I am a new member, so forgive me if I am posting a problem which has been discussed before.
I own a 1993 Volvo 240. It is in great shape, but it has one very annoying problem. If I drive the vehicle and park it for about a half hour it is very difficult to start. I have to keep cranking the ignition for two to three minutes nonstop for it to fire. If I give it any gas at all during this two-three minutes it will not start at all. I saw some postings suggesting the symptoms might be related to the engine crank angle sensor or possibly the fuel pump relay or the MAF sensor. Thanks!

 

Turn the key to the II position where the instrument panel lights go on.
Wait about 10 seconds until you hear a click at the glove box and you may also hear the blower fan (in the off position) faintly blowing, then start.

I had a problem similar to yours and i found this worked every time. I still would like to find out why but for the time being I'm happy to have to discovered this. I hope it works for you too until we learn more.

good luck.

 

the fuel pump relay is pretty easy to test... look up its pinout, and make a couple jumper wires with the right size spade lugs on the end, and pull the relay and plug in those spade lugs to act as tho the relay contacts are closed, and then try starting the car. if it starts right up, its probably because you have a bad relay. DO NOT LEAVE THOSE JUMPERS IN PLACE AFTER SHUTTING THE CAR ON (as you've turned the fuel pump and the injection computer on with the jumpers).

or, just buy the darn relay and swap it to see if its the problem, its not that expensive.

my daughter's car, the relay was flaky, but the main fuel pump was also erratic, and it had the same symptoms, wouldn't start until it sat 10-15 minutes when it was already hot.

 

If your 240 won't restart after it's been running awhile, the first thing you should check is the thin hose leading out from the fuel line pressure regulator. Pull the hose off the pressure regulator and smell it. If it smells of gasoline you've found the cause of the trouble. The regulator is not supposed to leak gas, it's supposed to hold a supply of gas for your next start up. The good news is it's only about a $50 dollar part and easy enough to replace yourself.

 

psst? this was a 2 year old thread.

 

Pierce, thanks for the note...but this thread came up through a google search so I supposed it would still be of use to anyone with the same start up problem.