Hello!
I have had a beautiful '87 240 Wagon for 2 years now. The problem is that when i start my car, it fires up like normal, no hesitation, but then almost immediately shuts off when it would normally die down to an idle (after the triumphant Volvo roar to life). If I restart it again immediately after, it works perfectly and I can drive away. I'm anxious because it first did this three days ago but not every time I got in the car. Now it's doing it every time, and actually died twice today before working fine the third time. Any ideas?

 

It could be something as simple as a need for new plugs, wires, aka a "tune up". How long has it been?
Or it could be a fuel delivery issue, fuel pump getting weak, etc. Hard to say about such mild problems. Better keep an eye on it and see how it progresses...

 

Had a very similar issue on our 92 240. After Replacing the distributor cap, rotor, and plugs there was no improvement. The culprit was the #6 fuse. There was a bad connection on one end because of corrosion, wiped it off with my thumb, all fixed. What a car.

 

does it have a ballast resistor? it can behave this wayif defective: it becomes intermittant.

 

Check your plugs fuses and coil, if thats all fine then inspect the following:

1. Speedometer output to ECU wire behind your speedometer, remove cluster and check if the wire "claws" are nice and tight.

2. Adjust your idle via a red **** above your engine, tighten it just so your accelerator "clicks" at the slightest movement, and clicks again when it returns into place.

When I had identical symptoms with my '90 240 I fixed it just by following those last two steps, wasn't easy but it made it much easier to live with, and its free!

 

only turbos have a ballast resistor in the fuel injector circuit.