I have a 89 740t ..... There is always a strong smell of gas when the car is running. I mostley notice it when I park up and get out. There is black soot coming out of the exhaust..... My thermostat gauge goes all over the place.....when i accelerate it flicks to warm.....

I noticed a leak in the rubber intercooler hose? Also I replaced the MAF out of a 95 940?

Thanks,

Tom

 

First thing to do is replace the air filter. I used to get black smoke coming out of my 1987 740T exhaust when going up small hills. Replaced the filter and problem went away. And no, the filter didn't look bad at all.

If your thermostat is not working properly, I would replace that too. Buy from a Volvo dealer for that item.

Also, have you tuned the engine? New plugs, distributor rotor and cap, and new plug wires?

 

Thermometers tend to go south after that first 200,000 miles. For some reason they always have to break when something else is going wrong too so it freaks you out when it starts pegging itself in the red. It's pretty easy to replace the sender but I don't know where it is on your engine. On mine it's on the left side of the cylinder head near the back.