1990 Volvo 240DL Wagon
148,000 miles

I am looking for some guidance, please.

Yesterday while commuting my 240DL sputtered, all instrument panel warning lights lit and stalled. I was in traffic but able to pull off the road in haste. After several attempts at cranking, the engine fired and I was able to continue along as before except now the check engine light remained illuminated. After running several errands, I made it home without additional incident, checked the error code for pin 6: only showed 1-4-4. I cleared the error codes.

Today, same thing happened as yesterday.

About 1-1/2 months ago, I had the same thing happen (stall and code 1-4-4). Initially I had forgot about the diagnositic box and continued to use the car daily with the check engine light lit. After about a week it sputtered and went into limp-home mode. I was able to make it home (eventually) and remembered to check codes - got 1-4-4 on pin 6 and 2-3-2 on pin 2. Instead of clearing the codes the proper way (holding the reset button for 5 seconds, waiting for a return flash and depressing the button again), I unhooked the ground to the battery for 15 minutes.

Code 1-4-4 is "Load signal from MFI system absent". What's that?

Can you please help me diagnose this problem?

 

144 is your AMM signal (air mass meter or MAF). Either your amm has taken a dive or the connections are poor. The 232 is a fuel mixture code and is probably a result of the amm faulty readings. the good news is your amm is the 016 which is very common. Don't even think about buying a new one. Get a used one from turbobricks or ebay.

 

Thanks for the reply. When the initial problem happened my research kinda pointed me at the AMM. I checked the electric plug connection and it seemed clean, corrision free and when I reassembled it was a nice solid fit. Seems I recall that the AMM can be tested by measuring the resistance across some pins. Is there any test that I can do on the AMM to confirm that it's bad? Also, doing a quick check on eBay, I see I they are available for around $40-$100. Is that the price range that you think is reasonable?

 

Five years ago, $100 for an AMM wouldn't be bad but w/ more and more commerce on the internet, prices have dropped. $50-60 shipped in the ConUS tops.

 

On two seperate trips around town today the car stalled when slowing to a stop. The difference today is that the check engine light did NOT illuminate. Do you still think that the AMM is the likely culprit?

 

2-3-2 is fuel ECU code for "Fuel trim (lambda control) too lean or too rich at idle"

1-4-4 is the ignition code for "No load signal from fuel injection system", the brickboard FAQ says "Bad fuel injection relay; faulty wiring from LH to EZK; bad LH module - Engine lacks power; stalls; doesn't start or is jerky"

The best way to diagnose a bad AMM is to swap in a known good one, although you might try to unplug it (with the key off) and see if it runs better that way.

 

Volvos often don't set a hard code which illuminates the CEL. Still, I'd check codes on a regular basis and be sure they are cleared after each check. I checked another source that leans towards the load signal at the ecu rather than at the AMM end. A quick test of the AMM is to disconnect it while the car is idling...if there is no appreciable quality drop in the running (already running crappy) then the AMM is generally the culprit. I have some pertinent info on diagnosis of both the ecu end as well as the AMM but it is in .pdf format so can't post a link to it. If you pm me w/ your email address, I could email some excerpts this pm.

 

The engine runs fine except for the recent re-occurring stalling and the limp-home from 1-1/2 months ago. Idle is solid except for a sporadic stumble and engine power is as stout as any non-turbo 240 (in other words, it's a brick). Am I hearing that if the engine is almost always running smooth and stable, then it is not likely the AMM? One other symptom to go along with the occassionally stalling is that the engine will not immediately re-fire after it has stalled. I need to turn off the ignition, wait several seconds and then attempt to start.

Swiftjustice44, I sent ya a PM with my email address. I appeciate the offer of the diagnostics.

 

While I'm not saying it isn't the fuel relay, typically when they fail it's either no run or run fine. The solder inside develops micro cracks with age that when warmed break the connection. Since a relay is basically a set of points, they either fail open or closed...never seen a limp home fpr failure but I suppose if the points were corroded or something...fpr's DO fail a lot when old. It's really difficult to diagnose rwd Volvos in person w/o a multi-meter and my favorite, an AutoForce scanner. It's way more difficult to try over the internet. All we can do is provide some suggestions.
According to my tech manual on my lap top...

Trouble code identification
Flash type
144 - load signal Probable cause -Wiring,Fault location ECM Engine control module (ECM)
Manufacturer: Volvo

There is no trouble code specific to the fuel pressure relay that I can find.

 

To put a period on the end of this thread, I replaced the fuel pump relay 3 weeks ago and the stalling problem has not re-occurred.

Thanks for the help!