It was a dark and stormy night . . . my '86 240 DL wagon won't start. It has spark and gas, the fuel pumps are working and if I drip gas into the air inlet to the cylinders, it does catch for a bit. So - I think it's a problem with either the 'cold fuel injector/thermal switch' or the fuel pressure is too low to activate the fuel distributor and or fuel jets?

I'm good with mechanical stuff but not electrical and the Volvo is new to me.

Note; the fuel pumps weren't working so I jumped the #4 and #6 fuses which makes them go but still no gas into the intake manifold. This I have read is a sure sign the 'fuel pump relay' is fried. I just want to move the car a half mile to a friend's which I can do with #4 and #6 linked.

Note; I live in a house where rooms are rented and there are a bunch of slippery characters - one guy just sold the house firewood to pay his rent! My brand new locking gas cap was sabotaged and I had to cut it off. So I suspect an enemy. I'm the land manager at this joint and my job is to call people on their infractions so that I'm not real popular with jerks. Anyway, this is why there is Danger!

Possibly? someone put something in my gas tank and it clogged the fuel jets? (they have safety screens) (I just replaced the main fuel pump and the inlet and outlet tubes to the fuel tank are clear.)

I have yet to even register this car. Please help with any ideas? Thx.

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well, an 86 is LH 2.2 electronic fuel injection, so there is no fuel distributor, instead there's a fairly constant fuel pressure at the rail (its actually modulated by manifold vacuum, the pressure is 42-44 PSI minus the vacuum... the injectors won't fire til the engine is turning over as measured by the hall sensor in the distributor (which also controls spark timing).

the fuel pump relay also controls power to the ECU and the injectors and other systems, its a double relay. one half comes on with the ignition key to power up the ECU and stuff, the other half comes on when the engine is turning over to power the fuel pumps... so if you removed the relay to jumper it, you probably also killed the power to the ECU + Injectors.

 

In such an apparently "hostile" environment, who knows what sabotage has befallen the car? Being around a bunch of "slippery characters", well, from sugar in the gas tank, to a banan in the tail pipe, the possibilities for mischief are endless and hard to guess...