I have a beautiful 92 black trim on silver Volvo but at the first of the day it is hard starting!

It turns over a couple two or three times then acts like it starts to seize up or stop but only momentarily and then continues to turn over and after doing that a couple of times then kicks over starting. What in the world could it be - it sounds like is clanks against something when it starts to seize up in that it is hitting something and or something physical is keeping it from continue to crank. It sort of acts like one of my 4 cyl honda motorcycles when the timing was off and it was hard starting like there is it is too much compression at some improper moment for it to turn over - the battery is brand new and sports about 900 cranking amps - the timing is right on in that the timing belt was just changed along with a tune up thinking that that would help but did not.

Everything looks good like the key way for crank and its timing sprocket and harmonic balancer - great shape there! Once the 240 starts it runs great the rest of the day purse like a kitten so I would think from that compression is good. The only things I can think of is maybe fuel injection is not being done so at the proper time with proper or amount. Or could a week starter do this but it seems to work fine even after compression increases when warmed up. Would a throttle position sensor cause all this trouble? Is the camshaft to its sprokedt keyed? - I did not visially look at it condition if it is when changing TB and tensioner. Any suggestions any one? Thanks!
Stephen

 

Could be a bad or going bad FPR.
Do you smell fuel? Do you have trouble starting the car under a 1/2 tank of gas?

Wait for the experts to chim in.

 

I have not noticed any extra gas smell. Car starts but is harder starting in morning after sitting whether cold or warm out - does not matter - it does that stutter step going to stop turning or seizing up thing with a mild clanking or thud sound a couple of times or so and then finally spins over and starts - it does seem to help start if I hold foot feed down a bit and then let up - a throttle position sensor would act like that would it - would it?

 

I am not sure about the throttle sensor.....But I have noticed my 91 745T taking longer to start in the mournings and it did skip like you said a couple of times, and when I have 1/2 tank of gas...I need a new intank fuel pump, and that will fix my problem. I believe a bad or going bad FPR can cause longer startups. Not I am not 100% sure on yours, so please wait for others, like tech, bubba, tedv, cbevis, gdog, blue goose....etc. to comment.

 

The timing belt was changed, but did you use a timing light? Also, check the usual suspects: spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, spark plug wires.

 

Right I changed out all of the expendable ignition items - no I did not use a timing light - that is an idea -- what about a slightly seeping head gasket that lets H2O seep in over night a bit and problems result from that fact that H2O is neither compressible nor combustible and then once it starts up and runs it pushes what seeped in overnight? That may explain why it would then run better the rest of the day if the seep is very minute - I do have to add a little H2O every now and then. I guess I could drain out coolant over night and see if it does the usual stutter thunking noise thing. What might I do to check the fuel pressures regulator and or fuel pressure from tank pump? Might I try and add in inline fuel pump just to see if that helped or not?

 

I checked the timing with a timing light and it shows to be in the general vicinity - fredbyte - I see that you are a senior member - what can be accomplished by using a timing light? - from what little that I know the timing on these 240s cannot be adjusted except by repositioning the belt on timing sprockets - is this not correct? adjusting the ignition distributor makes no difference - is not most of timing done within the engine or ignition control module?
Thanks

 

Yeah the timing is set from the EZK....but I believe some one here was able to rotate the Dist cap, and it worked? Anothing option is an Adjustable cam gear....