. 016 is the more common LH2.4 AMM. Yours should be 001 used with LH3.1
By all means, check the onboard codes. In addition to the good advice already mentioned above, your rpm reference sensor (a/k/a crank sensor) can intermittently fail and cause rough running.

 

I had the same problem when I first got my 1993 240 wagon. I bought it at auction and started right up, as long as it was cruising I was fine. Got off the interstate exit and stalled, would start then stall, start run for a minute then stall. Finally had i towed home (nice start to the relationship).

Checked everything, vacuum leaks, MAF, etc... Would start here and there and idle for 5 minutes one time, 20 the next then not at all and as soon as it was under load, dead.

Mine ended up being the in-tank fuel pump (I'm going to assume your 1992 has the same set up with in-tank and the other underneath). Turn the key without cranking and see if you hear the in-tank power up (helps to have someone in the back). Replaced mine (kind of a PITA) and fired right up and no issues (at least not fuel pump related, long story). I replaced the other pump and filter too (I wasn't sure how long mine had been sitting).

Oh and check the relay too, kind of awkward getting to it but definitely worth checking too.

 

on our 87 240, the fuel pump relay is easy to access, just remove the passenger side foot panel, and its right up in there behind the glovebox. if the relay fails, NEITHER pump works. its actually a double relay, the other half powers the fuel injection system and ECU.

 

Hi All,

Thank you for the replies! I think I have it narrowed down to the fuel relay - when sicnarf responded about it, I went home after work and opened up the case to look at it. Apparently water had somehow gotten into it, as there was a lot of corrosion. I took it inside and used a q-tip with some rubbing alcohol, and cleaned it up the best I could without dismantling it entirely. After plugging it back in, I could hear the fuel pump engage maybe 50% of the time I turned the key to the ON position. I let it sit overnight again, and in the morning it again would not start immediately - I did manage to get it started after some foul language and many, many tries. It then ran like a watch for the rest of the day. Because of this behavior, my thoughts were that one of the throws in the relay will not function if it's cold, so last night I did a test. I brought the relay inside after parking the car for the night. This morning it was in the 30s. I went outside, plugged in the relay, and the car fired up immediately. So, I think I found the culprit.

I ordered a new relay from FCP Groton last night, and in the meantime I will be checking all of the points you've all mentioned, since they probably should be checked anyway, as preventative maintenance.

Thanks again! I'm sure you'll be hearing plenty more from me.

 

These relays develop cracks in the solder joints on the little circuit board and cause intermittent connections. If you have a soldering iron you can re-flow the solder joints on there and that should solve your problem. Or, just get a replacement. They're pretty cheap.

 

Hi all,

Update on the situation - shortly after my last post, the car wouldn't start again one morning. I tried jumping the car, and lo and behold, it fired up within 10 seconds. This made me think the battery was bad, and wasn't pushing enough juice to actually get the ignition system working properly. So, I replaced the battery (which was 7 years old) and it hasn't had a problem since...until this morning. Wouldn't start up again, same issue. This time, though, I have the new fuel relay in place, and I can hear the pump turn on when I turn the key to ON. I jumped the car again, and it eventually fired up, but with a loud squealing from a belt. This has happened before, and the squealing goes away after about 20 seconds of idling. I thought all was well this morning, and let it run for a few minutes. When trying to back out of the driveway, it stalled. It started back up on the first try, and then I tried to drive it down the road and after about 100 feet it died again. So I tried to start it again, and this time it took a few tries, but started again, and with the squealing. I then turned around, parked it in the driveway, and took my wife's car. I should note that it rained all last night, and was cold and rainy this morning (low 50s). The car seems to have an issue starting in cold and wet conditions after sitting for a few days. I drove it on Sunday, after it sat since Friday, and it started up fine. It was in the 50s, but it was sunny and dry.

I should also note that there's maybe a little under a quarter tank of gas in the car - maybe one of the fuel pumps is going bad?

