Picked up a 91 240 wagon (non turbo) earlier today for a whopping $300. I'm not new to Volvos but this is the first 240 I've had. Anyway the kid I bought it off of said it had developed and intermittent problem that made him cautious of driving too far. Says every so often it will just die going down the road. He said he could coast to the side of the road, try a few times and it would fire back up and continue on about it's business. He said it went from doing this every couple of months to once a week or so, which is why he quit driving it. I'm assuming it's probably the fuel relay or the big fuse I hear everyone talking about, but I wanted to ask on here to get opinions.

It hasn't done it to me, I drove it 40 miles home after a test drive and had no issues at all, the thing ran great.

Also, is there a way to override the shift lock thing? I have to stick my finger in the slot and flip the shift lock button to shift out of park. I'm assuming that should be automatic when I push the brake pedal, or that the shift lock is simply malfunctioning. Either way, what can be done to fix it?

Overall everything else looks to be in good shape. Timing belt was done a year ago, all of the basic tune up stuff was recently done as well, has new exhaust, new battery, belts and hoses are also newer. Anything else gremlin wise I should check out before putting this thing on road duty?

 

On the shift lock it should just be an adjustment. Not a Volvo, but my wife's car had the same issue. It was such an easy fix that the mechanic didn't charge for it (was in for other work and took about 2 minutes).


It is part of a safety interlock ensuring the brake pedal is depressed before shifting out of park.

 

Two common causes of intermittent stalls can are failing fuel pump relay or failing crank position sensor. Since you already changed the relay, check the CPS. It is located on the top of the bell housing and has a fat black coax cable that runs to a connector on the firewall. Check the wire on this. If the insulation is cracked and flaking off then it needs to be replaced.

 

Yes, the CPS is most commonly the cause of such stalls. It doesn't have to be even visually defective, sometimes they "look" good but fail internally.