Good evening everyone!

I just wanted to introduce my 1987 244 2.3! Overall, a beautiful car; but it’s definitely giving me a run for my money while restoring parts and trying to get it running optimal again.

(This picture is from a month ago)








Some history!



2nd owner - got it from an old lady who passed away at some california vineyard. Car is in Las Vegas now.



odometer stopped working at 255k Miles, Geico estimates 300k+ miles.



Repairs/New Items:

new timing belt, AC belt, Alternator belt. Front cam seals. Tensioners. Water pump. Thermostat. Coil. Red top Optima battery. Fuel relay. Spark plugs. Plug wires. Distributor rotor. Distributor cap. Fuel filter. Fuel pump (in-line and tank). Flametrap relocation kit. Brakes. Rotors. Calipers. Braided lines. MAF. Fuel Pressure Regulator. Fuel lines updated. Fuel fuse relay holder updated. Master cylinder. Brake booster. Speedometer. (Misc new interior items.)



when I first got the car, the timing belt broke in the first 5 miles of driving it lol. Became my first major repair but was able to do it with relative ease (I was very proud!). That was about a year or so ago, and car ran pretty damn well the second I replaced the timing belt.




since then, I’ve replaced miscellaneous items for updating and some that broke (like my brake booster, one of the few items that actually failed and needed to be replaced. Same with intank pump, that failed as well.)



overall, every time after repairs, it ran just fine. But one day I started having major trouble getting the car to turn over. it cranked and cranked. Wasn’t a dead solenoid, wasn’t the starter not engaging.

I suspected ignition items and replaced everything I could. After replacing all those items, it turned over per normal and idled great. But then when I went to restart the car, it just wanted to crank. So I checked the fuel pumps, hoping the fuses to activate them singularly and that’s when I discovered my in tank pump was dead as a doorknob.

When I replaced the fuel pump the car would turn over every time making me feel like I truly never had an ignition issue; I had a fuel issue!



so now; the car turns over every time . But runs ROUGH! I mean, 2 cylinders rough!

I bought a Noid tester to test signal to my fuel injectors and all 4 seem to be firing just fine.

Today I did a compression test and

Cyl 1 195 psi

cyl 2 195 psi

cyl 3 195 psi

cyl 4 187 PSI.








which to my understanding, is good compression.

so, since the car is running rough on what sounds like 2 cylinders; I’m thinking still fuel/ignition. I pulled the intake off my MAF And BAMMM a ton of gas comes out of the intake and spills on the drive way (Great!) So I pulled the plugs and found all 4 were carbon fouled.

I cleaned the plugs, and re installed them.



the car ran all 4 cylinders and started billowing white smoke out the back! I sat and let it idle (not sure what I was hoping for or anything…) and when I finally went to give it gas, I could tell it was running rich and when I let off the gas, it had trouble catching up from stumbling on itself and started choking and bouncing violently lol. I stopped the car. Pulled the plug again and yup, gas/oil on the plug (definitely more gas then oil…)






so I’m running rich… but I’m at a loss on how to fix/adjust or even trouble shoot this. I own the Bentley book, 2 Chiltons books, and the Haynes for the 240. I’m never opposed to reading to find my answer but I am truly dumb founded as I’ve been troubleshooting this current issue. If anyone has any tips or tricks, or if there is any info I can provide to help with understanding or my troubleshooting; please just tell me lol.



I work alone (other then my best bud in Florida walking me through over the phone); so I rely on internet information and my courage to persevere. I’m determined to fix this car as it’s truly my piece of Sweden in USA (and I miss home!)



[This thread is a repost, I made an edit to my original post and it never resubmitted and thread disappeared. Not spam. Not a double post 🙂 ]

also;



2021 XC40 - Newest edition - Daily Driver

2015 S60 - Daily driver - New engine (free from Volvo) @10K Miles - BC racing coilovers and suspension brace kit

2007 S80 - Daily Driver (major tune ups and maint done)

96 850R - Parkes for now

87 244 - Restoration project

84 245 - LS swap

 

I want to go out and test my car right now, but the Bentley book has me very confused...

pg 241-16 Fuel Injection-LH

To Test Idle Mixture Potentiometer:
1. With the ignition OFF, disconnect the wiring harness connector from the air mass meter
2.
3. On LH 2.2 Systems, connect a ohmeter between terminals 2 (green-yellow wire) and 6 (yellow wire) of the air mass meter.
4. compare the meter reading to the specification.
**Allowable Range...........0 - 1000 ohms
5. adjust idle mixture screw to get within tolerance.

when they are referring to this, to read ohms with a dwell/multi meter; how would i do that?
like im so confused with this piece of instruction from the Bentley book
because ignition off? do they mean Key in II? or key in I perhaps? or do they legit mean, no key; ignition off?
also, disconnect the harness? - how am i going to get a reading on the MAF if its disconnected lol?

genuinely confused...or im just an idiot....im sure its the later but definitely looking for clarity here.

