I recently purchased a 1990 Volvo 240 nonturbo 4 door sedan. It is my first Volvo. I drove it about an hour and a half home with some minor hiccups but no major issues. I drove it the next day and had more major issues. In the middle of a 10 minute trip, I accelerated from a stoplight. The Volvo began to bog/cut out as I accelerated. I noticed an absurd amount of white exhaust coming from the vehicle. As I drove it more, the vehicle lost all ability to accelerate. I maxed out at 20 mph on the way home.

I ordered a tune up kit to include new plugs, wires, air filter, and injector seals. I cleaned the throttle body as well. The vehicle appeared to run normal for about 30 minutes. Again, in the middle of accelerating I noticed an increase in exhaust and it began cutting out.

I unplugged the MAF and noted it ran a little better but not perfect. I just figured out how to check codes and noted it gave the code for too rich/ lean and another for the MAF being unplugged. I need to check all the codes as I only had a couple minutes to check them ealier.

Any help is appreciated.

 

absurd amount of white smoke sounds to me like a blown head gasket.

 

I initially thought the same thing. However, would be intermittent like I described? I've never had a blown head gasket. Would it cause the cutting out during acceleration? How can I know for sure?

 

head gaskets can leak coolant into the combustion chamber (result is a loss of coolant without any signs of a leak, and possibly a sweet smell to the exhaust), they can also leak exhaust gasses into the coolant (result is HCs in the coolant and possibly excessive coolant system pressure ie rock hard hoses ) Kits are available for 30-40 USD to test for HCs in the coolant and you can measure the pressure of the coolant system. Other more obvious signs are loss of compression in one or adjacent cylinders, oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil (leaving a froth on the dipstick or filler cap). Cutting out in accelleration could be a few things - if you were getting coolant into the combustion chamber, it would cool the spark, possibly enough to cause a misfire, but a fuel mixture issue can do do the same. You can also check plugs for any signs of fouling. Note white smoke can also be condensation in the exhaust, but that should evaporate off after the engine and exhaust system fully heats up. Since you noted this happens after driving a bit, its either coolant or some oil being consumed (oil smoke would have a blue hue for oil but that's hard to tell from the mirror).

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm mostly onboard with the head gasket diagnosis. I have a new head gasket set on the way.

It seems like it starts once the car fully warms up. I assume the head gasket leak would only show once the car is warm and the thermostat is open. This is consistent with what I'm seeing.

As far as oil in the exhaust, would that be caused by something else or the same issue?

 

the head gasket is supposed to keep the cylinder, oil, and coolant all separate...

a gasket can fail several different ways, letting oil or coolant get out of the engine, letting oil mix with the coolant, letting oil or coolant into the cylinders.

here's one that failed ... looks like both cyl 2 and 3 got coolant in them. 1 and 4 look OK.



that one had severe overheating, and cracked the head near a couple valve seats...

 

You need a head gasket. But it is a very easy job especially if the head is not damaged, cracked or warped.
How many miles?

 

Everything to replace the head gasket has been ordered. New timing belt and water pump as well. I'm going to have a local shop look at the head since that's out of my element. I'll update this once I get that finished.