So my girlfriends 740 has been running rough for about the past month (unbeknownst to me) finally it decided to not want to start. My first though was to do a tuneup and ho from there. Replaced cap and rotor, plugs and wires. It wouldn't start immediately after I did the tune up but did the next day. It ran roughly at first but began to run very smoothly after about 20 minutes. We drove it over to my other house to do the in line fuel pump but as soon as the she parked the engine and turned off the car, the engine wouldn't start again. There is no check engine light on but should the fuel pump be the logical next step? The car has 274k on the speedometer but it has been taken care of immaculately and it shows. Any help or advice on the issue would be greatly appreciated and I'll provide any more information asked.

Thank you much!

 

"Fuel pump next step?" Why?????
Stop throwing parts unless you want to waste money and possibly ruin the car!
Did it need a "tune up'? How were the parts you took out? What kind of parts did you use? The fact that the car didn't start til the next day should give you a pause!
Does the car have starting problems when cold or hot?

 

Not trying to ruin the car. The cap was a little oily and the wires and plugs looked aged. I didn't know the last time the car had a tuneup so I did it for my own peace of mind. The car had already not ran so after replacing the plugs,wires, etc and the car still wouldn't start leaves me at a blank. I'm no mechanic by any any means. My girlfriend had said that the car had been slowly losing power over the past couple weeks. That info paired with the fact that it after it eventually did start leads me to believe that the fuel pump is either struggling or pumping too much gas to the engine and flooding it.

I'm here for help so try not to reply like an ******* to my post. Thank you.

 

Also, the temperature had no bearing on the car starting before this.

 

My '92 940 non turbo has a port on the fuel rail as well as my '92 240. Put a fuel pressure gauge on there and see what it reads...should be around 42psi. I bought my gauge from one of the national auto part chains...about $25. The port faces downward and is difficult to get the gauge onto. I took off an intake manifold nut and that gave me just enough room.

 

Welcome to the wacksome world of shadetree mechanics.

There is a Volvo specific no-start flowchart out there somewhere. In the meantime, run through the generic things to check for no-start. Fuel is one, which the previous poster noted. I myself prefer to check fuel using a small squirt of starting fluid in the air intake. If the motor fires, it's probably a fuel delivery problem.

If that fails, next I'd check spark. Pull a plug, put it back in the boot, hold the metal part of the plug against the block, and have a helper turn the car over. If you don't see a spark at the electrode/cathode, you have ignition issues. My ignition issues on my 740's have been entirely due to bad flywheel position sensors (have had 3 go bad). They can be intermittent as well.

Check those and let us know what you find out. Good luck and have fun!

Also, Lev didn't respond as an *******, but I can see how someone not familiar with auto mechanics might feel that way. He's just direct, and knows waaaaay more than anyone except perhaps Pierce about fixin' bricks. Don't **** him off..!

 

I know you mean it as a compliment but actually the comparison is pretty insulting... I actually do all my work on my four b230 (current) and would never go to a shop. And I am not the kid in front of the class chiming in, "me, me, me" every time, often with nothing to contribute. I also don't care to look up things for posters who can just as easily find answers to simple questions by Googling them.

My pet peeve, Volvo wise, is the poster who has a glitch of some type, and then starts to throw parts *****--nilly at the car which usually results in the poor Volvo running worse or not at all. He then seeks helps on a forum and is quick to take offense at any perceived criticism. I still like to help, the car mainly, but once you have to trudge through all the possibilities of parts swapped unnecessarily, parts exchanged with new substandard ones, parts installed badly, etc. the resulting quagmire is beyond a simple written answer.

 

hi catname, the first obligatory question that i must ask is; do you have a bosch or a regina fuel/ignition system. if you don't know, What does the ignition coil look like in your car?Is it a cylindrical coil on the passenger side or a boxy thing on the driver's side of the car?

 

Wow! Comparing Pierce's contributions to your's is insulting? Did I read this correctly. That he's the guy in the front of the class?

Pierce uses more facts here then anyone else and shares without the need for recognition.

Also, I'm not sure changing parts out will ruin anything. Maybe not still run but you might help to give him a roadmap as to where to start after plugs, wires, rotor, and cap.

We know it's either a fuel, electrical, or compression issue. What's your sequence of testing or replacing parts?

 

lev has done way more major mechanical work than i ever have. I'm more into electrics (I'm a computer engineer by trade) and interior stuff, and tend to farm out the mechanical work to shops with lifts (I'm getting too old to work on cars in my driveway on jack stands). I do have the full parts catalogs and a lot of the factory greenbooks on hand.

 

Gosh, I need to play with red blocks more.

I skimmed most of this and did not see mention of opening the oil cap and looking in whilst cranking to check and see if the camshaft is turning. This is a good first check to see if the timing belt has let go. Then, pull plugs, check for spark. If all that checks out, it's down to fuel.