 

OK - Compression is good, ignition is good, cam timing is good, injectors are pulsing a noid light. But it's VERY rich -
What's the fuel pressure?
You have a new fuel pressure regulator. What Brand? Any fuel leaking out of the vacuum line going to the regulator? (with fuel pumps running)
Is the return line blocked?
Still very rich with the air mass meter disconnected? It should run off a default map without an AMM signal. Not run well but run.

With that much gas in the intake/engine - the oil will get contaminated very quickly - it needs to be changed. Gasoline does not lubricate very well.

Your idle mixture screw does very little - it's not your problem.

Does that engine have a cold start injector in the middle of the manifold? If so is it leaking?

It will take a while to clear all that gas out of the exhaust - so it will smoke for a while after it's not longer too rich.

 

Hej hej Hoonk! Pleasure to meet you and thank you for the prompt reply!

the fuel pressure regulator i purchased was a $65 GP Sorensen Fuel Pressure Regulator

800-157

Part #800-157 | SKU #79684

it’s an autozone part, but I bought the nicest one that was in reach. I do not see it any fuel leaking out of the lines at any point. I am also not aware of the fuel pressure or how to properly gauge it (I’m sure I can give it a Goog!)

i have not verified the return line being blocked, would I be able to verify this by losing the clamp while pump is running to see if it drips out of return? Or is there a better way?

I will go back out right now and try to run the car without the MAF to see if it makes a difference.

I do not know if the car has a cold start injector but I don’t believe it does (I’ll verify!)

perhaps tomorrow I will do an oil change on the car to get the gas out of the oil if you believe that’ll help for troubleshooting purposes.

(I’m sorry… I’m dumb…)
how does the gas get into the oil exsctly in a situation like this?


also. I tried to check my RPM’s with my dwell/multi meter and it was at like 90-110 rpm’s idling in neutral on level ground. I grounded the blue and white wire on tester connector and was only able to fluctuate the rpm’s by 20 from bottomed out, to fully open.

I then checked the dwell position, and this confuses me the most. Bentley book says between 20-70’ is the correct parameter. When I turned my meter on, it read 90. I tried a second MAF, it showed 89.8. Which… makes me wonder how this dwell thing even works.

I did positive on negative on coil, and negative on negative of battery. Didn’t show anything other than the 90’. I tried getting the dwell from the Pink Wire and it read the same 90’




when I tested prong 2 and 6 on MAF, my two Bosch ones held the same static value. But this Rock Auto MAF had values bouncing all over the place.

also, I could not get this value to change on the Rock Auto MAF when adjusting the screw.

reverted back to the Bosch MAF’s and car is performing same (rich) even with diff MAF.

would a dirty 02 play a part in running rich?


thank you so much for your help.

 

1. no - the fuel pump sends way more fuel that could ever be used/injected - so there will always be fuel being sent back to the tank (as long as your fuel pump is working) take the hose off the regulator and it should be an open hose back to inside the tank - air pressure , vacuum pump, however you want to test that - but it's probably not the problem.
2. All that liquid "gas" you found in the intake - will leak past the piston rings (if that was indeed "gas")
3. That's cool, but has nothing to do with your problems
4. The o2 sensor only changes the mixture very slightly, and only after the engine has been running for 90 seconds or so. The Ecu ignores the O2 sensor until it heats up and give s an accurate reading. If you think it's a problem - just leave it disconnected, because it really does not do much mixture wise. (but it will set a code, if applicable)

Fuel pressure gauge is connected where the flexible fuel line connects to the fuel rail - in series - shown on your picture below. Later cars have a schrader (sp) valve to connect to - you do not.

So if it's really rich - either
the fuel pressure is too high, the pressure regulator is leaking due to a ruptured diaphragm, the cold start injector (if equipped) or any other injector is leaking/stuck open even if not being activated/energized, or the ECU is firing the injectors at the wrong time/too many times.

If you can't find anything wrong with the fuel pressure/delivery - you may have to remove the injector rail (with injectors installed) and make sure you don't have an injector spraying fuel all the time.

Not quite sure what you are connected to giving a 90 on your multimeter, don't remember what that blue connector is for - but you've certainly got 90! Dwell is an ignition system parameter, so not sure how The Bently boys have related that to the AMM. Certainly I used to use a dwell meter on cars that had point on the distributor - but not since a 1974 Volvo. Even then if you set the points gap correctly it was not needed.

 

I did not gauge the pressure yet.

but I did pull the rail to check the injectors while turning the key, it appears all 4 are firing at the exact same time?

I checked the injectors individually with 12v and heard em all click.

im also a bit confused about the “Dwell” stuff. I’ve never measured the dwell (or even heard of it)! But they suggest you check it to verify the mixture from the MAF? I only paid attention to this because it seemed new, confusing, and some what relevant; but didn’t lead me to any conclusions or really give me any data to move forward from. (Other then more confusion..)




im starting to slowly think the ECU has gone bad 0.0

 

I guess they do all fire at the same time 0.o ?!

 

Have you pulled the vacuum line off the regulator while the enigne is running? A bad regulator will leak gas into the vacuum line. (Happened to me recently)