Newbie here, trying to figure out if my guess is correct that my fuel pump is going out. It may be over 100000 miles old.

Symptoms: All these symptoms only happen when the car is cold. Once I get it running for 5 minutes, and it's nice and warm, there are no symptoms at all. The car then starts perfectly well if it's only been off for an hour.

So, on a cold start, the car turns over, then immediately dies. If I try and re-start too quickly, the starter will crank, but the car won't turn over. I can always (so far) get the car going by waiting a minute, and trying again. No electrical problems.

Sometimes, in those first five cold minutes, the car will die while at an idle. Again, if I wait a few seconds, or a minute, and try again, it turns right back on. When I rush it and crank the key right away, it won't turn over, and I've flooded it before.

Sometimes, in the first five cold minutes, I'll get sporadic loss of power while at high speeds. The engine doesn't die, but the RPMs will suddenly dip and go right back to normal in a fraction of a second. I have a clean oil filter. Once the car is warmed up, this doesn't happen.

I don't know much about car repair, but this seems to me to be a bad fuel pump. If it were the fuel pump relay, I wouldn't be able to get it started at all, right? The thing is, I can get it going pretty much every day, but eventually, will it completely break? If it's not the fuel pump, what else could it possibly be? How can I confirm that it is for sure the fuel pump, or if its something else? I don't have a code reader, and am trying to figure out as much as I can on my own, and possibly working on it myself, before I take it to someone else. Thanks.

 

What do you mean "starter will crank, but the car won't turn over"? do you mean the starter will turn over the engine but it doesn't fire up? Re the code reader - your 94 has the code reader built in. Check out volvotips.com on how to use the diagnostics port (left/front of the engine) and on some basic trouble shooting. relays can fail different ways and change behavior as they warm up. Easy enough to test out by jumpering, but this doesn't sound like a relay/pump problem to me. Starting with spark - how recently have you done plugs/wires/rotor/cap? Next would be the temp sensor (near the thermostat cover). What's the ohms when cold? (2000+?) If you open up the intake near the MAF (in the round tube going into the throttle body) - all clean? Right next to it is the idle air valve used to manage idle mixture (like a choke does) again clean? Can't hurt to buy a can of MAF cleaner and tidy both up. How do the connectors look?

 

>plugs/wires/rotor/cap?

the Plugs and Wires were replaced around 30000 miles ago, by the last major service tune-up I had.

I've never checked the codes; I looked up how to do it and will check all the codes that I can possibly find and then reset them, wait and see. I will look into the MAF and Idle Air Valve, and then I'll post back. Thanks.

> turn over the engine but it doesn't fire up?

Yes, that is what I meant to say. I know embarressingly little about cars, just trying to start learning as much as I can.