I'm kind of at a loss at this point - I'm going to order a tune-up kit soon, and possibly replace the fuel filter. Hopefully that helps.

As always, any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

- Mark

 

I'm going to hazard a guess and say you have no volt gauge in the dash? The B230, with its rubber mounting bushings that fail so often, has to have the alternator belt VERY tight. You may notice after tightening that the alternator is not in line with the other pulleys. That's generally an indicator of disintegrated rubber bushings. With a volt gauge, you can keep an eye on the charging status. The idiot light doesn't come on if the car is making only 12 volts. 12 volts is not enough to run the car AND top off the battery. Check the alternator output before tightening the belt and then after. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

yeah, your in-tank fuel pump might be going. when that in-tank pump is bad, the main pump has to work extra hard, and you can hear it straining, and the car can get fuel starved when you're low on gas.

 

Update on the wagon:

The day that I last posted here, I put 5 gallons of gas in the car at lunch, and it fired right up with no issue. Since then, I've kept it above half a tank, and it's been running fine, with one exception: If I leave it sitting without running for more than 24 hours, it has a horrible time trying to start. It takes probably 10 tries before it will actually fire up, and then when it does start, it will idle fine, but giving it any gas will cause it to chug a little, and possibly even stall.

This happened this morning, even though I drove the car a lot yesterday. When I went to start it, I made sure when I turned the key to ON, I could hear the fuel pump kick on. I then left the key there for about 10 or 15 seconds, before turning it to START. This usually works, and the motor fires right up. But this morning, it took about 4 or 5 tries of this before the motor would start. When it finally did, it idled rough for a second, then evened out. I was in a bit of a rush this morning, so I only had about 5 minutes to let it warm up. When I got in the car to drive it, it was idling smoothly, and when I gave it some gas while not in gear, it revved up fine, and didn't show any issues. When I started backing out, however, it started to chug and acted like it was going to stall. I took it out of gear and gave it a little gas, then started driving down the road. Things were fine until I stopped at a stoplight - when I tried to accelerate, it coughed and sputtered and almost stalled. I took it out of gear and revved it a bit, and keeping it slightly revved up, I was able to get my son to daycare. I left the car running while I dropped him off, and when I got back in it to drive to work, everything had smoothed out. There was no more sputtering or coughing, and it ran great. This is basically the same exact thing that happened when I started this thread. I've replaced the battery and fuel relay, and this issue occurred with a little over half a tank of gas, so I'm still confused as to what is causing the issue.

A few thoughts:

1. The coughing and chugging when I give it any gas seems to be a fuel starvation issue - could it be that the fuel filter is clogged? This doesn't make the most sense, because the issue goes away once the car is warm.

2. The fuel pumps could be going bad - but again, why does the issue go away once the car is warm?

3. What is making the car not want to start after sitting for more than a day? Is the in-tank pump completely shot, and fuel is bleeding out of the lines back into the tank while it sits, causing the issue?

You guys have been most helpful so far. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Filling it up with more gasoline and it running better would seem to point towards the in-tank pump for sure BUT the pump itself may be fine. There is a short piece of rubber hose that joins the pump outlet to the sender pipe; it often fails after this many years. The filter sock on the inlet of the pump may very well be partially blocked but fuel level really shouldn't affect it. Most likely you have a number of small issues wrong w/ the car; it's to be expected after all, it's 21 years old. Here's a pic of the sender assembly w/ pump installed. You can see the short piece of fuel hose at the top. Although it is not under high pressure, regular fuel line won't work as it will dissolve.


There is a one way check valve by the under car pump and filter that keeps the line pressurized...this could be part of the hard start. The engine coolant sensor by the third intake runner on block can fail and cause hard cold starts.

 

Your timing belt may be the problem giving you those difficult starts after 24 hours. Just check and see if everything is alright there. And your car only running on fulltank means your main pump under the car is fine but the primary one in the tank is malfunctioning as said by swiftjustice 44. By the way,you have faultcodes?